Department: Footwear
Reports to: VP, Footwear Development and Engineering
Location: Portland, OR
Your opportunity at Arc’teryx:
As the Senior Director, Footwear Development, you will lead the product creation and development process to deliver disruptive, aspirational, and sustainable products to the market. You will oversee the execution of our seasonal footwear plans from design concept through production readiness, ensuring a consistent level of quality, fit, and performance. You will operate at the intersection of balancing the athlete’s needs, technical feasibility and business objectives while you work in lockstep with Merchandising, Design, Manufacturing and other cross-functional teams to deliver product that inspires the core mountain athlete to reach new levels of performance.
Meet your future team:
Our Product Creation Development 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 Senior Director, Footwear Development role now, here are some of the core activities you would be responsible for:
Overseeing the footwear product development process from initial concept to commercialization ready, driving sustainability, performance, and profitability goals.
Acting as a critical thought partner to Supply Chain and Footwear Leadership Team as we evolve our teams’ strategic priorities.
Collaborating with the Footwear and Sourcing leadership teams to establish and execute a medium to long-term partner strategy grounded in product excellence, on-time delivery, quality, and risk mitigation.
Developing recommendations on our future organizational structure and the technical resources needed to support growth, and hiring the technical talent needed to address current and future needs.
Fostering deep, collaborative partnerships with Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners to ensure Arc’teryx’s standards and processes are agreed upon and followed. You will establish technical metrics and scorecards in collaboration with Supply Chain and Footwear team partners and develop a regular cadence of reviewing and acting upon them.
Collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders and establishing and driving a footwear innovation agenda. You will recommend an approach to finding solutions to the technical aspects of all projects, including leveraging teams in Portland and North Vancouver, external resources, and with Tier 1 partners in Asia.
Providing a strong point of view on and heavily influencing our Sustainability agenda and our corporate mission to “Leave It Better”.
Driving profitability goals through collaboration with all Footwear and cross-functional stakeholders (including Sourcing, Materials, etc.) and establishing a system by which margin targets, cost breakdown, sheets and other financial and technical data are scrutinized and reviewed.
Leveraging your deep functional expertise to educate, coach and mentor others
Here are some of the things you could be working on in the future:
Creating a culture of unmatched footwear product and operational excellence
Hiring, coaching, and inspiring a team of talented footwear experts to drive innovation and creative vision
Continuously innovating and evolving how we craft and create product to meet and exceed the needs of the guest
Leading the collaboration of your team as well as the manufacturing team members to enable them the best product through clear product spec documentation of construction and engineering insight.
Are you our next Senior Director of Footwear Development?
You have 15+ years’ experience in a technical aspect of the footwear industry (engineering, development, manufacturing, etc.), ideally with extensive experience in manufacturing environments in Asia
You have proven experience building processes and teams from the ground up, and can lead an organization through scale and growth. You have strong influential leadership, with the ability to drive alignment across diverse cross-functional stakeholders at all levels of the business
You set a clear vision, align your team around common objectives, and foster commitment to these objectives
You have an in-depth knowledge of footwear construction, foams and rubbers, pattern making, manufacturing, costing, lasts, and materials
You have proven skills in interpreting design intent and product innovation
You have proven performance history with domestic and offshore vendors and manufacturers
You have excellent communication skills - interpersonal, written and verbal
You are entrepreneurial with the ability to make decisions and take calculated risks
You are proactive in identifying the root cause of issues and developing solutions
You remain highly flexible and adaptable when faced with ambiguity
You effectively balance autonomy and collaboration
You inspire breakthrough thinking and continuous improvement
You seek the best (sometimes not the easiest) solutions, with an unwavering commitment to do what is right
Your passion for sustainability is paralleled by your passion for getting outside and living it
Most new team members join between the start and midpoint of the range, where you can contribute right away while continuing to grow your craft, your collaborations, and your impact at Arc’teryx. This range reflects market alignment and the scope of the role. Individual pay is determined by your skills, experience, and level of responsibility.
We’re committed to fair, equitable, and competitive pay, reviewed regularly to ensure internal alignment and market relevance. Transparency is part of how we follow through on our commitments and how we honour the value you bring to our team.
In addition to base pay, Arc’teryx supports people through benefits designed to sustain both work and life:
- Health & wellbeing - Extended health, dental, and vision coverage, including mental health support, fertility benefits, and a 24/7 Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
- Financial wellbeing - Immediately vested 401(k) retirement savings plan matching, eligibility for Arc'teryx Annual Incentive Plan and access to Employee Stock Purchase program (ESPP) where applicable.
- Time & Flexibility - Paid time off and No Wasted Day program (dedicated paid days to get outside & explore).
- Family support - Parental leave for birthing and on-birthing parents, including an option to ease the transition back to work.
- Growth, community & gear - Professional development opportunities, Arc'teryx Academies (outdoor skill-building events), Employee Belonging Councils, and access to employee discounts and Pro Deals (exclusive discounted pricing on gear).
*Eligibility for certain programs may vary by role.
Skills Required
- 15+ years experience in the technical aspect of the footwear industry
- Experience in manufacturing environments in Asia
- Proven experience building processes and teams from ground up
- In-depth knowledge of footwear construction, materials and costing
- Proven performance history with domestic and offshore vendors
- Excellent communication skills
- Strong leadership and influencing skills
What We Do
Arc’teryx is a global design company based in North Vancouver, B.C. that specializes in technical high-performance outerwear and equipment. We design and manufacture a wide range of mountain sports outdoor apparel and equipment for all conditions and experiences, including mountaineering, ice and rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, and trail running. Our company is built on a passionate and relentless commitment to design, craftsmanship and performance. We have a unique construction process that enables us to create technical products that can be trusted to perform at the point of extreme need. We are uniquely positioned in our industry as we have our own factory located in New Westminster, BC, which enables us to build products with a meticulous focus on detail and performance. We leverage this manufacturing knowledge and share it with our global partner factories. In the Coast Mountain Range behind our headquarters and design centre in North Vancouver, we field test our products in real world conditions allowing us to create the best-fitting, longest-lasting, highest-performing technical products available. We distribute our outerwear and equipment through more than 3,000 retail locations worldwide, in over 40 countries globally, including 38 branded and outlet stores in Europe, North America and Asia. The company started with six employees in 1989 and now has more than 1000 employees in Canada.
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