Altra: Senior Footwear Developer, Special Projects & Collaborations

At Altra, we are on a never-ending journey to seek out opportunities to unlock potential in ourselves and others and to create a more diverse and inclusive running community. When we’re all working together as the best versions of ourselves, we can feel empowered both individually and as a community. 

So, before we get to the job details, take a minute to learn a little more about us – our values and our culture. If you can see yourself working side-by-side with a team of people driven to discover more about ourselves and the world around us, Altra just may be the place for you.  

To learn more about our values and our culture, visit Altra Careers or www.altrarunning.com. 

What will you do? 

A day in the life of a Senior Footwear Developer, Special Projects & Collaborations at Altra looks a little like this. 

The Senior Footwear Developer owns end-to-end footwear development while leading strategically important, high-visibility projects that require exceptional project management, cross-functional influence, external partner collaboration, and the ability to translate unique creative visions into commercially viable products that uphold Altra's fit, performance, quality, and brand standards

Let’s break down that day-in-the-life a bit more. 

• Lead end-to-end footwear development for strategically important collaborations, special projects, limited-edition initiatives, and other high-visibility programs from concept through commercialization.

• Serve as the primary development partner for external collaborators, athletes, designers, ambassadors, agencies, brand partners, and special project stakeholders.

• Translate creative vision and collaborator input into actionable development requirements that uphold Altra’s fit, performance, quality, consumer experience, and brand standards.

• Drive alignment across Product Management, Design, Merchandising, Marketing, Engineering, Sourcing, Manufacturing, Asia Development, and external partners throughout the development process.

• Develop and manage project timelines, workback schedules, milestone tracking, risks, dependencies, and critical decisions for multiple concurrent projects with differing launch requirements.

• Proactively identify and resolve development, quality, sourcing, manufacturability, and timeline risks to maintain project objectives and milestone adherence.

• Act as a trusted development expert and communication hub, providing clear direction, updates, and recommendations that keep internal, external, and global partners informed and aligned.

• Partner with Asia Development, manufacturing, and factory teams to communicate product vision, evaluate feasibility, and influence execution that balances design intent, quality, performance, manufacturability, and timing.

• Manage compressed timelines and unique development challenges with strong project management, prioritization, organizational discipline, and cross-functional influence.

• Maintain complete, accurate, and timely technical documentation within Flex PLM and related systems to support development execution and commercialization readiness.

What do you need to succeed?

We all have unique skills that we bring to work and celebrate every day. For this role, there are foundation skills you’ll need to succeed and excel. Additionally, while formal education in a related field is great to have, we are most interested in your 6+ years of footwear product development experience.

• Excels in fast-paced environments with shifting priorities and compressed timelines.

• Demonstrated success leading complex footwear projects from concept through commercialization.

• Strong understanding of footwear construction, materials, tooling, manufacturing processes, and costing.

• Exceptional project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple high-priority projects simultaneously.

• Proven ability to influence and communicate effectively across global, cross-functional, and external partner teams.

• Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills with internal stakeholders and external collaborators.

• Experience working directly with Asia-based development and manufacturing partners.

• Ability to balance creative vision, commercial requirements, and brand standards.

• Proficiency with Flex P