Senior Director, Design – Advanced Concept Full Time

As the Senior Director, Advanced Concepts Design, you drive the strategic vision for the Design group and lead a highly technical interdisciplinary group of forward-thinking designers, developers and experts who deliver tangible solutions for the mountain athlete everywhere. Under your leadership, your team identifies and develops advanced product concepts and technologies, across all product categories, with a focus on a range of projects from two years out from launch to highly conceptual projects well into the future. Your deep understanding of design, engineering, materials and production drives focused and relevant technical problem solving through a consistent flow of projects. You are a business leader with a passion for delivering industry-shaping solutions to establish and maintain Arc’teryx’ position as a disruptive, bold and relevant design brand.

This role is based out of our North Vancouver office and is expected to be performed on-site.

The Advanced Concepts team drives breakthrough innovation in snow, trail and climb for the mountain athlete everywhere. Fueled by curiosity, we take a holistic approach to identifying future needs and tangible solutions across advanced materials, products, technologies, and experiences. We are a team of builders, problem solvers and outdoor enthusiasts. Our in-house, end-to-end capabilities in research, engineering, design, development, digital experience and product validation allow us to innovate head-to-toe solutions that bring the coast mountain experience to the world. Our unique methodology, mindset of sustainability, and fanatic passion for product are at the heart of what we do.

If you were in the Senior Director of Advanced Concepts role now, here are some of the core activities you would be doing:

• Building, coaching, and guiding a high-performing Design team, enabling them to deliver advanced Research &Development (R&D)concepts and solutions in alignment with our future vision
• OverseeingAdvanced Concepts Design and the design activities in footwear, apparel, technology innovation, materials, future vision and our professional line
• Building the Advanced Concepts roadmap to ensure that design has a pipeline of proven innovation concepts to feed into the line, across all product categories
• Overseeing design for professional category (including search & rescue, guides, special forces, etc.) driving pinnacle product solutions while applying learnings to the inline product offering
• Driving key projects to support the future of Arc’teryx, with a focus on product circularity
• Managing and sharing updates to key stakeholders on a portfolio of complexes; short, mid and long-term projects across categories
• Driving innovation proof-of-concepts through partnership with internal and external materials, engineering, tooling and testing teams
• Collaborating with inline Design and Merchandising leadership to drive and align innovation solutions that deliver against our vision
• Creating strategic R&D research partnerships with companies, individuals and academics to evolve product innovation
• Collaborating with the Supply Chain and factory production Engineering teams to ensure all production partners can support and execute advanced construction technology, tooling and workflow
• Ensuring that all R&D concepts achieve a state of risk-reduced readiness prior to go-to-launch style development
• Ensuring your team maintains current industry technology and equipment knowledge through education and hands-on experience
• Acting as a key member of the Arc’teryx design leadership team and participate in broader organizational strategy and planning
• Staying at the forefront of trends and insights for the activities and categories we build for, ensuring we are creating relevant products and solutions
• Partnering with AC Leadership to maintain a robust IP portfolio, proprietary solutions and exclusivity on various materials and technologies
• Supporting in compilation of project scope, activities, and expenditures of projects deemed eligible for submission to funding programs (SR&ED, IRAP, NRC, MITACS, and so forth)

Here are some of the things you could be working on in the future:

• Partnering with Creative leadership teams to build out a 5-year roadmap of advanced concepts materials strategy, special projects and partnerships
• Expanding the scope and depth of exploration across new categories and strategic areas of investment for the business

Are you our next Senior Director, Advanced Concepts

• You have a Degree in Apparel Design, Industrial Design or Textile Engineering, or the equivalent experience
• You have 12+ years’ experience in a technical apparel and/or performance hardgoods design, production, and/or R&D environment, with 7+ years’ experience leading a team
• You have proven experience in leading and mentoring a team, with a strong ability to build a mindset and culture of innovation within your team and beyond
• You have excellent knowledge of outdoor technical apparel, footwear and equipment, including materials, construction techniques, performance characteristics, manufacturing and tooling
• You have exceptional communication skills, including a proven ability to communicate findings to both scientists and nonscientists with strong presentation skills
• You have a keen interest in technical product and its application to a variety of outdoor activities
• You have the ability to travel internationally as required
• 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 effectively 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