Lead - Innovation Footwear Developer

In short

As a Lead Innovation Footwear Developer, you will be a driving force at the forefront of On's product evolution. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy to lead complex projects, challenge conventions, and champion innovative approaches that define the future of footwear. This role requires you to master technical complexity, manage key stakeholder relationships, and translate visionary concepts into scalable, performance-driven products.

Your Mission

• Lead and own the end-to-end creation of high-impact, innovative product concepts. You will manage multiple projects independently, from initial strategy and conception through to commercialization, ensuring alignment with overarching company goals.
• Leverage your expert knowledge of manufacturing processes, material properties, and biomechanics to troubleshoot significant and unique issues. With a strong root-cause analysis mindset, you will tackle challenges in tooling, molding, and assembly, and develop new material applications and specifications.
• Act as a key influencer and central communication hub between diverse internal teams and major external T1/T2 partners. You will manage expectations, negotiate effectively, and confidently communicate with stakeholders at all levels, including senior management.
• Serve as the guardian for product performance. Partner with the testing team and translate direct consumer and athlete feedback into tangible design iterations.
• Critically assess and validate last shapes with last engineers to perfect the intended fit and performance. You will collaborate with computational designers to pioneer upper patterns and construction adjustments that enhance fit, durability, and ensure scalable manufacturing.
• Own the documentation of complex tooling and upper-related issues, defining and communicating clear correction actions to all stakeholders. You will create and manage comprehensive tech packs, specification sheets, and BOMs, while driving development timelines to meet critical calendar milestones.
• Act as a leader within the team, determining methods and procedures for new assignments and potentially supervising the activities of other team members.

Your story

• 8+ years of progressive experience in footwear development, with a significant focus on innovation and bringing new technologies to market.
• Bachelor’s or Master's Degree in Engineering, Material Science, or another relevant technical field.
• Expert-level knowledge of advanced footwear manufacturing processes, including tooling, molding, injecting, welding, lasting, and assembly. You understand factory capabilities, tolerances, and limitations and know how to design for scalable replication.
• A natural technical curiosity and a robust, root-cause analysis approach to problem-solving.
• In-depth, demonstrated knowledge of advanced footwear materials, their properties, and performance characteristics, including experience with advanced testing and analysis.
• Proven ability to not only lead the scaling of new technologies but also to assess their commercial viability and factory readiness.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to confidently present and defend concepts to senior management and external partners.
• A demonstrated ability to work with a high degree of autonomy, navigating ambiguity and making independent judgments on complex and significant issues.
• Experience in mentoring junior team members or supervising project activities is a strong plus.
• Comfortable and proficient with industrial machinery and hands-on prototyping.
• Ability to travel up to 10-15% of the time.

What to expect

We want to set everyone up for success, so here’s the lowdown on how we hire. Our process is a two-way street – bringing you into our culture, while helping us learn how you think.

Our full process can last about eight weeks from application to offer, because we care about getting it right. These steps explain how we usually do things.

Before you get started, feel free to consider if you want to work with us. Strange question? Well, we give people a lot of space to navigate their day-to-day and that style isn't for everyone. We want you to be passionate about what you do and be sure this is the right fit. Because when skills and passion combine – it creates that 'Wow' moment.

• Step One

  It starts with you...

  You'll start by submitting your application to a specific role. We try to keep this step as simple as possible. We do get a lot of applications, but we review them all. We ask that you allow around 14 days for us to come back to you with a response. If you are a good fit to the role, someone will follow up with you within that window. If you didn't receive a reply, or were unsuccessful this time around, we encourage you to look for other possible matches at On.

• Step Two

  Interview with a recruiter

  What ignites your spirit? This is where we’ll start getting to know all about you and what makes you tick – and it’s your first chance to get a feel for our culture. Chatting with a member of our talent team, you’ll learn more about On and how we work. We’ll learn about what motivates you and what you could bring to the team.

• Step Three

  Interview with a hiring manager

  Ready to dig into the details? This second interview will be held with your future manager and will focus on the specifics of the job. Together you’ll delve into your unique skills and experiences and how they could be relevant at On. It's also a time to assess how you might feel working side-by-side. Bring any questions you have about the job, the team or anything else you might like to know – this is an open forum.

• Step Four

  The Case Study

  What's your style? This task will help us understand how you think, face a challenge and give insight into your novel ideas. Designed to give everyone their best shot, your case study is based on something you might typically experience on the job. This is your chance to show us what you’ve got. So express yourself. Be you.

• Step Five

  The Experience Day

  Your first taste of the Oniverse. This is a time to meet some of the people you'll be working closest with. In person or virtually, you'll get a feel for the day-to-day at On and the people who make it happen. You'll chat with a few potential teammates - the conversations will be as equally driven by the role and your experience as by our values. We believe how you do things is just as important as what you do.

• Step Six

  The Result

  Are we a good fit? We’ll get together internally to share our feedback and decide if we’re a match. We know that job searching is a big time investment, so it’s not a decision we take lightly. It’s also time for you to reflect on the experience – are we the right place for you? No matter the outcome, we’ll give you meaningful feedback.

Step One:

It starts with you...

You'll start by submitting your application to a specific role.

We try to keep this step as simple as possible. We do get a lot of applications, but we review them all. We ask that you allow around 14 days for us to come back to you with a response. If you are a good fit to the role, someone will follow up with you within that window. If you didn't receive a reply, or were unsuccessful this time around, we encourage you to look for other possible matches at On.