Andrew - Operations Manager

Want to help us create the future of footwear?

Passionate about health/fitness/the outdoors?

Then come work with Xero Shoes!

Please click on an open position below to view the details about that job.

With nearly half a million customers in more than 97 countries, Xero Shoes is a lifestyle footwear brand focused on helping people everywhere discover the benefits of natural movement. Are you passionate about health & wellness and want to make an extraordinary difference in people’s lives? We are looking for a motivated, passionate Senior Footwear Developer to join our team where the possibilities are endless…

The Senior Footwear Developer at Xero Shoes will lead with technical expertise and experience.  This role will be relied upon to dive feet first into prototyping, innovation, and performance materialization. In addition to hands-on product development projects, the Senior Developer will also work to create and improve processes, spearhead data analysis strategies, and implement this data analysis into our day-to-day development activities.  This role will be a leader and mentor to younger teammates.  Xero will look to utilize your full breadth of experience to continue driving the success of Xero Shoes’ products.

The Senior Footwear Product Developer is responsible for the research and development of new footwear from the approved design through the confirmation stage. The Senior Footwear Product Developer guides the advanced technical engineering efforts of the product line and mentors less experienced teammates throughout the process. The Senior Footwear Developer is a leader within a team-oriented structure consisting of all disciplines necessary and available to coordinate the development of a product line achieving company objectives within the established timelines.

The Senior Footwear Product Developer responsibilities:

 

Project Management:

  •   Create, modify, and optimize seasonal calendar dates, gates and milestones, ensuring that these enable measurable progress and timely product development success.
  •   Improve tracking documents to better serve the department’s role in managing all project data.
  •   Monitor and manage factory communications and maintain relevant tracking documents.
  •   Lead the costing process by applying technical knowledge of manufacturing for margin optimization.
  •   Lead the technical review and assessment of all samples at all milestone meetings.
  •   Responsible for aligning with key stakeholders and communicating changes to the factory in a timely, organized manner, following all milestone meetings.

Engineering & Technical Development:

  •   Lead the review and assessment of samples against the approved design.
  •   Analyze, investigate, and diagnose any issues that may arise in the construction and manufacturing of all Xero products.
  •   Measure and document product attributes, perform fittings and discover construction issues with no oversight. 
  •   Recommend solutions from advanced to a highly complex level that arise throughout the development process.
  •   Mentor team members to ensure technical solutions are accurate, reliable, consistent, and effective.
  •   Contribute ideas for product design, construction, materials, compounds and components to enhance functionality, aesthetics, fit and profit margin.
  •   Use basic tools to create rough mockups of shoe concepts, construction ideas or innovation visuals. 
  •   Be a resident expert in all technical product information including shell patterns, blueprints, lasts, costing sheets, etc

Tech Pack Creation:

  •   Manage the tech pack creation process, providing innovative, creative and helpful suggestions for material selection, shoe construction and manufacturing process choice. 
  •   Lead communication of details with a pattern-making/product engineering mindset, helping to provide clear, easy to follow instructions for overseas partners.
  •   Generate and maintain the Bill of Materials (BOM) for all projects.

Wear Testing:

  •   Lead and own the fit and wear testing process.
  •   Use strategic analysis and wise decision-making to support the action plans based on wear test results
  •   Ensure that decisions are data-based, use sound judgement, and bring understanding and clarity to the rest of the product team for decisions made. 
  •   Resolve QC/QA issues as needed

Innovation Development:

  •   Utilize in-house tools to mock-up, prototype, dissect or sew together samples that can be used for fast fail discovery or concept exploration. 
  •   Actively seek out new materials, processes or ideas that can be applied to the product line. Stay connected to industry trends, technologies, market needs and consumer buying behavior to be able to identify footwear development opportunities in innovation.

Other Responsibilities Include:

  •   Work with the rest of the product team to understand the product attributes and consumer benefits.
  •   Maintain a solid awareness of the competitive market landscape of competitor products and watch for innovative construction methods, materials and trends.
  •   Participate in international and domestic travel (once travel restrictions are lifted) as required to achieve a high level of product and component development, including visits to manufacturing countries / factories to assist and review commercialization and production on key product(s).
  • Demonstrate consistent reliability as an employee, setting the example for efficiency, accuracy, attention to detail, acute recall of information, personal organization, and professional demeanor and interaction.
  •   Exemplify high standards in work ethic, professionality and continuous improvement.
  •   Show creativity and curiosity in hands-on exploratory development.

Qualifications:

  • Ability to establish and maintain positive working relationships with others.
  • Excellent organizational skills including effective time management, strong self-management and meeting or improving upon deadlines. Show an ability to “read the room” and show self-awareness in personal behavior and teammate interactions.
  • Demonstrate acute detail recall, but also maintain meticulous written records of decisions made, action items, and relevant facts that affect day to day tasks.
  • Ability to work under stress from demanding deadlines, customer contact and changing priorities and conditions.
  • Familiarity with trends in the outdoor sportswear, footwear, and fitness industries.
  • Bachelor’s Degree, or equivalent work experience is required.
  • Knowledge of minimalist shoes and constructions.
  • A minimum of four years of experience in Footwear Development is required.

Job Type: Full-time, based in Broomfield, CO, reporting to our VP of Product Development

Pay: The annualized salary for this position ranges between $90,000 – $120,000, DOE

This range is an estimate based on potential employee qualifications, operational needs, and other considerations as permitted by Colorado Equal Pay Transparency Rule 4.1.2.  Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and equity awards.

Benefits Include:

  • Medical and dental upon employment
  • Additional employee-funded ancillary benefits, such as qualified HSA, or FSA, and Voluntary Life / AD&D,  Accidental, Critical Care, etc. are also available if you choose to participate
  • 401k eligible after 3 months of employment
  • Xero Shoes provided life insurance
  • Employee bonus and incentive plans
  • Sick and vacation accrual

Please send a letter of interest and your resume to [email protected] with Senior Footwear Developer in the subject line.

Xero Shoes is handling our own recruitment. We will not respond to solicitations from recruiters.

Xero Shoes does not have any open positions at this time. Please check back soon for new updates!