Lead 3D Footwear Designer, Digital Design

About NIKE, Inc.

NIKE, Inc. brings innovation and inspiration to every athlete in the world. The company seeks passionate individuals who push boundaries and help create the future of sport.

Who We Are Looking For

You're a highly skilled 3D design expert with mastery of design, multiple digital design tools, deep manufacturing knowledge, and computational design. You're a power user of generative AI workflows and actively contribute to tool development. You drive design innovation in hackathons, influence design direction, and serve as a subject matter expert for craft excellence and emerging digital capabilities, with the ability to work at speed without compromising design quality.

What You'll Work On

• Unlock the full power of 3D design, taking ideas from concept to manufacturing.
• Create rapid 3D form studies and design iterations for concept exploration, evaluation, and refinement.
• Deliver production-ready 3D models and visualizations for high-profile projects, collaborating with footwear design, development, and engineering.
• Partner with footwear design category teams to influence direction, present design solutions, and create refined concepts.
• Work across inline, priority, hackathon, and special quick-strike projects, including high-profile collaborations with compressed timelines.
• Create and share custom tools, scripts, and workflows that accelerate team capabilities and establish best practices.
• Serve as a subject matter expert with pipeline teams and development partners on 3D tools.
• Champion generative AI adoption by demonstrating advanced workflows and identifying high-impact use cases.
• Partner with the GenAI team, Global Tech, and CP&I to refine and scale AI-powered design tools.
• Mentor 3D Designer I and II team members in traditional 3D skills, computational workflows, and generative AI workflows.
• Ensure work meets output strategy, asset management, brand protection, and consumer-facing standards.

Who You'll Work With

You'll be aligned to a specific Sport team, working independently on high-complexity projects and partnering with the Sport team's Footwear Product Designer and Design Director. You'll collaborate with senior leadership, development, engineering, factory partners, the GenAI team, Global Tech, and CP&I.

What You Bring

• BA/BFA degree in a related field preferred; suitable combinations of education, experience, and training will be considered.
• 6+ years of experience in 3D design creation.
• Expert-level Polygon, SubD, and NURBS modeling across multiple software packages, including Blender, Maya, Rhino, Grasshopper, and Houdini.
• Experience with computational design, procedural modeling, custom Grasshopper scripts, and rapid iterative concept modeling.
• Expertise identifying emerging technologies and translating them into practical workflows.
• Deep understanding of product engineering, development requirements, and manufacturing constraints; professional footwear experience is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience applying and refining generative AI workflows; Vizcom is required, and AI-assisted coding experience is preferred.
• Hands-on expertise with 3D printing technologies and additive manufacturing prototype validation.
• Advanced rendering skills, including custom environments, materials, and lighting setups.
• Experience collaborating with engineering teams to develop custom tools and workflows.
• A portfolio demonstrating high-quality 3D design, modeling, and execution; footwear experience is preferred.

Additional Information

NIKE offers accommodations throughout the interview process, a generous total rewards package, a casual work environment, a diverse and inclusive culture, and opportunities for professional development. NIKE, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.