Become a Part of the NIKE, Inc. Team

NIKE, Inc. does more than outfit the world’s best athletes. It is a place to explore potential, obliterate boundaries, and push the edges of what can be. Our culture thrives on innovation, technical excellence, and a relentless focus on delivering product readiness at scale.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The Principal, Materials Manufacturing Engineering (MME) role is a senior technical individual contributor responsible for owning manufacturing readiness strategy for innovation, new materials, processes, and suppliers. This role operates early in the creation calendar and shapes Nike’s material readiness strategy decision frameworks to protect must‑win sport moments.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

• Own upstream manufacturing readiness strategy for innovation and high‑risk materials

• Partner in Product Risk Assessment execution for materials manufacturing, defining focus areas and readiness priorities.

• Assess manufacturability, scalability, and capability gaps for new materials, processes, and suppliers.

• Define readiness gates, risk thresholds, and go / no‑go recommendations for scale.

• Translate downstream production and quality learnings into upstream standards and risk prevention frameworks.

• Serve as senior technical escalation point for material manufacturing readiness decisions.

WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH

This role reports to the Director, Apparel MME & MSO and partners closely with Product Risk Engineering (PRE), Materials Quality Engineering (MQE), Materials Development, Supplier Management, Materials Sourcing, Product Creation, Product Integrity, Manufacturing & Systems Engineering and external material suppliers to align on readiness strategy and execution.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; advanced engineering or materials degree preferred.

• 8–10+ years of experience in materials manufacturing engineering, innovation scale‑up, or supply chain risk management.

• Deep technical expertise in apparel materials manufacturing and supplier capability assessment.

• Ability to operate in ambiguity and influence senior stakeholders

• Strong systems thinking with the ability to connect risk, quality, capacity, and scale.

• Strong communication skills translating technical risk into clear business impact and recommendations.

• Ability to travel approximately 10%.