The posting
***Please submit application with a link to an online portfolio or an attachment with work samples.***
This is an opportunity to shape the next generation of sneakers and sport performance footwear for an iconic American lifestyle brand. The Creative Design Director will define a bold, modern point of view that brings together style, comfort, performance, and innovation for consumers across genders.
The Creative Design Director, Dual Gender Sneakers & Sport Performance Footwear, will provide creative vision and hands-on leadership from seasonal design strategy through commercialization. This leader will establish a clear design language for the category, create compelling franchises, and ensure every product delivers a distinctive Cole Haan expression while meeting the functional demands of an active, modern lifestyle.
CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES:
Creative Design Direction, Leadership & Vision
- Own and lead the creative design strategy for dual-gender sneakers and sport performance footwear across lifestyle, court, running-inspired, training, golf, outdoor, and emerging movement categories.
- Define and evolve a recognizable category design DNA, including silhouette, proportion, color, materials, branding, tooling, and signature performance details.
- Translate the enterprise brand strategy into seasonal creative design direction, product stories, franchise roadmaps, and clear briefs for internal and external teams.
- Set a high standard for original design, ensuring the work is culturally relevant, consumer-centered, technically credible, and unmistakably Cole Haan.
- Lead concept reviews and design critiques with clarity, speed, and strong decision-making; identify the ideas with the greatest creative and commercial potential.
- Balance aspirational innovation with commercial realities, margin targets, calendar requirements, and the needs of global channels and consumers.
Product Creation, Performance & Innovation
- Direct product from early concept through design development, prototyping, wear testing, commercialization, and final market presentation.
- Partner with Development, Engineering, and Innovation to create proprietary cushioning, traction, fit, flexibility, stability, and comfort solutions.
- Use consumer insight, trend intelligence, and marketplace analysis to identify unmet needs and future category opportunities.
- Build and refresh signature franchises while creating a disciplined pipeline of new platforms and seasonal expressions.
- Guide last, upper, tooling, component, color, and material decisions to achieve intended aesthetics, performance, quality, sustainability, and cost.
- Review prototypes and test results, resolve design and performance tradeoffs, and protect the creative intent through commercialization.
- Ensure responsible design choices are embedded in materials, construction, durability, packaging, and product lifecycle decisions.
Cross-Functional Partnerships & Marketplace Impact
- Partner closely with Product Line Management to establish annual and seasonal assortments, price architecture, franchise priorities, and channel strategies.
- Collaborate with Development, Sourcing, Materials, and Supply Chain to deliver exceptional products on time, on cost, and at the required quality.
- Work with Marketing and Brand Design to translate product innovation into clear consumer benefits, launch stories, campaign assets, and retail experiences.
- Build strong external networks across design, sport, culture, technology, materials, and manufacturing to keep the brand connected to emerging ideas.
- Partner with legal and innovation teams to identify and protect meaningful intellectual property, proprietary details, and technical advantages.
Team & People Leadership
- Build, inspire, and develop a high-performing, multidisciplinary footwear design team with clear roles, priorities, and accountability.
- Create an inclusive creative culture that values curiosity, constructive debate, experimentation, craft, and consumer empathy.
- Establish team and individual goals, provide frequent feedback, and make effective decisions related to hiring, development, performance, and recognition.
- Coach designers to strengthen concept development, storytelling, technical fluency, and executive presentation skills.
- Plan resources and external partnerships to support the seasonal workload, innovation pipeline, and long-range category ambition.
- Serve as a visible cross-functional leader who builds trust, resolves ambiguity, and keeps teams aligned through complex product decisions.
The ideal candidate is an inventive, commercially minded footwear design leader who can move seamlessly between future vision and hands-on seasonal product creation. This person combines elevated taste with deep technical curiosity, understands how consumers experience performance and style, and knows how to turn a strong point of view into products that win in the marketplace.
- Bachelor's degree in footwear, industrial, product, or fashion design, or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
- Typically 12+ years of progressive footwear design experience, including significant leadership of sneaker and/or performance footwear teams.
- Outstanding portfolio demonstrating original design thinking, franchise creation, technical problem-solving, and commercially successful product.
- Deep knowledge of footwear construction, lasts, fit, tooling, compounds, materials, manufacturing, and development processes.
- Experience designing for consumers across genders and building inclusive product systems without compromising style, fit, or performance.
- Proven ability to connect creative vision to brand strategy, consumer segmentation, assortment architecture, and financial objectives.
- Excellent taste level, cultural awareness, trend judgment, and understanding of the global sneaker and performance marketplace.
- Demonstrated success leading, recruiting, coaching, and retaining diverse, high-performing creative talent.
- Exceptional communication, storytelling, influencing, and presentation skills with creative, technical, and executive audiences.
- Comfort operating in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment with multiple seasonal calendars and competing priorities.
- Proficiency with contemporary footwear design workflows and digital creation tools; curiosity about emerging design and visualization technologies.
- Ability to travel domestically and internationally.
Base Salary/Hourly Range: From $200,000 to $240,000 annually*
Bonus Eligibility: Yes, eligible for annual target bonus based on company and individual performance
Benefits Offered: Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Care, Health Savings Accounts, 401(k) Retirement Plan, Vacation Time, Sick Time, Paid Parental Leave, Holidays and Cole Haan Discounts
*Rate of pay dependent upon candidates’ relevant skills and experience
This position is not available to be performed in Colorado.
