Computational Designer

Computational Designer Footwear

Fixed term, Full-time
Start: 01. October 2026
Location: Berlin, partially remote

We turn biomechanical insight into high-performance, individualized footwear. We already have the data, the manufacturing know-how and the drive to build a new category of shoes.

We‘re looking for a Computational Design Engineer to turn complex data, engineering principles, and design intent into scalable systems and real physical products.

One product. Thousands of possibilities.
One computational system to make it possible.

This isn‘t a generalist software role. We‘re deliberately looking for deep expertise in one thing: computational and parametric design of footwear.

What you’ll do

  • Translate biomechanical, anatomical, and 3D-scan data into footwear geometry — for performance, medical, and comfort applications
  • Develop the parametric and generative logic that defines how a shoe fits, moves, and performs
  • Design shoe structures — outsoles, midsoles, uppers, lattices — that are individualized, optimized, and genuinely manufacturable
  • Build parametric workflows in Rhino /Grasshopper that hold up well beyond the prototype stage

You‘ll work at the intersection of biomechanics, geometry, manufacturing, and performance:

  • Encoding biomechanical principles into computational design
  • Exploring and optimizing large design spaces
  • Balancing product performance with manufacturability
  • Creating systems that generate individualized products at scale

What makes this role different
The goal isn‘t simply to automate design. It‘s to use computation to create products that perform better, fit better, and can be manufactured reliably at scale.

The foundation is already in place – production data, backend, manufacturing integration, and scan-to-production workflows. But many of the systems of what you‘ll build don‘t exist yet.

You‘ll be working at the forefront of computational footwear design, with the systems, data, and team already in place to make it real. You are not optimizing an existing workflow. You are defining a new one.

What you bring

  • Deep experience in parametric and computational design, ideally applied to footwear, wearables, or complex individualized products
  • Strong command of Rhino /Grasshopper, and comfortable scripting in Python to take ideas beyond what off-the-shelf tools allow
  • A real feel for footwear: what makes a shoe perform, fit, and feel right — whether from industry experience, a design background, or obsessive curiosity
  • The ability to move fluently between design intent and technical implementation
  • Bonus: FEA / topology optimization, simulation-driven design, generative engineering

You don‘t need every skill.
We care about how you think, how you build, and how far you can take an idea.

How you work
You think in shapes and structures, not just in code. You build, test, and iterate. You automate where others work manually. You‘re comfortable moving between geometry, manufacturing, and physical products, and you take ownership from the initial idea through to implementation.

You care about performance, manufacturability, scalability, and real-world impact. You take an idea from data to a form that can be made — and made well.

What we offer

  • You‘ll join a startup that‘s disrupting footwear production — agile and on-demand.
  • A great team of IT specialists, knitwear experts and designers
  • An inspiring workplace in the ito ito Microfactory in Berlin
  • A role with real creative freedom and close collaboration across tech, design, and production — a high-performance culture built on ownership, open feedback
  • Compensation is competitive and will be discussed based on your experience and background — happy to share more in a first conversation.
  • 24+3 days annual leave (based on a full-time contract)

Interested?
Please send your CV to: hallo@itoito.io