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 FootwearDevelopment 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 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
• 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

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

About the 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

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

What we offer

• 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