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Senior Material Developer, Footwear
Brooks RunningUnited Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 12 May 2025
💰 $182,749/yr($121,798/yr – $182,749/yr)
About the role
Who We Are:
At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation. Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success: · Runner First We act in the best interest of the runner · Word is Bond We do what we say we’ll do · Champion Heart We give our all in everything we do · There is no “I” in RunWe stay generous with our humanity · Keep MovingWe find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic! We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement — because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.
Your Job:
The Senior Footwear Materials Developer will lead, manage, and execute the seasonal footwear material development process, utilizing advanced product and process knowledge. You will work with a cross-functional product creation team from the collection of insights through commercialization to deliver products that exceed consumer expectations. You will be responsible for generating ideas around engineering principles that improve product performance, product value, and communicate them across the product teams.
This role requires advanced knowledge across many material constructions and processes involved in footwear manufacturing including; engineering warps, wefts, and wovens. You must also have extensive knowledge in raw material properties, testing, and costing. Other critical responsibilities include understanding manufacturing capabilities, anticipating issues, problem-solving, and timely resolution.
At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation. Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success: · Runner First We act in the best interest of the runner · Word is Bond We do what we say we’ll do · Champion Heart We give our all in everything we do · There is no “I” in RunWe stay generous with our humanity · Keep MovingWe find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic! We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement — because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.
Your Job:
The Senior Footwear Materials Developer will lead, manage, and execute the seasonal footwear material development process, utilizing advanced product and process knowledge. You will work with a cross-functional product creation team from the collection of insights through commercialization to deliver products that exceed consumer expectations. You will be responsible for generating ideas around engineering principles that improve product performance, product value, and communicate them across the product teams.
This role requires advanced knowledge across many material constructions and processes involved in footwear manufacturing including; engineering warps, wefts, and wovens. You must also have extensive knowledge in raw material properties, testing, and costing. Other critical responsibilities include understanding manufacturing capabilities, anticipating issues, problem-solving, and timely resolution.
Your Responsibilities:
- Manage and own Materials’ seasonal development calendar and lead innovations in process creation and execution. Support other team members in the execution of seasonal deliverables.
- Manage and lead all seasonal development toolbox work – Inline, MRA, and Pre-Development.
- Recognize and evaluate the risk factors associated with all material developments and communicate and influence with the product teams to ensure adherence to seasonal calendar dates
- Lead the team to continually create and build a knowledge base and stay informed about vendor capabilities and performance, factory relationships, quality issues, materials pricing, and lead times
- Anticipate downstream effects of decisions as they relate to product and project management. Be proactive in solutions to mitigate delays.
- Lead and collaborate with product teams in the development of materials specifications for product functionality, durability, and aesthetics, including identifying needs and researching solutions.
- Self-initiate and contribute to research of emerging materials trends by attending material shows, machine shows, and industry conferences, and staying informed with literature and industry news. Identify viable opportunities to bring in-house to Brooks and lead implementation of new processes/technology to advance the footwear creation process or improve cost/quality or reduce environmental impact.
- Lead, own, and manage projects having the biggest impact on the business and with new technology/ manufacturing techniques (franchise product, new technology, sustainability initiatives, etc.)
- Mentor material development and other Footwear teammates; may manage up to 1 direct report.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with T2 partners. Act as a key voice and representative of the Brooks’ Materials Team.
- Serve as the materials subject matter expert for members of the project teams
- Oversee coordination and review with Asia materials testing team, to ensure that all materials pass Brooks Sports commercialization process by the specified dates on the seasonal calendar.
- Develop and maintain an organized materials library, complete with up-to-date material resources, testing history, and specifications.
- Continuously build advanced materials expertise and work to create a network of contacts within the industry.
- Lead, recommend, and specify to product team the material opt
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