At a Glance:
As a Material Lead Footwear Asia, you will drive the project of footwear material sourcing to the next level in line with ON’s materiality vision. You will focus on building the strategy of footwear material sourcing; building long term and sustainable partnership with material suppliers; material development, pricing, supply and quality; aligning them to short/medium term goals as well as the longer term material strategy in innovation and ESG. You will report to the Head of Sourcing Footwear as well as have constant communication with the Zurich development and material teams.
Your Team:
We translate design visions into performance materials. We’re proactive in creating new materials, using technical knowledge and worldwide sourcing for our Material DNA. We are the glue that binds design, development, and product management. The role of materials is integral to product creation, and is gaining recognition around the world. We need proactive, entrepreneurial, and open-minded people to join our team and hit the ground running.
Your Mission:
- Drive and lead Material development processes from initial brief through to production, translating HQ direction into high performance materials in our Asia HQ, through development and factory collaboration.
- Ensure highest material quality enhancing the footwear performance by collaborating with our vendors and nurturing material specification improvements and excellence.
- Oversee materials in development and production, flagging quality concerns parallel to finding out of the box solutions.
- Supervise the material testing processes, evaluate the feedback channels and coordinate the improvements with HQ, Suppliers and Production/Development accordingly.
- Draft, verify and control more agile Material development structures, to achieve shorter processes whilst increasing product quality (Colour matching, Core material toolboxes, Supplier management/consolidation).
- Lead price and lead-time negotiation with suppliers through forecasting.
- Identify potential material/technology partners and define the sourcing strategy, in collaboration with the Head of Materials.
- On-board new suppliers and work with them to align with our processes and sustainability guidelines.
- Research and analyse competitor product and market tendencies, in relation to both technologies and new categories of business.
- Build, lead and train the material team with support of Head of Materials, which feature solid understanding of the company’s design identity, technical excellence, and strong nurturing people skills.
- Cultivate a proactive and entrepreneurial team culture
Your Story:
- 8+ years experience in performance footwear materials and delivering technical materials into production. 5+ years working in Asia. 2+ years of experience in managing a team.
- Bachelors or higher in Textile Engineering or a related field.
- Excellent understanding of the industry’s processes and collaborators.
- Ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholders as well as superior communication skills (verbal and written English), coupled with very strong interpersonal skills to maximise the productivity of the application team.
- Ability to lead cross-functional projects toward a vision through effective collaboration.
- Highly attention to detail and the ability to build, organise, and create effective presentations and strategy documents.
- Talent to deal with change and bring entrepreneurial spirit when facing unexpected challenges.
- Able to travel on a regular basis between HQ and production and development partners (non-covid times)
What we offer:
We offer a dynamic, challenging and sportive environment that has been ranked as the ‘fastest growing sports company’ of its time. With offices across the globe, we are an international team who is hungry to innovate and build something incredible. We foster an active environment where each individual thrives for excellence and can achieve their full potential. This is where your work matters, you’re hands-on and your team members are amongst the very best in their respective disciplines and fields.
If you are driven to bring On to the next level, curious about the opportunity and want to be part of our growing team send us your application, and join the ONiverse!
On is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a work environment that is fair and inclusive, where all decisions related to recruitment, advancement, and retention are free of discrimination.