Senior Lead - Lightspray Digital Engineering in Zürich

Serving as a driving force at the intersection of digital design and advanced manufacturing, your primary focus will be on tackling technical complexity and advancing parametric design systems. You will oversee the end-to-end integration of pioneering footwear, ensuring visionary aesthetics align seamlessly with demanding performance, grading, and scalability requirements. In this role, you will leverage your expertise in digital parametric systems and product creation to bridge the gap between early algorithmic concepts and high-volume manufacturing. Leading a specialized team of computational design experts with a high degree of autonomy, you will push the boundaries of footwear innovation to ensure complex generative designs scale effectively into production-ready footwear.

On's Lightspray creation team is an agile, interdisciplinary group of footwear creation, advanced manufacturing, and future of sport experts, driving On's future innovations and athlete-informed technologies that set On footwear apart. We challenge the status quo and push boundaries to pioneer footwear innovation. As a member of the On Lightspray Creation Team, you will think outside the box and bring new, innovative ideas to life.

Your Mission

• Lead and Grow: Build, mentor, and inspire a team of computational design experts, fostering a culture that seamlessly connects creative exploration with scalable engineering.
• Bridge Concept to Scale: Spearhead the integration and scale process by translating early conceptual 3D datasets into fully production-ready manufacturing blueprints for the most innovative Lightspray products.
• Advanced Manufacturability: Engineer designs for factory replication, leveraging your expertise in system automation, robotics, interoperability workflows, data management, parametric dependences, among others.
• Algorithmic Grading & Fit: Implement parametric design principles to build highly adaptable systems, taking full ownership of Inline product creation, full-size run grading, LS upper-pattern adjustments, and tooling intersections to ensure consistency across all sizes in accordance with our Swiss engineering standards.
• Architect an AI-Driven Modular Foundation: Build and scale a centralized digital library of reusable, parametric design modules. Leverage AI and generative algorithms to deploy these components across multiple footwear lines with accuracy and consistency.
• Automated Grading & Parametric Scaling: Develop advanced parametric models and Grasshopper scripts to automate the generation, modularity, and scaling of complex footwear elements across samples and full-size runs.
• Cross-Functional Hub: Act as the critical liaison between Innovation, Footwear Design, and strategic Tier 1/Tier 2 vendors to negotiate technical requirements, update ERP systems, and finalize scalability sign-offs.
• Technical Troubleshooting: Apply a rigorous root cause analysis approach to document and resolve complex LS upper requirements, creating clear manufacturing manuals for factory partners and driving commercial success.

Your Story

• 7–10 years of experience in high-level product design environments, with a strong portfolio of computational design and performance product solutions.
• Proven experience leading teams and large-scale projects in agile environments.
• Deep expertise in computational design as well as 2D and 3D tools - from early explorations to production-ready 3D datasets.
• Good understanding of traditional manufacturing processes in high-performance footwear (a plus).
• An innovative mindset with a strong drive to push the boundaries of footwear design. Ability to work independently under deadlines on multiple projects simultaneously, combining creative thinking with engineering problem-solving skills.
• Must be able to thrive in a fast-paced environment. With a natural technical curiosity and a robust, root-cause analysis approach to problem-solving.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to confidently present to senior management and external partners.
• A demonstrated ability to work with a high degree of autonomy, navigating ambiguity, and making independent judgments on complex and significant issues.
• Experience in mentoring junior team members or supervising project activities.
• Ability to travel up to 15% of the time.

What We Offer

On ist ein Ort, der sich auf Wachstum und Fortschritt konzentriert. Wir bieten eine Umgebung, die darauf ausgelegt ist, den Menschen die Werkzeuge zu geben, um ganzheitlich zu entwickeln – aktiv zu bleiben, zu lernen, zu erkunden und zu innovieren. Unser unverwechselbarer Ansatz kombiniert eine unterstützende, teamorientierte Atmosphäre mit Zugang zu persönlicher Selbstfürsorge für das körperliche und geistige Wohlbefinden, sodass jede Person von einem Zweck geleitet wird. On ist ein Arbeitgeber, der Chancengleichheit bietet. Wir setzen uns dafür ein, ein Arbeitsumfeld zu schaffen, das fair und inklusiv ist, in dem alle Entscheidungen im Zusammenhang mit Rekrutierung, Aufstieg und Bindung frei von Diskriminierung sind.