Sr. Manager Performance Athlete Apparel

WHO WE ARE:
Headquartered in Southern California, Skechers—the Comfort Technology Company®—has spent over 30 years helping men, women, and kids everywhere look and feel good. Comfort innovation is at the core of everything we do, driving the development of stylish, high-quality products at a great value. From our diverse footwear collections to our expanding range of apparel and accessories, Skechers is a complete lifestyle brand.

ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Senior Manager Performance Athlete Apparel will lead the creative vision, concept development, and seasonal execution of apparel created for Skechers athletes. This role is responsible for translating athlete insights, sport-specific needs, brand direction, and market trends into compelling performance apparel concepts, graphics, prints, color applications, and product stories across all athlete programs.

The Senior Manager will oversee the creative process from initial concept through final production approval, ensuring each product reflects the athlete’s identity while meeting Skechers’ standards for performance, innovation, quality, and brand consistency. The role will also identify opportunities to strengthen athlete storytelling through product, elevate the visibility of Skechers Performance Apparel, and create cohesive collections that support athlete partnerships, key sporting events, marketing initiatives, and broader business objectives.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Leads the on-apparel graphic design process to develop and produce cohesive artwork for all Brand categories.
• Strong ability to manage workflow against calendar timelines, proactively elevate challenges where there is risk of a delay.
• Strong ability to research, conceptualize, draw and illustrate graphics.
• Responsible for maintaining a high quality of work; ensure all details for graphic and print send out are accurate.
• Must have experience working with production of graphics to understand factory capabilities and be experts of different types of printing techniques by fabrication.
• Partner closely with Design to drive a graphic point of view around artwork scale, placement, techniques.
• Comment on strike offs and trouble shoot printing techniques.
• Responsibilities include researching and creating the graphic and print capsules to present to Senior Director of Design.
• Expert level experience in editing purchased art, adjusting patterns, color/colorways, indexing in photoshop and being able to change pattern repeat style and sizing.
• Communicates clearly with development and factories. Able to trouble shoot and problem solve while owning communication and development of graphics with factories and overseas teams.
• The ability to create several unique graphic concepts in a condensed timeline. 
• Highly organized with the ability to multi-task several seasons and projects at once while maintaining timelines and prioritizing projects accordingly.
• Meets deadlines, prioritizes appropriately, copes well with change, and maintains composure under pressure.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING:

• High level of knowledge and proficiency in both Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
• Strong sense of color
• Creative and self-motivated
• Detail oriented
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to integrate feedback to meet internal objectives
• Reliably meet deadlines and work quickly
• Own projects and see them through from beginning to end while meeting deadlines

REQUIREMENTS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• 8-10 years of applied experience working as a Graphic Designer within an apparel or print company preferred.
• Formal Training (certified) and/or educational background in Graphic Arts required. AA or BA in Graphic Arts / Fine Arts / Illustration preferred.
• Knowledge of print production.
• Knowledge of Digital Photography and how to import/manipulate digital media.
• Design skills including drawing/sketching, painting, typography, color theory, texture and visual presentation.
• Illustrates a dedication to meeting requirements of internal and external customers, responding to all customer requests promptly and thoroughly.
• Strong communication skills including the ability to work in a team environment, give honest, direct feedback and is a solid verbal and written communicator.
• Is accountable for results, approaches obstacles proactively and looks for ways to resolve problems and issues.
• Advanced Adobe Programs (Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign etc.) skills required.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite and other basic computer programs.
• Experience with Mac.
• Basic knowledge of Flex PLM.  Loading graphic matrix to web-based database

The pay range for the position is $150,000-$165,000/yr USD.

About Skechers

Skechers, a global Fortune 500® company, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel, and accessories. Serving over 180 countries and territories, Skechers connects customers to products through department and specialty stores, e-commerce and digital stores, and through our more than 5,300 Skechers retail locations.

Equal Employment Opportunity
Skechers is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful work environment. Skechers provides equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment without regard race, color, religion, gender, gender identification and expression, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, military status, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic established by local, state or federal law.

Reasonable Accommodation
Applicants for employment who require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job should request appropriate accommodation by emailing [email protected].
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily.  The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.