Senior Principal, Advanced Athlete Footwear Concepts, Innovation

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, Inc. it’s about each person bringing skills and passion to a challenging and constantly evolving game.

NXT Advanced Athlete Concepts explores the future edges of sport through radical imagination and barrier breaking innovation. This team exists to cultivate extraordinary concepts that serve athletes by unlocking human potential for all athletes*.

WHO YOU WILL WORK WITH

You will work closely with the Advanced Athlete Concepts team that spans footwear across various Fields of Play, Apparel, and the Kitchen/Explore team. You will work cross-functionally with design, development, testing, Nike Sports Research Lab, engineering, and capabilities teams. You will need to be knowledgeable and influential across other groups/teams within Nike including but not limited to Cultural & Societal Insights, Brand Concepts, inline business partners in the global football category, as well as other downstream functions when appropriate.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for a seasoned concept creation expert at the Senior Principal Level to join the Advanced Athlete Concept team focused on global football footwear. They must be collaborative, comfortable to execute and lead in an ambiguous environment, and must always be looking for opportunities that define what could be versus what is. This role requires a passion for storytelling with a need to be able to speak to a variety of audiences. They must have an interest in team collaboration and mentorship.

What you bring:

Proven Experience

• 8+ years of experience in in footwear product creation, human-centered research, design or a innovation-related field
• Bachelor’s degree or higher or equivalent combination of education, experience or training.
• Excellent portfolio of accomplishments for creating and delivering early-stage briefs or concepts
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills with the ability to present and communicate to senior, high-profile leaders
• History of Design or project line management expertise preferred
• Management experience preferred

Approach & Behaviors

• A global innovative mindset, entrepreneurial spirit, inspires others to action through a passion for creation without a roadmap
• Energy giver and team player with a desire to make a difference
• Deep passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion with a proactive attitude
• Influential and able to collaborate across a matrix organization
• Strong team player and successful collaborator, who embraces differences, values perspectives, and acts with courage
• Resilient, agile, and optimistic; embraces ambiguity and the fluid nature of early innovation and keep teammates and projects moving
• Understands that failure is part of the creative innovation process and as much will lead self and team reflection to capture and apply learnings
• Well informed and stays connected to sport & culture on the international stage

Skills

• Ability to lead teammates by example, raising the bar for the collective team
• Creatively agile and adept in innovative thinking, vision and problem solving
• Ability to build a vision, and uphold creative and strategic direction end-to-end to ensure that vision carries through project transitions
• A networker who is adept at building passionate teams, attracting and seeking talent to get after the work
• A listener and synthesizer who can make the complex simple and find clarity in ambiguity
• Thinks holistically, identifying opportunities for disruptive enterprise solutions
• Ability to build a portfolio of focused, future opportunity whilst driving existing projects and programs
• A seasoned leader with ability to self-manage
• Can partner with internal and external parties (consumer insights, agencies, athlete science/sports research, design, testing, development, engineering, manufacturing)
• Advanced project management skills, proactively partnering to facilitate effective meetings and manage key dates and deliverables with project stakeholders
• Expert-level narrative development and communication skills, including the ability to prepare and deliver project presentations to senior leadership

Other

• Travel up to 20%, domestically and internationally

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

In this role, you will lead the investigation, creation, execution, and storytelling for industry-defining concepts focused on global football footwear. You will work collaboratively with a team of creative thinkers to evolve a vision and landscape for Football concepts. You will build strategy for the future of Football that must ladder up to the greater Advanced Athlete Concepts mission and vision.

You will deliver concept pitches, world class briefs, and inspiring presentations that peak interest and excitement from the brand and inline business partners. You’ll integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into your areas of investigation. You’ll contribute to strategically placing programs on a future focused footwear You’ll be the knowledgeable expert in the global football industry, and footwear marketplace as a whole.

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment for all employees and job applicants. We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form .

NIKE, Inc. is a growth company that looks for team members to grow with it. Nike offers a generous total rewards package, casual work environment, a diverse and inclusive culture, and an electric atmosphere for professional development. No matter the location, or the role, every Nike employee shares one galvanizing mission: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

NIKE, Inc. is committed to employing a diverse workforce. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.

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