Senior Specialist - Sports Engineer

Location: Zurich

Apply for this role

Several people sit and stand around tables in a high-rise room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a city street, one person standing by the window holding a red object on a long stem and a bowl of green fruit on the table.

Innovation

In short

Join On's Innovation team as a Senior Specialist - Sports Engineering. You will drive cutting-edge advancements in sports performance by merging deep scientific understanding with advanced engineering principles. This role is centered on developing revolutionary bottom unit systems through CAE and emerging technologies. You'll be pivotal in translating scientific insights into groundbreaking product innovations, pushing the boundaries of athletic performance.

Your Mission

Your mission is to safeguard consistency, performance and steady innovation of the company's proprietary bottom unit technologies across the performance product portfolio. By using your interdisciplinary engineering know-how you come up with new concepts to break performance boundaries and unleash new running experiences. In this role, you will move beyond physical prototyping by creating high-fidelity Finite Element Models that simulate the complex interaction between the human foot, the footwear, and the surface. Your mission is to use physics-based insights to optimize athletic performance, enhance running experience, and accelerate the product-to-market timeline. As we interpret innovation as an horizontal approach you will support cross functionally and provide engineering expertise throughout the entire product lifecycle, from ideation to market launch.

Two women in athletic clothing sit on a bench with takeaway coffee cups, smiling and chatting after a workout.

Your story

Master’s Degree in Mechanical engineering or Sports engineering
5+ years of footwear-specific experience and proven experience with footwear innovation projects.
Proven experience running non-linear FEA (Explicit/Implicit) to analyze high-velocity impacts, energy return, and cushioning performance.
Proven experience creating 3D digital twins of the human foot to simulate realistic soft-tissue deformation and pressure distribution.
Deep understanding of polymer science and compound mechanics to develop digital material cards for hyperelastic foams, rubbers, and viscoelastic polymers using experimental test data.
Mastery in Radioss/Abaqus/Hypermesh for finite element analysis.
Proficiency in NX/Solidworks/Rhino for generative design.
Ability to script in Python or Matlab to automate simulation workflows.
Expertise in statistical analysis.
Integrate machine learning in predictive modeling.
Ability to identify design issues and offer solutions to improve functionality and manufacturability of products.
Ability to work independently under a deadline on several projects simultaneously requiring both innovative ideas and engineering problem-solving.
Excellent communication skills and comfort adapting communication style between engineers.
Availability to travel up to 15% of the time.

Two women in activewear run outdoors, smiling, surrounded by greenery and other runners.

About the Team

The Innovation team is responsible for On’s future products, out-of-the-box thinking and athlete-informed technology that differentiates On’s products in the market. Within the Innovation team you will join the Sports Engineering team which is focused on footwear development with a scope covering long term innovation to inline products. You will have the opportunity to be part of an agile and interdisciplinary department of engineers and scientists. We foster a fast-paced environment with direct decision making and the freedom to design projects and processes.

Four people work on laptops around a high table in a glass meeting room, while another person walks by outside holding a drink.

Dina

Footwear Testing Lead

We touch every product that's being made because we bring the connection to the human being. So while everyone's excited about products, materials and colors, we go and say, “okay, so what does this actually do for the human?”

Group of people sit and talk at curved concrete benches on a rooftop garden with a city skyline in the background.

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.

Build the better you

What to expect

We want to set everyone up for success, so here’s the lowdown on how we hire. Our process is a two-way street – bringing you into our culture, while helping us learn how you think.

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.

Before you get started, feel free to consider if you want to work with us. Strange question? Well, we give people a lot of space to navigate their day-to-day and that style isn't for everyone. We want you to be passionate about what you do and be sure this is the right fit. Because when skills and passion combine – it creates that 'Wow' moment.