Position Summary...Senior Manager, Brand Management - Licensed & Exclusive Brands
The Senior Manager, Brand Management leads the strategic positioning, governance, and cross-functional execution of Walmart's proprietary and licensed brands. This role serves as the brand steward-ensuring each brand has a clear role, differentiated positioning, and disciplined execution across assortment, pricing architecture, customer experience, and partnerships.
This leader is responsible for managing complex licensing relationships and negotiations while building scalable processes that enable product development, design, sourcing, quality, merchandising, site, and marketing teams to bring brands to life consistently and profitably.
The role balances strategic brand leadership with operational rigor-protecting brand equity, mitigating risk, and ensuring customer-right outcomes.
What you'll do...Brand Strategy & Positioning- Define and maintain clear brand positioning, guardrails, and value tiers (Good/Better/Best) across assigned brands.
- Translate customer insights, competitive assessments, and performance data into actionable brand strategies.
- Ensure assortment decisions align with brand architecture and long-term growth platforms.
- Lead brand refreshes, relaunches, and disciplined exits when brands no longer meet customer or business needs.
- Develop and maintain brand books, style guides, and "brand on a page" tools to drive clarity and consistency across teams.
Licensing & Contract Management - Lead negotiation and management of licensing agreements and brand partnerships.
- Forecast and oversee royalty structures, ensuring margin accretion and financial compliance.
- Partner with Legal and Finance to structure contracts that mitigate risk and protect Walmart's interests.
- Monitor performance against contractual obligations, service level agreements, and brand standards.
- Identify and resolve contract discrepancies, audit findings, and compliance risks.
- Lead structured sell-offs, renewals, exclusivity agreements, or brand exits when necessary.
Cross-Functional Brand Governance - Establish and manage milestone processes that ensure brand integrity across product development calendars.
- Partner closely with:
- Product Development & Design (visual identity, materials, packaging standards)
- Sourcing & Quality (compliance, execution standards)
- Merchandising (assortment strategy, pricing architecture)
- Marketing & Site (content, launch execution, storytelling)
- Ensure proprietary and licensed items are aligned to approved brand categories and properly coded.
- Drive disciplined launch execution, including clear roles, timelines, and post-launch reviews.
- Remove operational barriers that create brand inconsistency or customer confusion.
Financial & Performance Stewardship - Monitor brand-level performance metrics including GMV, margin, royalty impact, and inventory health.
- Provide performance readouts to licensors and internal stakeholders.
- Anticipate financial risks (inventory exposure, contract obligations, marketing commitments) and develop mitigation plans.
- Ensure pricing architecture supports EDLP and long-term brand equity.
Customer Experience & Brand Protection - Safeguard brand integrity across in-store, digital, marketplace, and marketing channels.
- Lead brand-gating and enforcement efforts to prevent third-party misuse of proprietary brands.
- Ensure launches deliver a cohesive and customer-right experience across all touchpoints.
- Align assortment, storytelling, and pricing to create intuitive, trust-building customer journeys.
Leadership & Ways of Working- Drive execution of complex, cross-functional initiatives in ambiguous and high-pressure environments.
- Establish clear agendas, decision frameworks, and follow-up mechanisms to ensure accountability.
- Influence without direct authority across internal and external partners.
- Coach and mentor associates and cross-functional team members.
- Promote a culture of ownership, urgency, and operational excellence.
Key Skills & Capabilities - Strong brand management expertise
- Licensing negotiation and contract acumen
- Financial literacy (royalty modeling, margin impact, inventory risk)
Success in Role Looks Like - Brands have clear guardrails and differentiated positioning.
- Licensing agreements are financially sound and risk-mitigated.
- Cross-functional teams execute consistently and on calendar.
- Launches are clean, cohesive, and customer-right.
- Risks are identified early and resolved proactively.
- Brand equity strengthens over time through disciplined governance.
Benefits & Perks: Beyond competitive pay, you can receive incentive awards for your performance. Other great perks include 401(k) match, stock purchase plan, paid maternity and parental leave, PTO, multiple health plans, and much more.
Minimum Qualifications...Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications.
Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Business, Communications, Marketing, Business, or related field and 4 years' experience in brand development and management, developing creative briefs, marketing, or related area OR 6 years' experience in brand development and management, developing creative briefs, marketing, or related area.
Preferred Qualifications...Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.
Microsoft Office - Excel, Vendor Management, Working on cross-functional teams or projects
Masters: Business Administration
Primary Location...1700 Se 5th St, Bentonville, AR 72716, United States of America
Walmart and its subsidiaries are committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace and has a no tolerance policy regarding the use of illegal drugs and alcohol on the job. This policy applies to all employees and aims to create a safe and productive work environment.
