Brand Protection Specialist
About The Position
The Brand Protection Specialist reporting to the Director of Brand Protection, provides support to our global Brand Protection program, specializing in product and packaging reviews and related matters. We’re looking for a detail-driven and technically proficient individual to join our Brand Protection team in the Legal Department and ensure every product meets our rigorous standards. The specialist helps ensure the products and designs we receive from licensees, as well as any other representation of the brand, are in compliance with the rules and regulations of intellectual property agreements, trademark and copyright laws, regulatory agencies, design direction, and that company policies and procedures are being followed. This includes substantiating the authenticity of all sports related elements in design, marketing, and social media, and rigorously reviewing and approving (or rejecting) all licensee-submitted product concepts, samples, and artwork before they reach retail.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- A minimum of 3-5 years’ experience in product review, brand licensing, licensee product approval, style guide enforcement, and/or technical design management strongly preferred.
- Exceptional attention to detail (able to spot minor changes to logos, incorrect color shades, etc.)
- Comfortable managing high volume (200-500 submissions per week) in a deadline-driven environment without sacrificing attention to detail.
- Comfortable driving dozens of parallel approval tracks and keeping every licensee on schedule.
- Ability to analyze complex submissions and deliver clear, well-reasoned approve/reject recommendations diplomatically to global licensees.
- Ability to manage change, recalibrate, and re-stack the queue to keep things moving.
- Skilled at building trust with coworkers and global licensees by delivering feedback in a way that keeps relationships strong and doors open.
- Strong business acumen and thinks like an owner when balancing brand perfection with commercial reality.
- Delivers workable fixes rather than waiting around for a solution.
- Demonstrates a growth mindset by actively seeking and implementing feedback, taking on stretch projects, volunteering for new categories, and becoming a subject matter expert.
Nice To Haves
- Experience working with a legal or legal-adjacent team preferred.
- Experience in the areas of retail/apparel, intellectual property, licensing, advertising and marketing, and social media, with a deep understanding of licensed product development cycles preferred.
Responsibilities
- Review product, packaging, advertising, web sites, social media, and broadcasting submissions from global Licensees for compliance.
- Write concise, professional approval comments or detailed rejection/correction reports and manage revision cycles with licensees.
- Track submission status, deadlines, and approval history in the licensing portal.
- Ensure 100% adherence to brand style guides, logo usage rules, color standards, placement specifications, and prohibited design elements.
- Review product physical samples from global licensees for compliance including checking product, trims, labeling, and packaging against the licensee agreement and brand quality benchmarks.
- Review, maintain, and assist in revision of policies and procedures for the operation of the Brand Protection program and its related activities to prevent high risk or improper use of the intellectual property or improper representation of the brand assets and marks.
- Provide support to the Director of Brand Protection.
- Use and help maintain software for review of brand assets.
- Collaborate with other departments to direct brand protection issues to appropriate existing channels for investigation and resolution.
- Assist Director of Brand Protection with ongoing training of various licensed partners and internal staff, including research and departmental training on relevant topics.
- Identify potential areas of vulnerability and risk; help develop/implement corrective action plans for resolution of problematic issues and provide general guidance on how to avoid or deal with similar situations in the future.
- Avoid legal challenges and conflicts by understanding and staying current on settlement guidelines, current legal matters and restrictions, and monitoring product and packaging of other brands.
- Research brand use of various marks and designs on intellectual property repositories.
- Perform additional responsibilities as needed.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
