Lead - Commercialization Engineer

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IN SHORT… AS THE LEAD DEVELOPER FOR PAD (LIFESTYLE) + YOUNG MOVERS (KIDS), YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR INLINE LIFESTYLE PRODUCTS IN OUR FASTEST-GROWING, LARGEST PRODUCT VERTICAL, ALONGSIDE SPECIALIZED DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERED SPECIFICALLY FOR THE YOUNG MOVERS IN OUR COMMUNITY. Honing craft takes time. It requires patience, resilience, and a dedication to the complex integration of footwear construction and systems. In this role, you are an individual contributor operating at the intersection of high-performance design for all-day wear and disciplined Swiss Engineering.   Your Mission… * Commit to the Craft: You will lead the technical development for new silhouettes across both Adult and Kids categories, ensuring that every product meets strict engineering standards for performance, aesthetic, and fit. * Master Complex Integration: You will serve as the primary technical partner to Design, converting creative dreams into commercial reality without compromising on function. * Bridge the Generations: You will translate adult performance concepts into kid-specific footwear, understanding the unique biomechanical and durability needs of younger, developing feet.   Your Day-to-Day… * Execute the Technical Lifecycle: Manage the end-to-end development process from initial 2D/3D design concepts through tech-packing, prototyping, and final production-ready samples. * Drive Material & Tooling Innovation: Partner with material sourcing and tooling teams to test, validate, and implement new compounds, textiles, and manufacturing methods. * Lead Fit & Wear Testing: Oversee rigorous fit and wear testing protocols for both adults and kids, analyzing feedback to iterate and optimize comfort, support, and durability. * Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Act as the central technical hub between Design, Product Management, Sourcing, and Tier 1 factory partners to ensure timelines and margin targets are met. * Optimize for Scale: Ensure blueprints and construction methods are optimized for mass production while maintaining the pristine aesthetic integrity of the brand. YOUR STORY… * The Technical Authority: You bring 7+ years of footwear development experience, with a proven track record of launching highly complex, performance-driven lifestyle or athletic products. Experience in kids' footwear development is a massive plus. * Resilient Individual Contributor: You have the patience and persistence to navigate the long development road. You take full accountability for the technical lifecycle and thrive when managing independent projects. * A Problem Solver by Nature: Ingenuity is at your core. You think differently, challenge the status quo, and find elegance in solving the most difficult construction puzzles while maintaining superior performance. * Global Collaborator: You have extensive experience working directly with overseas commercialization centers and factories, understanding how to communicate technical nuances across cultures. Your Keys to Success… * Thrive in Ambiguity: You don't wait for a perfect roadmap. In a fast-scaling environment, parameters change quickly; you view shifting priorities as an opportunity to innovate rather than a roadblock. * Biased for Action (With Guardrails): You possess a strong sense of urgency. You know when to move fast and trust your gut, and when to pause to ensure Swiss-engineered quality isn't compromised. * The "No Job Too Small" Mindset: Despite your seniority as a Lead, you are a hands-on builder. You are just as excited to brainstorm high-level platform concepts with Design as you are to roll up your sleeves and fix a tech-pack error. * Comfortable with Constructive Friction: Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You welcome diverse perspectives, lean into healthy debate with Design and Product management, and use pushback to sharpen the final product. * Continuous Learner: The footwear landscape—especially in sustainable materials and circularity—is evolving daily. You are naturally curious, constantly scouting new methods, and eager to apply fresh learnings to the PAD and Kids lines.

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In short Based at our Zurich HQ, you will be the driving force behind delivering the most premium sports products in the industry, championing groundbreaking creation and fearlessly challenging traditional processes to achieve it. In this role, you will seamlessly connect the granular with the strategic—acting as a hands-on technical master of the details while serving as the high-level strategic consultant for On’s most critical category. By ensuring perfect alignment between design vision and manufacturing feasibility, you will set the standard for footwear creation. You will provide the technical governance, cross-functional leadership, and visionary support necessary to implement elite performance standards and protect product integrity. The Senior Lead Development role will report to the Head of Innovation Footwear, supporting the wider global footwear department. Please Read Before Applying: To ensure a smooth and efficient recruitment process, we kindly ask all applicants to submit their CV in English, as this is the working language of our company.   Your Mission * Technical Stewardship: Act as the primary technical advisor during the briefing and design phases to ensure performance running concepts are aligned with global manufacturing capabilities. * Strategic Synchronization: Facilitate technical alignment between Zurich-based Design/Product Management and the Asia-based execution teams, ensuring that the "performance soul" of the category is preserved across all franchises. * Process Enablement: Support the evolution of development standards by identifying technical bottlenecks and advising on best practices that improve category-wide efficiency. * Advisory & Escalation Support: Serve as the senior technical point of contact for Asia-based development partners, providing guidance on complex technical hurdles and supporting the resolution of high-level production escalations. * Performance Quality Assurance: Support the validation of fit, feel, and durability standards, ensuring that category-wide technical benchmarks are consistently met across different factory partners. * Knowledge Facilitation: Foster a culture of technical excellence by mentoring the broader development team and translating complex innovation breakthroughs into actionable development frameworks.   Your Story * Experience: 8–12+ years in footwear development. A background rooted in high-performance footwear and technical complexity is preferred.  * Passionate product builder: You love to build product that makes athletes better, obsessing over the details and the athlete. * Influential Leadership: Proven ability to influence product direction and technical outcomes through partnership and advisory, rather than direct line management or project ownership. * Systemic Thinking: A deep understanding of how performance tooling, materials, and construction impact the global supply chain and product lifecycle. * Collaborative Bridge: Exceptional at navigating HQ and regional dynamics, acting as a "technical translator" between creative vision and factory execution. * Strategic Judgment: Highly skilled at evaluating technical trade-offs and providing recommendations that balance innovation with commercial scalability. * Consultative Communication: A trusted voice capable of guiding stakeholders toward technically sound decisions while maintaining strong cross-functional relationships. Attributes of a successful candidate: * The Technical Advisor: You don't need to hold the pen on every tech pack, but you are the person everyone consults when a design pushes the boundaries of physics. * The Strategic Partner: You focus on the "how" and "why," ensuring the category’s technical roadmap is robust and scalable. * The Alignment Specialist: You thrive in the space between teams, ensuring that no technical detail is "lost in translation" between Zurich and our global manufacturing partners. * A clear communicator in English, both verbal and written.   Your Team   You will join the Zurich-based Footwear Development team, serving as a senior pillar of expertise. A high-performance collective of engineers, developers, and makers who serve as the technical heart of the brand. In Zurich, our team acts as the primary link between Biomechanical Research, Material Science, Design, and Sourcing, ensuring that every innovation is grounded in technical reality before it reaches the athlete. Our mission is to relentlessly elevate the performance and technical attributes of our footwear. We don't just facilitate product creation; we engineer the "ride." As part of the vertical, you will be surrounded by specialists who are obsessed with creating the best fitting, performing and desirable products in the market. We pride ourselves on a culture of technical rigor and "Swiss Engineering," where we challenge the status quo to solve the most complex biomechanical hurdles in the industry. Your role within this team is to ensure that as our category expands, our technical standards and the performance "soul" of our footwear remain uncompromised.

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SENIOR LEAD FOOTWEAR DEVELOPER  IN SHORT: As the Senior Lead Footwear Developer for Performance Running, you serve as the strategic technical consultant for our most critical product category. Based in our Zurich HQ, your role is to ensure high-level alignment between design intent and manufacturing feasibility. Rather than managing the granular execution of every product, you provide the technical governance and cross-functional support necessary to maintain performance integrity as the category scales. The Senior Lead Development role will report to the Senior Lead Run Footwear Development on the Performance Run team supporting global footwear.  YOUR MISSION: * Technical Stewardship: Act as the primary technical advisor during the briefing and design phases to ensure performance running concepts are aligned with global manufacturing capabilities. * Strategic Synchronization: Facilitate technical alignment between Zurich-based Design/Product Management and the Asia-based execution teams, ensuring that the "performance soul" of the category is preserved across all franchises. * Process Enablement: Support the evolution of development standards by identifying technical bottlenecks and advising on best practices that improve category-wide efficiency. * Advisory & Escalation Support: Serve as the senior technical point of contact for Asia-based development partners, providing guidance on complex technical hurdles and supporting the resolution of high-level production escalations. * Performance Quality Assurance: Support the validation of fit, feel, and durability standards, ensuring that category-wide technical benchmarks are consistently met across different factory partners. * Knowledge Facilitation: Foster a culture of technical excellence by mentoring the broader development team and translating complex innovation breakthroughs into actionable development frameworks.   YOUR STORY: * Experience: 8–12 years in footwear development, with a background rooted in high-performance running and technical complexity. * Influential Leadership: Proven ability to influence product direction and technical outcomes through partnership and advisory, rather than direct line management or project ownership. * Systemic Thinking: A deep understanding of how performance tooling, materials, and construction impact the global supply chain and product lifecycle. * Collaborative Bridge: Exceptional at navigating HQ and regional dynamics, acting as a "technical translator" between creative vision and factory execution. * Strategic Judgment: Highly skilled at evaluating technical trade-offs and providing recommendations that balance innovation with commercial scalability. * Consultative Communication: A trusted voice capable of guiding stakeholders toward technically sound decisions while maintaining strong cross-functional relationships.   ATTRIBUTES OF A SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE:  * The Technical Advisor: You don't need to hold the pen on every tech pack, but you are the person everyone consults when a design pushes the boundaries of physics. * The Strategic Partner: You focus on the "how" and "why," ensuring the category’s technical roadmap is robust and scalable. * The Alignment Specialist: You thrive in the space between teams, ensuring that no technical detail is "lost in translation" between Zurich and our global manufacturing partners.   YOUR TEAM: You will join the Zurich-based Footwear Development team, serving as a senior pillar of expertise for the Performance Running category. A high-performance collective of engineers, developers, and makers who serve as the technical heart of the brand. In Zurich, our team acts as the primary link between Biomechanical Research, Material Science, Design, and Sourcing, ensuring that every innovation is grounded in technical reality before it reaches the athlete. Our mission is to relentlessly elevate the performance and technical attributes of our running footwear. We don't just facilitate product creation; we engineer the "ride." As part of the Performance Run vertical, you will be surrounded by specialists who are obsessed with creating the best fitting, performing and desirable running product in the market. We pride ourselves on a culture of technical rigor and "Swiss Engineering," where we challenge the status quo to solve the most complex biomechanical hurdles in the industry. Your role within this team is to ensure that as our category expands, our technical standards and the performance "soul" of our run footwear remain uncompromised. On is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a work environment that is fair and inclusive, where all decisions related to recruitment, advancement, and retention are free of discrimination.