Footwear Materials Manager at Arc'teryx

Job description

Department: Footwear Supply Chain Reports to: Vice President, Product Development & Engineering, Footwear Location: Portland, Oregon Your Opportunity at ARC’TERYX: As our Footwear Materials Manager you will lead our Materials Development team and manage our relationships with our most important Tier 2 partners. You will work most closely with our Materials Designers, Footwear Developers and Engineers, and our teams in Asia as we create the most innovative products for the mountain athlete. You will directly manage our footwear product developers,and have dotted line responsibility for our materials analysts in Asia. You will be a member of the Footwear Product Creation leadership team, and will work with your fellow leaders as we execute our seasonal product creation process and create and deliver on our innovation agenda. Your responsibilities will focus on upper materials, but you will also heavily influence our strategy related to foams and rubbers. This role is based out of our Portland office and is expected to be performed on-location. Meet Your Future Team: Our Product Creation team is a dynamic group spread across the globe. It sits within our Supply Chain organization and is a center of excellence partner with our Footwear Business Unit. The Arc’teryx Footwear team creates innovative, aesthetically striking product that exceeds the core mountain athlete’s outdoors needs across climbing, hiking, and trail running categories. We are builders, problem solvers and passionate outdoor enthusiasts. Fueled by curiosity, we take an immersive approach to identifying our athlete’s future needs – then, build, test, and validate products that solve for real functional challenges. We are a passionate collective with a focus on collaborative teamwork, and our vision is to redefine the industry. If you were in the Footwear Materials Manager role now, here are some of the core activities you would be doing: • Leading our Footwear Materials Development Team in Portland and Asia Owning our relationships with our most strategic Tier 2 partners (Gore, Chamatex, TLC, etc.),and collaborating with our Tier 1s. Representing the function in cross-functional leadership meetings and ensuring decisions around materials developments are aligned with our long-term product and business priorities Partnering with our cost engineering team to ensure we hit financial targets. Closely collaborating with our Footwear Engineering team on creating and executing strategies related to foams, rubbers, sock liners, etc. Providing training, guidance and mentoring to the cross-functional footwear team, ensuring foundational understanding of materials topics. Proactively identifying and addressing potential issues with vendors or specific materials Calculating and sharing material forecasts with vendors Resolving issues associated with lead times, timelines, colors and costs Collaborating with raw materials teams in Vancouver when onboarding new vendors, addressing quality challenges, etc. Are you our next Footwear Materials Manager? You have 15+ years of experience in footwear materials, either with a brand or a vendor. You have proven experience with upper materials, waterproof membranes, foams, rubber, and other footwear materials You are familiar with rubbers, foams, plates and other materials used in footwear bottom units You have experience with managing people. You are extremely collaborative, and value in-person work with cross-functional teams. You have excellent communication skills, ability to relate to all levels of stakeholders. You have strong leadership, interpersonal, facilitation, and project management experience. You can think both strategically and tactically. You remain highly flexible and adaptable when faced with ambiguity. You are familiar with Centric, Plasma, PCX or other footwear materials systems You remain highly flexible and adaptable when faced with ambiguity You inspire breakthrough thinking and continuous improvement You seek the