Senior Lead - Sustainability Design

In short

As our Senior Lead - Sustainability Design, you will be a strategic driver working at the intersection of sustainability and design. Your mission: to weave sustainability deeply into our design processes – making it not just a feature, but a foundation of our design ethos. This is not a design role, but a cross-functional leadership position, shaping how we design rather than what we design. You’ll work closely with counterparts in product strategy, development, and innovation to ensure sustainability isn’t an afterthought, but a foundational lens applied from concept to shelf.

Your Mission

• Lead impact mapping across footwear, apparel and accessories. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to embed principles of design for circularity and sustainability into all product designs.
• Translate strategy into a clear roadmap for the team by connecting the dots across innovation, strategy, design, development, and sourcing – whether through circular design principles, alternative dyeing methods, or identifying synergies between teams.
• Collaborate closely with product strategy and sustainability teams to serve as a key enabler and consultant. Guide the prioritization of design decisions and initiatives that deliver the highest positive environmental impact, ensuring sustainability goals are not only set but achieved through proactive leadership and strategic planning.
• Shepherd early-stage sustainable innovations from the Sustainability Concept into the Design team, helping translate new ideas and technologies, and ensuring feasibility and adoption.
• Build strong connections to and coordinate with the material teams to research, validate, and roll out low-impact materials, from selection through implementation – through leveraging your deep knowledge of materials.
• Partner with color design to implement impactful practices, such as dope dyeing and thoughtful palette building, that reduce environmental impact without compromising on aesthetic or appeal.
• Collaborate with engineering and manufacturing teams to specify and validate low-impact materials and production methods into midsoles, speedboards, outsoles, and other bottom-unit components, ensuring these choices significantly reduce the shoe’s footprint and align with circularity goals from concept through production.
• Educate and inspire the design team through workshops and ongoing training, sharing best practices and keeping the team up-to-date on the latest trends, innovations, and technologies in sustainable design.
• Track and promote progress by championing circular initiatives during design reviews and internal events, and regularly sharing updates and insights with the Sustainability team to drive momentum and alignment.

Your story

• A strong, mixed educational background in design and impact sciences, i.e. environmental sciences, sustainability management or similar.
• Deep understanding of materials and processes and their impact on LCA’s and other metrics measuring impact
• Proven track record of leading design teams towards successful implementation of sustainability initiatives and achieving significant environmental impact reductions.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of inspiring and educating teams across the organization, as well as negotiating and influencing external partners and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders, aligning short-term actions with long-term sustainability goals.
• Proactive by nature and entrepreneurial at heart. You thrive in high ambiguity, turning uncertainty into a clear direction and forward momentum for sustainable design.
• Fluent in English, with proficiency in additional languages considered a bonus.
• A visionary thinker with a practical, project-management mindset. You are known for your ability to convert innovative, sustainable solutions into tangible practices and for your dedication to transforming industry norms.

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.