On the Nike Neighborhood Energy Creation team, we seek a Lead Footwear Product Developer to collaborate with internal and external Nike partners to ignite new concepts and energize key Nike footwear initiatives that transcend cultural movements and moments. We aim to create products that ignite, sustain, and drive innovation within Sneaker Culture. We must maintain an agile start-up mindset, embracing creativity, speed, and a relentless drive for progress. We encourage our team members to be resourceful and adaptable while remaining open to learning from failure, free from unnecessary barriers and hierarchies, and operating with autonomy and trust. 

Suppose you are a self-starter, a quick learner, a clear communicator, a team player with strong leadership skills, and a curious problem solver who enjoys project ownership and planning. Has demonstrated proven project management experience, collaboration, and problem-solving skills in a product development setting. In that case, we invite you to join our team. You'll be able to work on top-of-the-line Nike footwear and grow with exceptional teammates.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

As our Lead Footwear Product Developer for Nike’s M’s Men’s Lifestyle and NBHD team, you and your team work on technical innovation products and lifestyle expression for the NBHD distribution channel and SNEAKER. You'll drive product and process excellence within a team environment for your assigned projects. You will recommend and specify the material, component, and construction to meet key features and performance goals. As a Lead Product Developer, you will also apply your understanding of sophisticated innovation concepts to the in-line product process and offering. You will use your expert level of footwear technical knowledge to drive product creation teams through 3D Prototyping, Bottom Tooling, Upper Patterns, Mold Design, Chemicals, Materials, Costing, and Manufacturing to achieve project objectives in an efficient, effective, balanced, and timely way.

WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH

As a member of the Nike Neighborhood Energy Product Development team, you will work collaboratively with key functional partners throughout the Product Development process. This includes Footwear Engineering, Footwear Product Testing, Footwear Material Design and Material Development, Product Design, Product Management, Product Merchandising, Sourcing and Operations, and our overseas partners...etc. – both within Nike and external to Nike.  You will report to the Footwear Product Development Director in the NBHD development team.

You will need to navigate the Nike matrix to ensure that our processes model and match Nike Footwear Development standard methodologies for product excellence. You are the key point of contact for our overseas partners and ensure that communication during the product development process is clear and accurate.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education, experience or training
• A minimum of 6 years directly relevant work experience
• Experience working in Footwear Development, Engineering, Industrial Design, Physical Science, Marketing, or Business.
• Have a strong working knowledge of the tools supporting and tactically driving the footwear product creation process, best leveraging subject matter experts in footwear lasts, upper patterns, materials, chemistry, bottom tooling, costing, test methodologies, and manufacturing.
• Demonstrated Critical Experiences in Adopting and Driving Innovation through the INLINE Product Creation Process.
• Demonstrated Critical Experiences in Driving Product Initiatives and/or Strategy across the greater Footwear Dimensions and/or Divisions.
• Exceptional High-profile communication and influencing skills, with the ability to champion sophisticated projects both cross-functionally and vertically with the organization, including senior leaders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a keen awareness of the audience, knowing when to go deep into the details when warranted, and when to simplify the complex.
• A highly organized and resilient mindset, a high tolerance for ambiguity, with an exceptional ability to seamlessly balance ever-changing competing priorities.
• A Proven Leadership Identity that cultivates partnership, instills trust, inspires and empowers teammates/peers to ultimately deliver on product excellence.
• Strong End-To-End Understanding of the creation process, including production planning, forecasting and scheduling to deliver product quality in a timely, efficient, and effective way.
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time