Lead, Footwear Quality Engineering (Either based in Taichung or Vietnam)

Become a Part of the NIKE, Inc. Team

NIKE, Inc. does more than outfit the world's best athletes. It is a place to explore potential, push boundaries, and deliver what has never been done before. The company looks for people who can grow, think, dream, and create. Its culture thrives on diversity and imagination. At Nike, it’s about bringing skills and passion to a challenging, constantly evolving game.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR

NIKE’s Product Integrity organization is building a strong Color & Material Quality and Capability ecosystem to ensure consistent material performance and aesthetics.

As the Lead, FW Materials Quality Engineer, you will be a highly independent technical expert responsible for end-to-end resolution of Tier 2 material quality issues during production across footwear material categories, either textile, leather/synthetic leather, or trim/components.

This role goes beyond execution—requiring strong ownership, cross-functional influence, and the ability to drive issue containment, RCA, CAPA, and closure while partnering directly with T2 suppliers, T1 factories, and Nike cross-functional teams.

You will also play a critical role in translating issue insights into capability improvements across material suppliers, enabling continuous performance elevation and recurrence prevention.

WHAT WILL YOU WORK ON

1. Lead End-to-End FW Material Issue Resolution

• Own Tier 2 FW material issue intake, investigation, and technical resolution either for textile, leather/synthetic leather, or trim/components

• Drive rapid containment and risk mitigation at T1 factories and supplier level

• Independently lead root cause analysis (RCA), corrective action & preventive action (CAPA), and closure validation

• Ensure structured and disciplined execution with speed and technical rigor
   

2. Drive Strong Cross-Functional & Supplier Collaboration

• Partner with:

  • T2 material vendors and FW component suppliers  either textile, leather/synthetic leather, trim/component categories

  • T1 footwear factories

  • Supplier Management, Material Development, and Manufacturing teams

• Align on root causes, actions, and timelines to ensure effective resolution at the source

3. Establish Issue Visibility & Reporting

• Support Senior Manager to generate regular issue dashboards across FW material categories

• Provide clear communication of:

  • Issue status

  • Risk level and escalation

  • Resolution progress

• Translate technical issues into clear, actionable insights for stakeholders
   

4. Generate Insights & Enable Continuous Improvement

• Analyze recurring failure modes and trends either for textile, leather/synthetic leather, or trim/component materials

• Convert issue learnings into actionable insights for Quality Capability teams

• Support closed-loop improvement to prevent issue recurrence
   

5. Support Material Supplier Capability Development

• Feed insights into Supplier Management and Capability Programs

• Identify and highlight systemic capability gaps across material vendors and FW component suppliers

• Contribute to long-term capability building and performance improvement roadmap
   

6. Apply Advanced FW Material Technical Expertise

• Provide deep expertise in either:

  • Textile construction, including knits, wovens, and non-wovens

  • Leather and synthetic leather processes, including tanning/coating, lamination, finishing, and surface treatment

  • FW component materials and manufacturing processes, including reinforcements, injection plastics or composite materials, hardware, films, trims(lace, webbing, cable wire...etc.), and related constructions

• Evaluate manufacturing readiness and supplier capability to meet specifications

WHO WILL YOU WORK WITH

This role will report to the Senior Manager, Footwear Material Quality Engineering and collaborate closely with:

• Tier 2 material suppliers

• Tier 1 footwear factories

• Supplier Management teams

• Material Development & Product Creation

• Manufacturing Engineering teams

• Product Integrity teams

WHAT YOU BRING

• Bachelor’s degree or above in either Material Science, Textile Engineering, Leather/Synthetic Leather Engineering, Footwear Manufacturing, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field; equivalent practical experience will also be considered

• 5+ years of experience either in footwear industry focusing on material quality management, or in any material categories like textile, leather, synthetic leather, components.

• 5+ years of experience in material manufacturing, material quality engineering, supplier quality, or production issue resolution, with hands-on exposure to one or more FW material categories such as textile, leather/synthetic leather, trims, hardware, reinforcements, injected plastics, composite materials, films, or related components

• Strong technical understanding of material manufacturing processes, testing, inspection, specifications, defect modes, and quality risk controls across assigned material or component categories