Sr. Footwear Designer

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 Sr. Footwear Designer will integrate their thorough understanding of footwear design, market conditions, consumer expectations, technologies and the manufacturing process with their design excellence to develop the next generations of Skechers footwear products under the direction and leadership of the VP of Design. They will influence the respective footwear categories using cultural events knowledge and experience relating to how the current and upcoming trends might impact the consumers' buying decisions, covering a vast demographic and multi-cultural area. In addition, they'll use their knowledge in respect to design, development and market relevance to collaborate with marketing and sales personnel on projects to maximize effectiveness and sale-ability.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Under the direction of the VP of Design, design and develop innovative and cost-efficient brand and market relevant footwear which includes concepting, story-telling, and technical development.
• Work with design management, development, and marketing personnel to collaborate on design projects to maximize effectiveness and build product to target cost.
• Create accurate, detailed, high-quality renderings and CADS quickly and efficiently.
• Create accurate tech packs for outsole and upper designs.
• Draw cross sections and read blueprints accurately.
• Build and present seasonal product strategies and trend boards.
• Constant interaction with merchandisers on all aspects of product line plans, briefs, color palette, pricing, themes, graphics, and strategies.
• Work with developers in US and Asia on line schedules, adhere to the product calendar, ensuring development projects are on track.
• Working with developers / materials team to coordinate and develop new materials, constructions, processes and procedures.
• Responsible for getting prototypes and samples executed to reflect the concept and design you created.
• Innovation through fashion forward new designs and technologies.
• Protect and enhance SKECHERS “DNA”.
• Special projects as assigned.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING:

• Thorough understanding of ever-changing fashion trends and directions conducted through international and domestic travel, shopping the markets, tradeshows, and researching the competition.
• Ability to collaborate with other designers, colorists, technicians, and merchandisers.
• Ability to sketch shoes accurately, quickly, proportionately & provide detailed specifications.
• Must understand the footwear production process at the factory level.
• Must have expert skills in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator and Photoshop).
• Must have great communication/presentation skills and work well with others.
• Must have a passion for performance and lifestyle footwear design.
• Knowledge of shoe construction and materials.
• Must be versatile and be able to switch gears project to project.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s Degree in one of the following: Industrial Design, Footwear Design, Fashion Design or Graphic Design.
• Should have a minimum of 7 years of progressive, shoe designing experience and knowledge of shoe constructions and materials.

The pay range for this position is $160,000-$190,000/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.