Footwear Designer (Licensing and Partnerships)

Footwear Designer (Licensing and Partnerships)

Position Overview
Seeking a Contract Designer, Brand Partnerships to support the team with a focus on collectibles, licensed products, and collaboration-driven design concepts. This is not a traditional design role. We are looking for a creative who can turn licensed IP into objects of obsession, not just product. Someone who operates at the intersection of footwear, collectibles, and culture, and understands how to build desirability, exclusivity, and emotional connection through design.

This role will contribute to strong concept visualization, illustration, and 3D-supported design thinking. The ideal candidate brings experience in licensed product or collectible design, thrives in a fast-paced environment, and can independently drive concepts from

Key Responsibilities

• Support the Brand Partnerships design team by developing brand-right, collectible-driven design concepts for footwear and related product expressions
• Translate insights on forward-thinking consumers, pop culture, tastemakers, and global brands into compelling Crocs design stories
• Create inspiring concept visuals, illustrations, and mood boards that build excitement and align internal teams and external partners
• Design graphic placements, Jibbitz(TM) concepts, and CAD and/or 3D-supported visuals
• Collaborate with packaging partners to provide initial creative direction when necessary and ensure cohesive storytelling across product and packaging
• Bring a collectibles mindset to design work, thinking in systems such as drops, series, variants, and long-tail desirability
• Contribute to product that signals cultural relevance and scarcity, not just commercial viability
• Collaborate with Product, Development, Marketing, and Licensing partners to deliver feasible, on-brand concepts
• Present design concepts clearly and confidently to internal stakeholders and external partners, helping sell the vision, not just show the work
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, time-sensitive contract environment while maintaining creative clarity
• Support design development across concept, color, form, materials, and technical detail
• Stay current on global trends across music, fashion, art, and youth culture, bringing a sharp and informed point of view
• Explore new tools, workflows, and technologies, including 3D and emerging design capabilities
• Bring fresh, disruptive thinking while remaining adaptable, solutions-oriented, and self-directed

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Apparel Design, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 5 years of professional design experience, ideally including licensed products, collaborations, or collectibles
• Proven ability to create high-desirability product that feels exclusive, even at scale
• Strong instinct for what resonates in culture, with a global lens across music, fashion, art, and emerging trends
• Ability to move fluidly from 2D concept to fully realized 3D product expression
• Strong proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop)
• Working knowledge of 3D and/or CAD tools
• Solid understanding of materials, construction, and production considerations across multiple product types
• Experience designing across a range of expressions, from graphic applications to sculptural, premium collectible forms
• Ability to self-direct and take ownership from concept through execution with minimal oversight
• Strong visual, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to present ideas in a compelling and engaging way
• Highly organized and comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment
• Ability to balance speed and taste, delivering high-quality work under pressure

In this position, you may have access to client or customer systems, confidential and/or proprietary information or data.

Benefits

Creative Circle's Freelance Employee benefits package includes eligibility for Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) medical plan, dental/vision/term life package, discount prescription program, critical illness, accident, tele-behavioral health, and 401(k) plan. Sick leave is provided to Candidates whose assignment work location is in a state or city subject to sick leave laws. A Minimum Value (MV) PPO medical plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, and paid holiday eligibility are based on length and dates of service.

Email Your Resume In Word To
Bbelardinelli@creativecircle.com
Looking forward to receiving your resume through our website and going over the position with you. Clicking apply is the best way to apply.
Please do NOT change the email subject line in any way. You must keep the JobID: linkedin : BB14-1980473 -- in the email subject line for your application to be considered.
Brenna Belardinelli - Recruitment Strategist, Enterprise

For Creative Circle to represent you for this opportunity, you must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need of employer sponsorship for a non-immigrant visa such as a H-1B, TN, or O visa. We do not support or provide training for STEM/OPT programs. Additionally, you must be physically located in and perform the work for our client in the United States.This is a new role.

This job was first posted by Creative Circle on 03/12/2026 and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled or closed.

This job was posted on 03/12/2026 and is open for 60 days

Creative Circle is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, genetic information, registered domestic partner status, marital status, disability, status as a crime victim, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Our hiring process includes AI screening for keywords and minimum qualifications. Recruiters review all results.  Creative Circle will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local law, including but not limited to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the California Fair Chance Act. If you need a reasonable accommodation in the application process, please contact your Recruiter (the person you'll be interviewing with) or a member of our Human Resources team to make arrangements. United Healthcare creates and publishes the Transparency in Coverage Machine-Readable Files on behalf of Creative Circle.

Copyright 1999 - 2026. CreativeCircle , Inc. All rights reserved.