Oakley Custom Program Innovation Manager

Description:

You're tired of being a cog in the machine. Innovation flows through your veins and your current company could care less. You crave an environment where science is wrapped in art and design is king. We are looking for that Mad Scientist who can identify problems, create inventions and wrap those inventions in art. You will be compelled to think, act and deliver beyond reason.

We're worthy of you and you of us if you can answer yes to the following:

1. Do you like being a part of the team that is pushing boundaries, making changes and launching new programs?

2. Are you a three headed freak? Part gear-head, relationship builder and consumer insight expert.

3. Have you been successful in organizing chaos?

The Oakley Custom Program Innovation Manager is a strategic role responsible for enhancing and optimizing the Oakley Custom consumer experience via product and retail environment innovation. He/she will drive the evolution of existing innovation platforms (such as sublimation and lens etching) and ideate and develop new innovation platforms for implementation both in the production environment and at retail. The role requires a strategic aptitude and mental agility that allows the fusion of ideas and concepts from Industrialization, R&D, and Consumer Experience. The Oakley Custom Program Innovation Manager will serve as the "right hand" to the Oakley Custom Global Category lead with regard to defining and elevating the experience across multiple channels - Retail, Digital, and WS - in all cases partnering within the Matrix organization to drive mutually beneficial results.

The Oakley Custom Program Innovation Manager is responsible for driving innovation within the Oakley Custom platform, both within the realm of product/production and the consumer experience across channels and across the globe. The key strategic functions can therefore be separated into two categories:

Drive product customization innovation

- Ideate, source and test innovation platforms that enhance consumer customization, including but not limited to fit, skin type, etc. Scavenge around the building for good ideas to synthesize with Oakley Custom, and absorb external ideas around customization and/or production that can be applied to Oakley Custom.
- Examples: Sublimation & Etching (existing platforms)
- Manage sublimation as a product innovation within Oakley Custom
- Based on current sublimation machine requirements, develop, test, and produce nests for 5 - 10 eyewear styles by Q4 2013
- Develop tools, training materials, and process plans to implement 2+ sublimation machines within retail locations by Q4 2013
- Provide in-store training as required to retail associates in test stores
- Provide Oakley Custom lab training as required to manufacturing team
- Provide support for maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of deployed sublimation machines
- Work with graphics team to provide quarterly updates to sublimation graphics library. Ensure graphics are tested, approved, and ready to implement at the store and lab level.
- Begin work on "next generation" of sublimation machines for broader deployment at Retail and within the production environment
- Develop requirements documents for sublimation machine vendors, capturing feedback/insights from initial machine deployment. Goals: faster, smaller, cheaper, easier
- Manage etching as a product innovation within Oakley Custom
- Develop required nests, tools, training materials, and process plans to implement 2 existing etching machines by Q4 2013
- Provide in-store training as required to retail associates in test stores
- Provide Oakley Custom lab training as required to manufacturing team
- Provide support for maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of deployed etching machines
- Begin work on "next generation" of etching machines for broader deployment at Retail and within the production environment
- Develop requirements documents for etching machine vendors, capturing feedback/insights from initial machine deployment. Goals: faster, smaller, cheaper, easier

Drive Oakley Custom consumer experience innovation

- Define and evolve the Oakley Custom consumer experience across channels and global markets. Create, manage, support and evolve innovation platforms implemented to enhance the consumer experience
- Retail O Stores - in store "performance art" build
- Ideate, source and assess ways to enhance the build experience at retail, including but not limited to icon application methods, lens etching, assembly and more. Implement, test, and evaluate approved methods and manage to broader distribution and support.
- Wholesale
- Explore and enhance the "digital solution" beyond SGH (Sunglass Hut) (tablet + merchandising) enabling Oakley Custom to scale much further within wholesale while remaining brand right.
- Digital
- Partner closely with digital team to ensure that Oakley Custom is optimized from an experience perspective and synced to align with One Oakley initiative

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will have:

- Strong strategic acumen and the ability to synthesize multiple points of inspiration and external stimulus into actionable product and consumer experience innovation platforms
- A good working knowledge of Oakley products
- Exceptional project management skills
- The ability to work collaboratively across the organization and with external vendors
- A strong comfort level with "blue sky" and/or ambiguity
- The ability and desire to understand the Oakley consumer and design experiences around that knowledge
- And an appreciation for the varied complexities (legal, safety, perception) associated with consumer-facing equipment

Plus Factors:

- A strong grasp of computer-led machine production would be a plus
- College degree preferred

The Environment and Culture:
Our culture is the desired hybrid of life and work. Here, you don't have to be anyone you aren't. When you walk through our doors, it's you, not you in a suit or pantyhose. It's you as you are, as you want to be, and part of an amazing team, ready to change the world.

Oakley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

Job: Manufacturing

Primary Location: United States-California-Foothill Ranch

Organization: Oakley

Schedule: Full-time