NXT Advanced Athlete Concepts explores the future edges of sport through radical imagination and barrier breaking innovation. This team exists to cultivate extraordinary product concepts that serve athletes by unlocking human potential for all athletes*.

WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH

This role will be part of the Advanced Athlete Concept team that works alongside  NXT Footwear functional teams to invent and apply athlete benefit driven solutions for Nike’s established footwear platforms and new capabilities. You will work in cross functional teams with Design, Development, Engineering, Materials and the NSRL, aligning the team on authentic and meaningful future athlete visions across fields of play. You will need to be knowledgeable and influential across other groups/teams within Nike including but not limited to Cultural & Societal Insights, Brand and Design Concepts, inline business partners, as well as other downstream functions to nurture projects through the Nike matrix.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for an industry expert with passion and curiosity to solve athlete problems with unique new methods of make. This role will drive collaboration and decision making across multiple functions and large teams of experts in the creation of Nike footwear platforms and capabilities. This role will drive collaboration with highly technical teams as well as creative experts executing revolutionary new ways to deliver benefits to athletes* everywhere.

As part of the innovation team, this leader will utilize expertise, knowledge and instinct to understand complex issues and implications, simplifying this information into recommendations and future-oriented concepts for  cross functional and senior leadership audiences. This role invites consideration of multiple perspectives and future implications to determine solutions while putting the athlete at the center.

The Sr. Principal, FW Platforms and Capabilities  will participate in specific research to provide awareness of athlete needs and external market activity and must be capable of aligning and implementing initiatives to the organizational vision. Candidates must be creative and connect foresight, intuition and the needs of the business to spark new ideas for the next generation of Nike’s footwear platforms.

This role will be responsible for the creation of visionary strategies and briefs inspired by athlete friction points and latent needs, that will inspire and lead to the creation of ground breaking performance and sportwear footwear products.

What you bring:

Proven Experience 

• 8+ years of experience in in footwear product creation, design or a innovation-related field.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education, experience or training.
• History of design or product line management expertise preferred.
• Excellent portfolio of accomplishments for creating and delivering early-stage briefs or concept opportunities.
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills with the ability to present and communicate to high-profile leaders.
• Highly proficient in project management of large teams and complex projects.
• Strong business orientation, analytical aptitude and creative approach of new ideas.
• Proven ability to capture consumer insights and translate them into compelling athlete- centered product concepts.
• Knowledge of footwear marketplace, competition and trends.
• Management experience preferred.

Approach & Behaviors

• A global innovative mindset, entrepreneurial spirit and risk taker that inspires others to action through a passion for creation.
• Energy giver and team player with a desire to make a difference.
• Deep passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion with a proactive attitude.
• Influential and able to collaborate across a matrix organization.
• Strong team player and successful collaborator, who embraces differences, values perspectives, and acts with courage.
• Resilient and optimistic; embraces ambiguity and the fluid nature of early innovation and keep teammates and projects moving effectively.
• Understands that failure is part of the creative innovation process and as much will lead self and team reflection to capture and apply learnings.
• Well informed and stays connected to sport & culture on the international stage.

Skills 

• Ability to lead teammates by example, raising the bar for the collective team.
• Creatively agile and adept in innovative thinking, vision and problem solving.
• Ability to build a vision, and uphold creative and strategic direction end-to-end to ensure that vision carries through project transitions.
• A networker who is adept at building passionate teams, attracting and seeking talent to get after the work.
• A listener and synthesizer who can make the complex simple and find clarity in ambiguity.
• Thinks holistically, identifying opportunities for disruptive enterprise solutions.
• Ability to build a portfolio of focused, future opportunities whilst driving existing projects and programs.
• A seasoned leader with ability to self-manage.
• Can partner with internal and external parties (consumer insights, agencies, athlete science/sports research, design, testing, development, engineering and manufacturing).
• Advanced project management skills, proactively partnering to facilitate effective meetings and manage key dates and deliverables with project stakeholders.
• Expert-level narrative development and communication skills, including the ability to prepare and deliver project presentations to senior leadership.

Other

• Travel up to 20%, domestically and internationally

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

In this role, you will lead lead the advanced innovation process for industry leading footwear platforms and future capabilities to deliver distinct athlete performance benefits. You’ll lean in with curiosity to research the edges of sport and athlete behavior to inform creative problem solving and balance roadmap cadence with market instincts and data. You will align footwear attributes to athlete benefits and market relevance, creating a cadence of innovation, a projected spectrum of uses, and driving the team to explore function and form through design x engineering iteration. 

This role exposes and inspires deep technical experts to athlete problems and market opportunities to help guide and connect platforms, capabilities and enablers to potential experiences and athlete needs. You’ll work directly with platform and capability teams to co-create long term roadmaps, exploring new capabilities, enablers, and platforms – mapping projects to the greater footwear innovation roadmap and inline business line plans. Ultimately, successful concepts will culminate in compelling storytelling including athlete insights, validation and inspiring innovation solutions that impact the business.

We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.