Head of Apparel Design - Special Projects & Collaborations

At a Glance

The Head of Apparel Design - Special Projects & Collaborations is responsible for defining, driving, and executing the creative vision for On’s apparel capsules, co-creations, and strategic brand partnerships. Operating at the intersection of high fashion, culture, and high-performance engineering, this role leads the charge in expanding On’s cultural footprint through disruptive, limited-edition, and halo collections.

Rooted in performance running yet deeply connected to contemporary design, subcultures, and luxury fashion, this position transforms external creative energies into market-defining apparel. You will bridge the world of guest creators, external brands, and elite athletes with On’s internal design, innovation, and inline apparel teams - delivering collections that are functional, culturally resonant, and brand-defining.

Your mission:

• Functional Collaboration: You will partner closely with external creative directors, guest collaborators, artist and athlete management, and external brand teams, while internally orchestrating alignment with Footwear Special Projects, Apparel Inline, Innovation, Brand Marketing, Legal, and Commercial/GTM teams.
• Leadership & Influence: You are responsible for cultivating an agile, boundary-pushing design environment. You empower your team to operate with speed, creative bravery, and precision, ensuring every collaboration honors both the partner’s identity and On’s performance DNA.
• Set the Creative Direction: Lead the overarching design strategy, ideation, and visual narrative for all special apparel projects, limited-edition capsules, and brand collaborations in close partnership with the Creative Director.
• Cultural Foresight & Trend Decoding: Serve as the brand's cultural antenna - identifying emerging movements across fashion, contemporary art, streetwear, and athletic subcultures to proactively propose game-changing partner concepts.
• Halo Impact Strategy: Design elevated halo products that generate brand equity, provoke cultural conversation, and trickle down design inspiration into On's inline seasonal collections.
• External Creative Partnership: Direct the co-design process alongside external brands, high-fashion houses, artists, and athletes - balancing co-branding guidelines, conflicting design languages, and shared creative goals seamlessly.
• End-to-End Capsule Delivery: Lead the lifecycle of special projects from initial napkin sketch and storyboarding to final runway/drop assets, ensuring storytelling clarity and concept integrity throughout.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Manage complex stakeholder landscapes - translating high-concept creative ideas into actionable briefs for Product Management, Development, Sourcing, and Go-To-Market teams under tight, non-standard timelines.
• Drive hands-on execution across fittings, technical specs, trim customization, and specialized embellishments, ensuring the highest standards of luxury-level execution and performance utility.

Your Story

• You hold a higher education degree in Fashion, Apparel, or Industrial Design.
• You bring 8+ years of progressive design experience in sportswear, high fashion, luxury, or streetwear, with a proven track record of delivering high-profile apparel collaborations or special concept projects.
• You have a strong portfolio of launched co-branded capsules, limited-edition drops, or concept collections that demonstrates an ability to fuse distinct brand identities into cohesive product lines.
• You possess direct people management experience, with a track record of leading, mentoring, and inspiring agile design pods and cross-functional project teams.
• You bring a deep understanding of global fashion/streetwear culture, luxury design methodologies, and subcultural dynamics across major global markets (Europe, North America, APAC).
• You are highly skilled at navigating senior executive dynamics and external talent management, with the gravitas to present to founders, high-profile partners, and executive suites.
• You exhibit mastery in technical execution (Adobe Creative Suite, 3D apparel software, PLM tools) alongside hands-on draping, garment construction, and prototyping capabilities.
• You have an entrepreneurial, highly adaptive mindset - capable of thriving in fast-paced, non-linear development cycles and managing high ambiguity with poise.
• You are an exceptional communicator, fluent in written and spoken English.

Your Team

You will join the On Design Team in an international, multidisciplinary environment comprising footwear, apparel, innovation, and color & material designers. You will lead a dedicated team of designers while connecting regularly with cross-functional team members, fostering a agile, highly creative culture where experimental ideas can be rapidly prototyped and scaled.

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.