Lead Footwear Engineering Technician, Bowerman Footwear Lab (Multiple Openings)

Become a Part of the NIKE, Inc. Team 

NIKE, Inc. does more than outfit the world's best athletes. It is a place to explore potential, obliterate boundaries and push out the edges of what can be. The company looks for people who can grow, think, dream and create. Its culture thrives by embracing diversity and rewarding imagination. The brand seeks achievers, leaders and visionaries. At Nike, it’s about each person bringing skills and passion to a challenging and constantly evolving game.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The Bowerman Footwear Lab (BFL) is a one-stop shop for Creation, Collaboration, and Education for the greater Nike Footwear community. They have all the machines to produce one-of-a-kind footwear in Oregon, facilities dedicated to hosting collaborative working sessions, and staff devoted to generating best in industry training courses around footwear product creation. The BFL team is a vital component in crafting the future of Nike Footwear.

We are hiring for multiple Lead Footwear Engineering Technician positions in the BFL on the Flyknit Production, Molded Component Center, and Footwear Production teams. These are hands-on roles operating multiple types of manufacturing equipment to produce one-of-a-kind footwear samples. People with experience working in fast paced production environments with the ability to switch from one task/machine to the next quickly are preferred. We need technicians that can learn new skills quickly and be trusted to execute those skills with minimal supervision at a high level of quality. There are often multiple projects happening at once, so people that can multitask are a must.

For Footwear Production, candidates with experience using multiple types of industrial sewing machines are highly encouraged to apply. But even without stitching experience; people are needed that can handle adhesive chemicals to glue components together, and that are able to operate digitally enabled machines used in footwear production (i.e. digital printers, laser etchers, embroidery machines, and cutting machines). Experience in any of these areas is highly preferred. 

For Flyknit Production, you will be relied upon to help to accelerate our current manufacturing processes, challenges, quality, and tools. This is a collaborative role working with Knit Programmers, Knit Engineers to meet seasonal product creation goals. These candidates need to understand textile, engineering, and manufacturing processes in addition to basic understanding of the E2E footwear creation processes. Candidates with familiarity working on Stoll flat knit machines, CNC’s, Cutters, or related technologies are highly encouraged to apply.

For the Molded Component Center, technicians will utilize their expertise to process plastics, rubber, composites, and foams in a footwear manufacturing environment. Operate and oversee the use of various machinery and equipment essential for project execution; injection machines, compression machines, mixers, ovens, mills, cutters, and other related equipment. Conduct routine maintenance and troubleshoot machine issues to minimize downtime. Document operating procedures and key-learnings through project lifecycles. Manage the procurement, storage, and distribution of materials required for MCC engineering and BFL projects.

These roles support a larger BFL product creation team and need to be strong team players. Technicians are expected to speak up if something doesn’t seem correct and offer their opinions as process specialists to make the product better. Also, helping to maintain the machines in our product creation areas and working with our maintenance team if something isn’t working properly or seems unsafe. Education is a large part of what we do in the BFL so people that are comfortable assisting in hands-on training courses and enjoy teaching others craftsmanship is required.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

One main function of this team is to support the creation of high-quality footwear samples. You will need to navigate the many different projects flowing through the team at one time and make sure your technical skills are being used on the right projects at the right times. Attend daily standup meetings to give progress updates and ask for assistance if needed. Raise a red flag if there is a problem ASAP and always willing to give your point of view on possible changes to improve our samples. 

These roles include project managing multiple footwear concepts, driving collaboration with creative solutions and provide quality feedback to key product stakeholders. You will own technical expertise for assigned machinery including documenting operating procedures and key-learnings through project lifecycles, and making operational decisions based on results. You will be learning to be a technical expert, problem solve technical and non-technical i