Materials Designer 1, Footwear

Your Opportunity at ARC’TERYX:  

As a Materials Designer 1, you collaborate with the Footwear Design team to create and implement the Arc’teryx Footwear Material Design strategy. You work closely with Design, Development and Product Line Management teams to bring material creations to life. You support Footwear Materials leadership to deliver inline materials by leveraging mountain athlete insights, executing the seasonal materials direction, creating tech packs, materials briefs and material maps.  

This role is based out of our Portland office and is expected to be performed onsite. 

Meet Your Future Team: 

 The Arc’teryx team creates innovative, beautiful product that exceeds the core mountain athlete’s needs in the outdoors 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. 

• Supporting, ideating, communicating on and implementing unique footwear materials solves that address durability, performance, circularity, and impact 
• Driving materials design excellence by leveraging performance and usage feedback from the mountain athlete 
• Supporting the execution and commercialization of innovative seasonal materials 
• Supporting the creation of an evergreen materials palette in collaboration with the Raw Materials Development team; articulating a common language and tiers 
• Utilizing materials testing methodology to deliver best-in-class materials that solve problems for the mountain athlete 
• Supporting in the exploration of sustainable materials in evergreen and seasonal materials palettes 
• Partnering with the Raw Materials Development team to refine and expand our supplier base, informed by Arc’teryx focused performance and quality needs 
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to meet calendar gates and product milestones 
• Updating physical and digital materials libraries for Arc’teryx footwear 
• Researching and bringing insights and materials trends from other industries 
• Preparing presentations for seasonal material concepts 
• Working with Footwear Product Development and Raw Materials Development teams to revise and refine materials through prototyping stage gates 
• Partnering with the Marketing team to translate athlete insights and needs into tangible narratives 
• Traveling to Asia for supplier and factory visits and to the Arc’teryx Design Center in North Vancouver, BC for design collaborations and team building 

• You have a Degree in Design (Apparel, Industrial, or Textile Design) 
• You have 1-2 years hands-on experience designing technical materials with a focus on footwear 
• You are technically proficient using the Adobe Suite, or the equivalent pattern software 
• You have a proficient understanding of the footwear and/or product design creation process and understand technical textiles, knits, woven, natural and synthetic materials 
• You have the capability to create tools and methods to assist in solving construction issues 
• You have experience working with material suppliers 
• You are an excellent team player with the ability to take direction and work independently 
• You have technical and creative skills to pattern and prototype 
• You are entrepreneurial and innovative 
• You have strong planning, organizational, problem solving and decision-making skills 
• You are proactive in identifying the root cause of issues, seeking the best (sometimes not the easiest) solutions with an unwavering commitment to do what is right 
• You remain highly flexible and adaptable when faced with ambiguity 
• You can balance autonomy and collaboration 
• You inspire breakthrough thinking and continuous improvement 
• Your passion for your work is paralleled by your passion for getting outside and living it 
• You have a strong knowledge of Arc’teryx products and interest/involvement in activities Arc’teryx makes products for 

Equal Opportunity

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.

Leave it Better

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.