Lead Basketball Footwear Product Developer

Beaverton, Oregon serves as the hub for Nike’s basketball footwear creation, and this onsite role within the Basketball Footwear FW Development team centers on turning design briefs into high-performance products. The Lead Basketball Footwear Product Developer will translate 2D design tech packs into physical samples while driving product and process excellence for athletes and consumers alike.

Responsibilities

• Develop new technical product concepts while shaping color, material, and graphic expressions to meet design intent.
• Promote product and process excellence within a collaborative project team.
• Transform project briefs and 2D design tech packs into physical footwear samples that address the needs of athletes, consumers, and the business.
• Apply expert knowledge to elevate overall product quality and performance.
• Identify and resolve key construction and manufacturing challenges, engaging across all stages of the product lifecycle to meet critical dates and deliver on time.
• Ensure alignment with design intent, performance goals, costing and profitability targets, sustainability standards, and product integrity requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, industrial design, business, marketing, physical sciences, or a related field; a suitable combination of education, experience, and training will be considered.
• At least 6 years of directly relevant work experience.
• Direct footwear development or engineering experience spanning multiple footwear sports and styles.
• Experience or training in marketing, business, industrial design, engineering, or physical sciences is preferred.
• Solid understanding of the tools that support and drive the footwear product creation process, with best use of subject matter experts in lasts, upper patterns, materials, chemistry, bottom tooling, injection and plates, costing, testing methodologies, and manufacturing.
• Proven ability to drive product initiatives and/or strategy across the broader Footwear Dimensions and/or Divisions.
• Outstanding communication and influencing skills to advocate for complex projects across functions and to senior leaders.
• Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to adapt messaging to different audiences.
• Highly organized, resilient, and capable of navigating ambiguity while balancing evolving priorities.
• Leadership identity that fosters partnership, trust, and empowerment to deliver product excellence.
• Solid understanding of production planning, forecasting, and scheduling to ensure timely, efficient delivery of high-quality products.
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time.

Position details

• Position type: Full Time
• Career area: Product Creation, Development & Management
• Location: 1 Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, Oregon 97005, United States
• Job ID: R-87732