Principal 3D Modeler, Innovation Concepts

Job Description: Principal 3D Modeler – Performance Footwear

Location: Denver, CO
Department: Enterprise Innovation
Reports To: VP Enterprise Innovation
FLSA: Exempt

About the Role

The Principal 3D Modeler for Performance Footwear is a senior individual contributor and hands-on digital craft expert who supports multiple footwear teams and programs. This role translates design intent into world-class 3D assets—accelerating concept development, improving decision-making, and enabling manufacturable outcomes across multiple product lines and seasons.

This role is for an elite 3D footwear specialist with exceptional surfacing, proportion, and construction knowledge—someone who can jump into high-priority work quickly, collaborate seamlessly with designers and developers, and deliver refined geometry and clear handoffs under tight timelines. You’ll flex across product types (training, race/elite, outdoor/indoor, recovery, and lifestyle-performance hybrids) and partner with teams to solve the hardest modeling problems.

Key Responsibilities

Hands-On 3D Modeling Excellence

• Deliver best-in-class footwear 3D models (tooling, upper, outsole, midsole, components) with exceptional surfacing, line quality, and model organization.

• Own end-to-end 3D execution for priority concept and seasonal programs, ensuring speed, accuracy, and consistency from early exploration through development-ready handoff.

• Identify and resolve surfacing and build issues early (part breaks, continuity, thickness/clearance assumptions, pattern readiness, manufacturability signals), reducing rework and protecting design intent.

• Enable clear, fast decisions by delivering render-ready models and buildable geometry, and by communicating feasibility, tradeoffs, and options to designers, developers, and technical partners.

Category Breadth & Concept Modeling

• Create high-quality concept models across a broad range of performance footwear types, rapidly exploring proportions, tooling volumes, part architecture, and construction approaches.

• Translate 2D sketches, paintovers, and reference into precise 3D geometry—capturing design intent in surfacing, line quality, part breaks, and functional details.

• Deliver clean files and visuals (CAD exports, render meshes, section cuts, and build notes) that support reviews, prototyping, costing, and downstream development.

Digital-to-Physical Pipeline & Manufacturability

• Own 3D workflows that connect concept modeling to prototyping and development (SLA/SLS prints, CNC, tooling models, last/fit references), ensuring models are production-aware from the start.

• Partner with design, development, engineering, materials, and manufacturing to resolve complex constraints (tooling, mold splits, drafts, clearances, assembly) while preserving design intent.

• Create development-ready CAD packages (key dimensions, sections, part breaks, construction callouts, and revision notes) that reduce ambiguity and increase first-time-right execution.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Support multiple teams as a hands-on 3D expert—partnering with designers to elevate form, proportion, and detail through exceptional digital craft.

• Coach and support other modelers/designers as needed on surfacing technique, CAD hygiene, and efficient iteration—primarily through working sessions and in-context feedback.

• Increase throughput across multiple programs by jumping into the highest-impact modeling needs—unblocking teams with rapid iterations, clean geometry, and reliable handoffs.

Execution & Communication

• Lead 3D modeling reviews and working sessions—ensuring clarity on intent, constraints, and next steps across designers, developers, and external partners.

• Maintain model integrity through iteration by managing versions, change notes, and downstream-ready exports (engineering, rendering, prototyping), preventing drift and rework.

• Create clear, lightweight handoff documentation (build notes, sections, key dimensions, export settings, revision summaries) so partners can move fast with minimal ambiguity.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Industrial Design, Product Design, Engineering, Biomechanics, or related field.

• 10–15+ years of experience in footwear 3D modeling/surfacing, product design, or related digital craft roles, with a portfolio spanning multiple performance footwear types and construction methods.

• Proven track record enablin