Lead Merchant, Licensed Apparel

Nike is seeking a Lead Merchant to drive the strategic vision, assortment creation, marketplace strategy, and licensed business growth for the Licensed Apparel portfolio. This role is responsible for developing consumer-right product assortments, influencing product creation, shaping marketplace architecture, and leading strategic partnerships with external licensees and marketplace partners.

The ideal candidate combines strong consumer intuition, merchandising expertise, and business acumen with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and external stakeholders. This individual will play a critical role in defining product strategies, identifying growth opportunities, and ensuring licensed assortments deliver both consumer impact and business results.

WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON

Lead Merchandising Strategy

• Develop and execute seasonal and long-range merchandising strategies for the Licensed Apparel business.
• Create consumer-right assortments that balance brand priorities, marketplace opportunities, and financial goals.
• Define assortment architecture, product segmentation, and franchise strategies across multiple consumer and distribution channels.
• Translate consumer insights, marketplace trends, and business performance into actionable merchandising strategies.
• Identify whitespace opportunities and emerging trends to drive future growth.
• Drive key business initiatives tied to seasonal launches, strategic partnerships, and event-driven opportunities.
• Evaluate business performance and adjust strategies based on consumer and marketplace insights.

Lead Licensed Business Partnerships

• Serve as the merchandising lead across strategic licensed business relationships, collaborating with third-party licensees.
• Influence product strategy, assortment direction, and marketplace opportunities through collaborative business planning.
• Establish strong working relationships that drive alignment, accountability, and shared business success.
• Guide partners on seasonal product priorities, assortment strategies, and marketplace opportunities while ensuring brand consistency.
• Represent the Licensed Apparel business during seasonal reviews and strategic planning discussions.
• Identify opportunities to improve product differentiation, accelerate growth, and expand marketplace reach through strategic partnerships.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• 6+ years of merchandising, assortment planning, buying, product management, or related experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Merchandising, Marketing, or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience, and training.
• Proven experience managing complex apparel and/or footwear portfolios.
• Strong understanding of marketplace strategy, consumer segmentation, and retail fundamentals.
• Experience working with licensed products, strategic partnerships or third-party licensing models preferred, but not required.
• Strong analytical, storytelling, and presentation skills.
• Ability to balance consumer, product, and financial considerations to drive business growth.

We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.