Principal Materials Innovator, Apparel Innovation

This role is part of the Apparel Materials Innovation team and operates as an individual-contributor technical leader. It sets technical direction and leads the discovery, engineering, evaluation, and scale-up of advanced textile materials for sport-performance apparel. The role collaborates across Apparel Innovation, Design, Global Apparel Materials, Digital Product, Product Development, and Advanced Manufacturing, and builds external relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, equipment providers, research institutes, laboratories, academia, and emerging technology companies.

• Set technical direction and lead the discovery, engineering, evaluation, and scale-up of advanced textile materials for sport-performance apparel.
• Translate performance opportunities into clear material strategies, technical briefs, experimental plans, and decision criteria.
• Engineer and evaluate yarn, structure, process, and finishing combinations across knit, woven, additive, and emerging textile platforms.
• Lead development from early research through prototyping, application trials, testing, data analysis, pilot production, and manufacturing integration.
• Assess technical feasibility, performance potential, scalability, cost drivers, manufacturing readiness, and development risk.
• Build and lead multidisciplinary project teams, influencing decisions across materials, design, product development, manufacturing, digital, and sustainability functions.
• Establish external partnerships with suppliers, mills, equipment manufacturers, laboratories, research institutions, universities, startups, and other technology organisations.
• Strengthen organisational capability by developing technical methods, identifying intellectual-property opportunities, communicating research findings, and sharing knowledge with technical and product-creation teams.
• Connect consumer and athlete needs with material science, manufacturing capabilities, and data-informed development methods to create differentiated solutions that are technically credible, commercially viable, and ready for product application.

• Bachelor's degree in textile engineering, textile science, materials science, textile design, industrial engineering, industrial design, or a related field; suitable combinations of education, experience, and training will be accepted.
• Deep expertise in performance textile engineering, material science, and advanced manufacturing.
• Demonstrated experience leading textile or apparel-material research and development from technical concept through prototype, validation, and commercial-scale manufacturing.
• Advanced expertise in at least one textile-creation discipline, such as knitting, weaving, or additive manufacturing.
• Working knowledge of yarns, dyeing, finishing, performance testing, and large-scale textile production.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multidisciplinary technical programmes and influence internal and external partners without direct reporting authority.
• Strong communication, project leadership, data analysis, and evidence-based decision-making skills.
• Understanding of the relationships among yarn properties, textile structures, manufacturing processes, finishing technologies, test methods, and product performance.
• Ability to translate athlete and product needs into technical hypotheses, development strategies, and scalable material systems across knit, woven, and additive applications.
• Comfort operating through ambiguity, evaluating technical and economic feasibility, and determining which opportunities should advance from research to prototyping, validation, and commercial production.
• Ability to establish technical standards, guide complex programmes, and influence decisions without relying on direct reporting authority.
• Ability to communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences and build productive external partnerships.
• Ability to use data, modelling, machine learning, and AI-enabled approaches where they strengthen material discovery and decision-making.
• Combines hands-on technical knowledge with the ability to set direction, influence multidisciplinary teams, and transform emerging science and technology into differentiated apparel material solutions.

• Experience applying statistical methods, computational tools, machine learning, or AI to material design, experimentation, modelling, testing, or decision-making.
• Experience conducting technical and economic feasibility assessments for research, development, equipment, or manufacturing investments.
• Experience developing intellectual property related to materials, products, manufacturing methods, or processes.
• Established relationships with textile mills, yarn suppliers, machinery manufacturers, testing laboratories, research institutes, universities, startups, or industry consortia.