WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH

Under the direction of a Design Director, and in partnership with Retail Producers and cross-functional peers, you and your team will realize innovative, original retail environments, displays and digital solutions for retail stores with a focus on seasonless storytelling in Sport, Innovation, Brand DNA, and Hyper-localization. This is a people leadership role responsible for leading, coaching, and developing a team of in-house Story Designers and contract design talent while fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Outside of Nike, you will collaborate with a range of creative agency partners and production vendors.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Nike seeks a Senior Manager-level Story Designer for Retail: An innovator who will lead and develop consumer-led retail concepts and the evolution of the Nike retail business.  A creative, collaborative, and strategic leader who will develop impactful / scalable design solutions for immersive retail environments and experiences. Always looking to expand the possibilities of immersive storytelling to create design solutions that reflect Nike’s brand standards and improve the consumer retail experience.

·       10+ years of progressive, technically sophisticated design experience in graphic, experiential, spatial, or brand design and a demonstrated ability to apply these skills in ways that elevate brand excellence.

·       Bachelor’s degree in architecture, graphic design or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education and experience, and training.

·       A passion for the Athlete*, Sport, and Culture.

·       Demonstrated strength in managing a design studio in the delivery of progressively complex projects of varying scales, budgets, and timelines.

·       Proven ability to work independently as well as drive a clear vision to lead others in the development of concurrent projects.

·       Expert in applying and performing design skills including concepting, ideation, drawing/sketching, typography, color theory, spatial design in scale, visual presentation development and space planning layouts.

·       Strong knowledge of current trends in color, graphic design, art, photography, architecture and experience design — and their application to the sport industry.

·       Strong knowledge of production design, fabrication, materiality, and emerging manufacturing trends.

·       Strong attention to detail.

·       Expert oral and written communication skills. Ability to present new concepts and designs to small and large groups, including meeting facilitation and presentations to executive leaders.

·       Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills with a highly developed ability to cultivate relationships in an open, positive and inclusive environment.

·       Proven ability to manage ambiguity and motivate teams to create compelling solutions when the way forward is not always clear.

·       A sense of humor, positivity and an entrepreneurial spirit.

·       Demonstrated expertise using computer design applications including SketchUp, Enscape, Rhino, Grasshopper, V-Ray, Figma, Keynote and Adobe Creative Suite. Experience with motion graphics and video-editing is a plus. 

·       Proven experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing teams, including in-house designers and contract creative talent, while fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and growth-oriented team culture.

WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON

·       Support and partner with the Design Director to lead seasonless story design and long-term vision, strategic and tactical direction, and design continuity.

·       Manage team workload, project assignments, and resource planning to ensure the right creative talent is aligned to business priorities and project needs.

·       Lead a design process of clear ideation focusing on strategy and exploration of color, materiality, texture, spacing, proportion, scale and use of the environment.

·       Lead, coach, and develop a team of in-house Story Designers and contract design talent, providing clear creative direction, performance feedback, career development, and day-to-day support.

·       Foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, inclusion, and continuous learning by mentoring team members and creating opportunities for professional growth.

·       Develop presentation materials that effectively communicate creative strategy and design concepts to all levels of leadership and partners.

·       Collaborate with producers, design counterparts, internal partners (Brand, Retail Brand, Visual Merchandising, Brand Creative, Digital, etc.) and external partners to ensure project goals and priorities align with Nike retail brand and business strategies.

·       Attend retail installs across North America to ensure projects execute to the highest standard.

·       Actively gain knowledge and contribute to the development of Nike’s brand standards, design ethos, products and processes.

·       Constantly seek new and innovative ways to tell stories through graphics, styling, lighting, sculpture, photography, video, animation and more.

·       Drive education and inspiration across the team, sharing knowledge and exposure to current and future trends influencing the innovation of consumer experiences and technology.

·       Ensure results, timelines and budgets are met.

·       Strong ability to work upstream, effectively elevate strategic concerns and assert influence in final outcomes.

·       Partner with Design Leadership to identify staffing needs, support hiring efforts, and build a strong and diverse team capable of delivering best-in-class retail storytelling experiences.

·       This individual will create presentation documents, 3D and 2D files to communicate design concepts to the Design Director, cross functional and external partners.

·       You may travel 5 – 15% of the time.