Arc’teryx - Director – Footwear Product Creation (Asia) - Taichung

Department: Footwear Product Creation

Reports to: VP, Footwear Development and Engineering

Location: Taichung, Taiwan

 

Your Opportunity at ARC’TERYX:

As our Director of Footwear Product Creation, you will ensure every product meets the high performance and quality standards that our athletes deserve. You and your team will play integral roles in the creation and manufacturing of all models throughout the product creation cycle, from innovation through production. You will collaborate with your Arc’teryx cross-functional partners in both the Footwear and Supply Chain teams and with our Tier 1s and Tier 2s to develop best practices, establish toolboxes, and ensure the necessary processes are in place to guarantee performance, quality and profitability. You will drive development, engineering and quality excellence across our development and production locations in Taiwan, Vietnam and China. Our manufacturing partners will be key stakeholders for you; you’ll work closely with them to drive product and process excellence, and to bring our innovation and in-line product strategy to life. Finally, you will partner with our Footwear Leadership and corporate Sustainability teams to help develop and drive a sustainability agenda to support Arc’teryx’s circularity and sustainability goals and corporate mission to “Leave it Better”.

 

This role will be based in Taichung. Candidates must be eligible to work in Taiwan.

 

Meet Your 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.

· Owning performance and quality excellence throughout our product line, by ensuring that the vision of our product creation teams is effectively realized by our Tier 1 partners. This will include supporting efforts to create processes, toolboxes, best practices, quality standards, etc., in collaboration with our Portland-based leadership teams.

· Hiring and managing a small team of developers and engineers located in each of our production countries.

· Collaborating with the Footwear and Sourcing leadership teams to establish and execute a long-term partner strategy grounded in product excellence, on-time delivery, quality, and risk mitigation.

· Collaborating with our Materials teams and Tier 2 partners to support breakthrough materials innovations.

· Collaborating with Costing team members to ensure margin and growth targets are met.

· Evolving quality processes designed to mitigate risk, and to allow timely resolution when issues arise.

· 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.

· Providing a strong point of view on and heavily influencing our Sustainability agenda and our corporate mission to “Leave It Better”.

· Leveraging your deep functional expertise to educate, coach and mentor others.

· Developing and/or identifying the digital tools and processes need to lead us into the digital future

· Developing opportunities and programs to develop technical talent in Asia across Amer brands

· Evolving our organization and processes to ensure we are well positioned for our next phase of growth

· You have 10+ years’ experience in a technical aspect of the footwear industry in Asia (engineering, development, manufacturing, etc.)

· You have strong influential leadership skills, 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 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

Arc’teryx is committed to actively creating and fostering a culture of inclusivity where voices are heard, people are seen, and values are respected. We care about the uniqueness of our applicants, employees, and guests, and we do so in a safe space fueled by curiosity and acceptance. 

Creating an inclusive workplace is connected to our core value Do Right while also having the added benefit of helping make our business better. We believe inclusion helps us to create a healthier, happier workplace, drive creativity and innovation, and reflect the communities where we operate.  

All applicants, employees, and guests can expect equality of opportunity and fair treatment in alignment with our values.

We believe that the mountains transform us, that how we adventure matters, and that there’s always a better way. 

Join us in creating positive change in ourselves, our communities, and the world. 

Live it. Get out there – the mountains make us better 

Disruptive evolution. In pursuit of better. Always. 

Commit. We set bold objectives and see them through.