Lead Designer

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

Soul, performance and style take flight at Jordan Brand. With its deep roots in basketball, the Jordan Brand began as an homage to one player:
Michael Jordan. Since then, Jordan has become synonymous with peak performance and an endless pursuit of greatness. Employees in merchandising, product branding, sports marketing and sales bring creativity, innovation and audacious design to footwear and apparel, all with one mission in mind: help athletes fly on and off the court.

Nike Express Lane is one of the fastest product engines at Nike, enabling designers to connect with geo-specific consumers quickly and effectively. This competitive advantage allows the team to capture current and developing market trends as well as regionally relevant narratives with flexibility and speed. We are looking for a candidate who is an experienced people manager and creative leader who embraces an entrepreneurial spirit and will thrive in a team environment.

The ideal Jordan Brand Lead Designer will be responsible for establishing seasonal material toolbox direction, color strategy, and graphic design direction for all Jordan footwear and apparel product under the North America Express Lane business. This designer will be an active and upbeat participant in the creative process and have excellent cross-functional communication skills, presenting design concepts to internal and external audiences and performing complex results in a fast-paced environment.

The Lead Designer will be a versatile creative problem solver who excels under tight deadlines, has a strong understanding of emerging design and fashion trends, and extensive knowledge of footwear and apparel construction, color theory, graphic creation and textiles.

If this is you, you will be helping to lead the NAEL Jordan Brand design team in creating unique, geo-specific collections across Men’s, Women’s and Kids product on a seasonal basis. This will include setting distinct color and material direction, developing original content and graphic storytelling, and establishing prints, patterns and trims across footwear and apparel. You will work closely with Product Management teams to build engaging, trend-driven narratives that meet the needs of target consumers, and will partner regularly with Development teams to communicate design intent, help with schematic creation and review and workshop prototypes.

The ideal candidate will also be responsible for managing and designing presentation materials and presenting concepts to teams and leadership.

This is an individual contributor opportunity reporting to the North America Apparel & Footwear Design Director and involves working directly with the NA footwear and apparel design team and the NA Product Management and Development teams, as well as Jordan Brand creative and business stakeholders.

Experience with in graphic design, fashion design, industrial design, apparel design, material design, textile design or a related field.

Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in textiles, materials, apparel, product design or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Preferred design experience of 6+ years
• Extensive knowledge of current and emerging design and fashion trends in sportswear and streetwear footwear and apparel.
• Proficient in all aspects of graphic and product design including drawing/sketching, illustration, CAD development, typography, print and pattern development, trim creation, color theory and technical applications.
• Foundational understanding of footwear and apparel construction, schematic development and tech pack creation.
• Demo…