WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH
You will lead and drive alignment across Product, Design, Merchandising, Brand, Legal, Finance, and Geo/Territory teams, along with our external licensees, to accelerate strategic growth and deliver best‑in‑class licensed product.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We’re seeking a strategic, consumer-obsessed Product Licensing Manager skilled in product creation leadership, cross-functional alignment, and managing complex external partnerships. You bring strong product and process knowledge, uphold brand standards, and thrive in a fast-moving, matrixed environment.
- Bachelor's degree in business management, product management, merchandising, or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training.
- 8+ years of relevant experience
- Deep expertise in product creation, merchandising, franchise management, and consumer insights, applied to set strategic direction and drive enterprise‑level growth.
- Proven ability to lead, influence, and align cross‑functional leadership teams, driving outcomes through vision, clarity, and accountability rather than direct authority.
- Executive‑level communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate strategy, synthesize complexity, and influence decision‑making through written, verbal, and presentation forums.
- Demonstrated success navigating ambiguity and complexity, managing competing priorities and leading effectively within a highly matrixed, global organization.
- Strong strategic rigor and operational discipline, paired with exceptional organizational skills and the ability to influence outcomes at scale.
- Track record of building trusted relationships and driving alignment across diverse teams, functions, and senior stakeholders to accelerate execution.
- Highly developed product vision and style sensibility, ensuring brand‑right, consumer‑relevant, and commercially impactful outcomes.
- Ability to travel up to 25%
WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON
Enterprise Product & Partner Leadership
• Own and set product strategy direction for licensee partners at an enterprise level, ensuring assortments are consumer‑right, brand‑aligned, and commercially scalable across categories and geographies.
• Exercise decision rights over seasonal product strategies, that balance brand vision, innovation, speed, and financial outcomes.
• Provide executive leadership and governance across partner product creation, briefing, line planning, and gate processes, ensuring consistent application of Nike brand standards.
• Serve as an enterprise product authority, leveraging deep category and franchise expertise to guide senior‑level decisions and long‑term growth opportunities.
Strategic Category & Marketplace Alignment
• Align senior cross-functional leadership and Licensee leadership around consumer targets, brand positioning, assortment architecture, and distribution strategy at scale.
• Sponsor and lead high‑visibility initiatives tied to major brand moments, innovation platforms, and strategic collaborations, with accountability for outcomes and impact.
Cross‑Functional Enterprise Influence
• Leverage Consumer & Marketplace insights to guide and drive alignment across Senior cross-functional leadership on product, design, materials, innovation, storytelling, and packaging.
• Ensure enterprise compliance and brand integrity by partnering with Product Safety, Tech Development, Materials, Packaging, Brand Marketing, Legal, and Athlete Representation.
Operating Model & Governance
• Own governance of the end‑to‑end product approval ecosystem, ensuring Nike standards are upheld while enabling speed, scalability, and partner accountability.
• Lead enterprise communication of strategy and decisions, aligning GPL, sourcing, finance, legal, systems, and operations teams.
• Drive operating excellence and continuous improvement, establishing scalable processes, best practices, and ways of working across GPL, licensees, and categories.
• Maintain executive oversight of seasonal readiness, including approvals, assortment integrity, and sample governance.
