In short

• As a Senior Design Lead, Brand Environment Design at On, you will be instrumental in shaping how our brand comes to life in the physical world outside of retail. You will lead the spatial design direction, translating On’s distinctive brand design language into consistent, immersive, and premium physical experiences globally. This role is about creating visionary concepts, guiding design teams and external partners, and developing the strategic frameworks that ensure every physical touchpoint feels unmistakably On: premium, coherent, and rooted in innovation
• Your MissionYour core mission will be to define and elevate how On shows up in the physical world, driving creativity and consistency across all non-retail touchpoints. You will be responsible for:
• Leading Spatial Design Direction: Directing the creative path for non-retail environments to guarantee visual harmony and premium execution that reflects our core identity
• Creating Concepts and Narratives: Translating brand priorities and overarching creative direction into tangible, immersive, and impactful physical concepts and compelling experience narratives
• Guiding Designers and Agencies: Developing inspiring briefs that empower internal and external talent to transform high-level strategy into premium, aesthetically aligned outputs from concept to launch
• Ensuring Creative Alignment and Fidelity: Acting as the guardian of On's design standards, ensuring all physical brand expressions maintain premiumness and coherence across diverse touchpoints. This includes publishing the first official Brand Environment Design Guidelines/Principles aligned with new premium retail standards
• Developing Toolkits & Design Frameworks: Designing comprehensive physical brand systems and scalable toolkits that facilitate locally relevant yet globally unified brand expression across activations and strategic spaces
• Fostering Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serving as a key connector across brand, retail, and regional experience teams, aligning physical executions to a unified omnichannel vision
• Championing Innovation & Premiumness: Continuously evolving On's physical brand presence by infusing each activation with innovative thinking, high-end design standards, and an elevated aesthetic that redefines what premium means for a performance brand. This includes supporting immersive LightSpray technology showcases and ensuring athlete-centric environments reflect On's premium, performance-first identity
• We are looking for a visionary design leader who bridges creative artistry with strategic frameworks and holds a deep-seated drive for crafting immersive brand worlds. To be successful in this role, you should bring:
• Proven Experience: A minimum of 5–7 years of experience in spatial design, environmental design, or experiential architecture, with a strong track record of leading design teams
• The Right Profile: Experience working within a top-tier creative advertising/experiential agency, ideally coupled with in-house experience at a premium, global lifestyle or performance brand. You understand both the fast-paced creative rigor of agency life and the strategic long-term vision of an in-house brand
• Proven Project Scale: Proven experience managing large-scale, complex physical design projects and activations from concept to execution, comfortably handling project budgets ranging from $250k to $1M+
• Portfolio of Immersive Environments: A portfolio showcasing high-impact physical spaces outside of standard retail, such as global brand activations, large-scale event summits, pop-ups, and premium athlete-centric environments
• Strategic Toolkit Development: Extensive experience in developing global toolkits, design principles, and scalable frameworks that enable consistent and high-quality brand expression across various global markets
• Creative Visionary & Advocate: The ability to materialize complex creative themes into premium, high-impact physical environments, maintaining an unwavering focus on quality, detail, and brand integrity
• Collaborative Leadership: A demonstrated ability to steer internal design teams and external production agencies, aligning diverse cross-functional stakeholders and regional teams around a unified vision
• Effective Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills in English are required; additional languages are a plus for global collaboration
• We ensure that wherever the brand meets people in the real world—be it on a global stage, within an athlete environment, at a summit, or in a B2B setting—it feels unmistakably On: premium, coherent, and rooted in innovation. Translating brand intent into physical reality through guidelines, toolkits, and execution frameworks

Just by the banks of the Limmat you’ll find our largest global hub in Zürich West – On Labs – where you can hike up 12 floors through our custom-built spiral trail

Senior Director of Brand Studio

• I think something that unites people here is the pace and the drive. The ambition is quite high in everything we do and when you bring these people together, you see the outcome can be multiplied. It's super impressive to see what happens when you put these creative teams together who really help each other grow
• On is a place that is centered around growth and progress. We offer an environment designed to give people the tools to develop holistically – to stay active, to learn, explore and innovate. Our distinctive approach combines a supportive, team-oriented atmosphere, with access to personal self-care for both physical and mental well-being, so each person is led by purpose
• 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
• Our full process can last about eight weeks from application to offer, because we care about getting it right. These steps explain how we usually do things

Ready to dig into the details?This second interview will be held with your future manager and will focus on the specifics of the job. Together you’ll delve into your unique skills and experiences and how they could be relevant at On. It's also a time to assess how you might feel working side-by-side. Bring any questions you have about the job, the team or anything else you might like to know – this is an open forum

Are we a good fit?We’ll get together internally to share our feedback and decide if we’re a match. We know that job searching is a big time investment, so it’s not a decision we take lightly. It’s also time for you to reflect on the experience – are we the right place for you?No matter the outcome, we’ll give you meaningful feedback

You'll start by submitting your application to a specific role