The Nike Material Design team’s mission is to elevate our product experience by focusing on both the art and science of materials.  We are inspired by our heritage and new innovations, and continually pushing how materials can be imagined on our products through the edges of performance and style. We look to the future, aggressively pursuing materials and methods of make that further elevate the athlete* experience, and that raise the bar for modern kid-right style and reduce our environmental impact. Kids FW Material Design is a high-performance team that works collaboratively together, pushes the boundaries of design, and always stays focused on delivering the best product for our consumers. 

WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH

As an Expert Material Designer for the Kids team, you will work closely with product design and development teams—including Nike FW Industrial Design, Color Design, Graphic Design, business partners, and development teams—to bring Creative Direction to life through Footwear Materials Design and Innovation. You will also mentor other designers. The Kids Footwear team is celebrated for its strong culture and sense of camaraderie, and we’re looking for someone who will enhance and contribute to that dynamic.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We’re searching for an experienced Footwear Material Designer Expert to blend their expertise, problem-solving skills, and creativity to help shape the future of Nike Kids Footwear. This role is dedicated to the Kids team, which focuses on enhancing performance, durability, seasonality and trend-right execution across categories and various stages of a child’d development. The categories served are Basketball, Running, and Sportswear encompassing both new product creation and refreshing iconic product with new executions. The ideal candidate will be highly collaborative, capable of building authentic relationships within our teams, and enthusiastic about hands-on exploration of sustainable material ideas. The right person will be a self-starter who inspires others through material concepts that evoke emotional responses through narrative and storytelling.

• 8+ years of relevant design experience in advancing material design, textile design, or footwear design
• Bachelor’s degree in design, art, or related field (fashion, product, industrial, accessory, footwear, or textile design); Master’s degree accepted, Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training
• Ability to interpret consumer insights and translate them into compelling product narratives
• Skilled in concept creation and exploring material innovations and technologies
• Experience building inspiration presentations and mood boards for seasonal concepts
• Understanding of the Footwear Product Creation process
• Experience collaborating with manufacturing partners to ensure design intent and material execution
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
• Ability to ideate using digital platforms (Gravity Sketch, CLO a plus)
• Experience creating 3D samples and hand mockups (a plus)
• Strong presentation skills for small and large groups
• Collaborative, positive, and a good listener
• Passion for design, culture, and performance excellence
• Highly organized and self-sufficient
• Speaks up with courage for self and the team
• Open minded, receptive to candid feedback and diverse points of view
• Passion for and desire to learn people leadership.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

Your daily responsibilities will involve partnering with leadership, collaborating on new material toolboxes and manufacturing methods, forming partnerships with cross-functional teams, executing projects, and mentoring others. You will contribute to design direction and dimensional strategy, investigate sustainable material innovations, and curate and enhance existing materials. You’ll work across both Performance and Lifestyle areas to activate ideas into inline products and develop project narratives and palettes. Your core objective is to achieve product excellence by collaborating with key stakeholders in the product creation process and helping bring the vision for Nike Kids Footwear materials to life.

From concept development and ideation, finalizing technical packs and presentations, and collaborating with vendors and manufacturing partners, the role offers a wide variety of challenging and rewarding daily responsibilities.

We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.