Director, Core Studio Footwear Materials Design Expression

About the Role

We are looking for an exceptional leader to join the team as the Materials Design Director for the Nike Core Footwear design team. The ideal designer is a curious observer, eager participant, and a cultural sponge—seeking insights to solve problems. You will leverage your expert design skills and deep material knowledge in highly creative problem-solving to create material design direction for a range of categories across performance, lifestyle, and solar footwear.

You will use your design expertise to create seasonal direction, aligning your functional team and cross-functional business partners to deliver consumer- and trend-relevant solutions. You will manage and mentor your team to success, working with the Senior Director to ensure product, color, and materials tell a cohesive and compelling story through industry-leading product. Your versatility and creativity will lead the material design team across the sport performance and sport lifestyle footwear landscape.

You will partner with innovation, materials development, and vendors to keep our product on the leading edge of performance and culture. The ideal candidate thrives on team collaboration, project management, strategic thinking, and the ability to work through ambiguity to lead teams from concept to reality. You challenge the status quo, embrace the unknown, and push boundaries to create industry-leading solutions that meet the needs of every athlete. You are motivated to elevate the consumer’s experience by creating innovative, distinct, and benefit-driven materials and palettes. You are passionate about ensuring the emotional connection of our product through narrative and storytelling.

Responsibilities

• Lead the materials design direction and seasonal design strategy for Core Expression in conjunction with your Color Director counterpart and the Core Footwear Senior Director.
• Build seasonal narratives and end-in-mind ideas that are culturally and consumer-relevant.
• Develop and deliver a Design Toolkit that inspires, empowers, and drives the core material team to action.
• Create compelling collections that integrate street fashion, art, culture, and sports.
• Partner closely with internal category design, merchandising, and brand teams to ensure consistency and authenticity across all work.
• Review and approve seasonal design proposals from licensee partners, providing actionable feedback and creative guidance.
• Drive innovation by identifying new materials, constructions, and expression techniques by partnering with teammates across Space, NXT, Advanced Production, Materials Development, and vendor partners.
• Explore longer lead-time development of innovative opportunity spaces for materials, method-of-make, texture, and finish.
• Proactively identify new opportunities and translate them into consumer-relevant design direction.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing team of designers and cross-functional collaborators.
• Employ your understanding of the latest material innovations and existing capabilities to design concepts and deliver toolboxes that keep NIKE on the vanguard.
• Curate, elevate, and modernize NIKE’s existing material palettes while driving the direction and expectations of material design for the Core division forward.
• Conduct trend and market research, insights gathering, and design direction.
• Partner with the Senior Director and Color Director on seasonal direction and palette creation across Core Footwear categories.
• Collaborate with category business, development, engineering, and costing partners to shepherd top-quality design from brief to box.
• Communicate with a wide range of experts across NIKE, including manufacturing partners, operations, and athletes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Design or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience, and training.
• 8+ years of relevant design experience exemplifying ability to push textile design and/or relevant experience in Material Design.
• 3+ years of relevant experience directly managing a team.
• Experience creating consumer-relevant and culturally inspiring design direction and working with a team to bring that vision to life.
• Ability to design advanced material concepts with a high technical skillset, including engineering and Flyknit constructions.
• Strong understanding of brand systems, cultural storytelling, and consumer-led design.
• Deep knowledge of street fashion, art, culture, and sport as design drivers.
• Passionate and curious problem solver with an entrepreneurial mindset.
• Demonstrated knowledge of textile methods-of-make such as weaving, knitting, or printmaking, and the ability to create mock-up samples by hand.
• Ability to create concepts grounded in research and exploration of the latest in textile innovation, including raw materials, technologies, and techniques.
• Strong influencing, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Ability to translate consumer and athlete insights into product executions and narratives.
• Talent for collaborating and building interpersonal connections with design and adjacent functions.
• Experience building inspiration/concept presentations and mood boards.
• Experience presenting design concepts to internal and external audiences.
• Ability to participate in multiple seasonal projects with competing resources and deadlines.
• Understanding of the Footwear Product Creation process or relevant footwear/accessories experience.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills; ability to influence across functions and cultures.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and 3D design tools; strong visual and technical design skills.
• A portfolio that demonstrates creative excellence, strategic thinking, and leadership impact.
• Brings new sustainable methods into product and production.

Who You Will Work With

You will work closely with the Senior Design Director of Core Footwear and the Footwear Color Design Director to set seasonal direction for your team and oversee its execution in footwear—both for new creation models and seasonal expression. You will collaborate with Innovation, Footwear Material, and Product Design teams to formulate new ideas with impact for our product, consumer, and brand.

You will maintain collaborative relationships with material design leadership peers in overlapping categories to ensure a consistent brand presence while understanding the nuances needed for our consumers, stories, and product. You will partner with Development, Color Design, Graphic Design, Digital Design, and Marketing teams to bring key material concepts and scalable innovation to life for the consumer.

You will have direct reports of varying levels, with the aim of fostering a strong bond within your team and promoting a culture of collaboration within the larger Core Design team.