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Senior Footwear Product Line Manager

Brooks Running

Brooks Runningbrooksrunning.com

Senior Footwear Product Line Manager

Posted 1 month ago

This job is still taking applications, but it's been up a while.

About the job

Brooks creates gear and experiences to inspire movement and joy. The role involves managing footwear product lines, leading innovation, athletes, and cross-functional teams to deliver competitive, performance-focused products.

Requirements

  • 7+ years in product management
  • Experience working with athletes
  • Track record in racing footwear
  • Strong technical knowledge
  • Leadership and mentoring skills

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in business or marketing
  • Experience with elite athletes
  • Ability to travel internationally
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Creative product development skills

Full job description

Who We Are:

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line. 

Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success: 

  • Runner First
    • We act in the best interest of the runner
  • Word is Bond
    • We do what we say we’ll do 
  • Champion Heart
    • We give our all in everything we do  
  • There is no “I” in Run 
    • We stay generous with our humanity 
  • Keep Moving 
    • We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!

We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement - because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.   


Your Job

The Mission of the Product Line Management and BlueLine teams are to be the voice of the consumer in the product creation process, set the product benefit expectations, and ensure that this vision is maintained from brief to market. The primary goal is to bring Brooks’ complete and competitive footwear product lines to market in a timely and profitable manner and to identify the products, technologies, experiences, and processes that will shape the future of running in innovative ways.

As the Senior Footwear Product Line Manager, you are responsible for the end-to-end seasonal direction and execution of owned Brooks footwear products across portals, platforms and pillars. You will provide vision and thought leadership for the product teams as the consumer, market and business expert during the footwear creation process. From brief to commercialization, you will provide product, consumer, business and market expertise with a comprehensive understanding of the competitive landscape, trends and innovation. You will report to and work closely with your manager to execute against the 5-year footwear strategy to hit business goals and financial targets with Horizons 1 (1-3 years) and 2 (3-5 years) in mind.

You may manage up to one PLM, guiding them to become a global expert on runners, to identify target personas, and to anticipate their wants and needs 1.5+ years in advance. You will lead this individual to be one of the best story crafters in the industry, working cross functionally weaving the stories from innovation to market.


Your Responsibilities

Strategic Planning and Execution

  • Partner with Footwear PLM leadership and Innovation partners to align athlete product work with longer-term innovation and brand strategies, translating vision into focused, executable plans.
  • Own and lead athlete-focused footwear products that sit outside standard inline assortments, with accountability for performance-driven outcomes.
  • Partner with Principal, Footwear PLM Innovation to translate multiyear strategies, innovation pipelines, and product evolution into executable seasonal plans and athlete product briefs.
  • Ensure seasonal product assortments are competitive, consumer‑relevant, and aligned to business objectives.
    • Innovation

  • Lead advanced and experimental footwear development, including highly specialized racing products and emerging performance platforms.
  • Drive rapid prototyping and personalized solutions in close partnership with Design, Development, Engineering, and Run Research/Biomechanics.
  • Identify future innovation concepts and create proposals that will deliver groundbreaking solutions to help athletes find every edge.
    • Athlete, Insights, Briefing and Product Execution


    Athlete and Insights

  • Serve as the internal expert on elite and sub-elite athlete performance needs, competitive benchmarks, and racing requirements.
  • Build and maintain direct, trust-based relationships with athletes, engaging virtually and in person to gather real-time product insight.
  • Translate direct athlete feedback into rapid product decisions, operating effectively during compressed and non-linear development timelines.
    • Briefs

  • Begin with the ‘Why’ and the ‘Key consumer problem to solve’
  • Combine consumer insights (latent and/or expressed) and springboards, biomechanics POV, and new or future innovation capabilities to articulate a crafted story that comes to life in a product brief.
  • Lead the cross functional and collaborative brief creation process that includes the story crafting, key consumer benefits, KPIs, development toolbox and design concepts
    • Product Execution

  • Work cross functionally within footwear team to drive product execution and be accountable for product readiness at key milestones.
  • Provide expert experience and knowledge of technical execution across materials, upper construction, foams, midsole and outsole parts (2d, 3D and wood models) to be able to ensure the team is executing at the highest level for the consumer and product readiness
  • Maintain a level of understanding in Biomechanics to facilitate in depth dialogue with Engineering while translating technical verbiage into stories that resonate with the laymen.
  • Ensure athlete prototypes are competition-ready, with clear intent, performance validation, and feedback loops.
  • Travel at least 2+ times a year to Asia development centers to work with footwear colleagues to finalize changes in order to hit in-market timelines.
    • Collaboration

  • Work alongside Principal, Footwear PLM Innovation to ensure the PLM function deliverables are completed at key milestones.
  • Partner closely with cross functional colleagues in design and development to create a productive, collaborative environment to cover all the consumer, engineering, costing and design considerations and areas of focus throughout the product creation process.

    • Story Crafting, Presentations and Cross Functional Support

  • Be an exceptional story crafter by building stories that are informed by athlete insights.
  • Work with product marketing, merchandising and sales to bring the product story to life and present them with confidence at brief handoff, seasonal milestones, Sales Meetings, and vendor visits.
  • Present athlete portfolio, products, concepts and new technologies to internal and external stakeholders
  • Provide product expertise to Merchandising, Product Marketing, PR, Sales and Marketing to assist in the creation of product presentations and videos to be used for Pre-lines, Calibration meetings, GTM meetings and media events
  • Craft and communicate athlete-led product stories that inform future innovation pipelines and influence broader product direction.
    • People Management

  • May manage up to 1 direct report.
  • Mentor PLM-Is and PLM-IIs on using market intelligence, product briefing and story crafting.
  • Acts as role model across triads and cross functional footwear teams, to create a culture of collaboration and camaraderie.
  • See beyond the footwear team, understand the impact across functions within the company and connect the dots to create alignment and ensure efficiencies.

    • Qualifications

    • Bachelor’s degree in business, Marketing, or equivalent combination of education and experience/
    • 7+ years of experience in a relevant product management related role.
    • Demonstrated experience working directly with elite or sub-elite athletes in performance footwear development.
    • Proven track record delivering elite-level racing footwear, including super shoes, super spikes, or highly specialized performance products.
    • Ability to work with the Run Research Team and understand their data and findings
    • High comfort level operating in ambiguous, fast-paced innovation environments with shifting priorities and tight timelines.
    • Willingness and ability to travel up to 30% of time, including internationally, to support athlete engagement, competition calendars and development trips.
    • Effective presentation abilities and interpersonal communication skills.
    • Demonstrated ability to conceive/create new ideas pertaining to product and process.
    • Strong functional and biomechanical skills and thorough understanding of the product process.
    • Strong business orientation, analytical aptitude and computer skills.
    • Creativity and passion for product.
    • Proficiency in Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint.
    • Proven leadership capability, including ability to motivate and mentor others
    • Demonstrate effective listening through concise, clear verbal and written communication.
    • Excellent interpersonal skills that inspire and build trust resulting in effective working relationships across the company.
    • Keen attention to detail in planning, organization and execution of tasks, while still seeing the big picture and understanding how all the pieces fit together and affect one another.
    • Ability to anticipate how a decision made can affect our customers, our partners, our products or other departments’ operations and/or morale; “connecting the dots.”
    • Demonstration of innovation and initiative – always looking at improving our products and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details and help wherever necessary.
    • Passionate participation in Brooks’ sports activities a plus, overridden by the ability to understand and empathize with the runner in order to develop loyal, engaging relationships with our customers and the Brooks community.
    • Embraces and lives the Brooks values!

    Compensation: The pay range for this position, based out of the Brooks Seattle HQ, is $124,324 - $186,404 per year. Base pay offered will vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. 

    Other:

    Brooks is proud to offer a robust benefits package to our employees and their families!

    Benefits - Including medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance, HSA and employer contribution, FSA, family & fertility assistance, 401K Savings Plan and match, employee assistance program, and transportation assistance.

    Paid Time Off - Brooks offers generous time off, including five weeks of paid time off, eleven paid holidays, and paid sick and parental leave.

    Bonus - In addition to base pay, Brooks employees may also be offered an annual bonus based on company performance.

    Perks - Including product discounts, employee recognition, fitness discounts, volunteer and donation benefits. 

    Location - You will spend 4 days per week in our Seattle offices, as we believe our organization flourishes when connections, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and celebrations happen in person.

    At Brooks, we celebrate diversity & equity. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment, and encourage people of all backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and skills to apply. Brooks is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, two-spirit identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, the presence of a physical, mental, or sensory disability, marital status, pregnancy (including childbirth and related conditions), caste, citizenship or immigration status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, actual or perceived victims of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking, HIV or Hepatitis C infection, political ideology, use of a trained service animal by a person with a disability, or on any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law, or any other non-merit based factors.

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