Director, Brand Planning & Operations APLA

Nike•Beaverton, OR

15d

About The Position

Become a Part of Nike NIKE, Inc. does more than outfit the world's best athletes. It is a place to explore potential, obliterate boundaries, and push out the edges of what can be. The company looks for people who can grow, think, dream and create. Its culture thrives by embracing diversity and rewarding imagination. The brand seeks achievers, leaders, and innovators. At Nike, it’s about each person bringing skills and passion to a challenging and constantly evolving game! Nike exists to innovate and serve athletes. The APLA (Asia Pacific – Latin America) Brand Planning and Operations team is responsible for aligning brand, business, and consumer strategies in partnership with brand management and functional marketing leaders. This team ensures operational excellence, leads thoughtful and actionable strategic planning, drives cross-functional integration, and enables the brand to deliver against its vision with clarity, discipline, and agility. This role will specifically support the APLA Nike and Jordan Brand Sport teams. These teams include Sport brand leads across Running, Football, Training, ACG, Nike Sportswear, NikeSkims, Nike Kids, Brand Initiatives and Energy. Who We Are Looking For We are seeking a strategic and collaborative leader to serve as Director of Brand Planning and Operations. This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of brand strategy, operational excellence, and cross-functional integration. The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in brand planning and orchestrating a complex marketing offense, a passion for driving clarity and alignment across complex organizations, and a strong commitment to Nike’s culture of innovation, inclusivity, and purpose. As a key partner to senior leadership and their teams, this director will lead seasonal and long-range planning efforts, lead and refine a x-functional marketing offense, optimize operational processes, and empower teams to deliver against Nike’s bold brand vision. As a people leader, this director will lead, train, empower and develop a team of APLA Brand Planners as well as they will help to shape and drive the overall vision for the APLA Brand Planning & Operations team.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training.
A minimum of 10+ years of directly relevant experience in brand marketing, brand planning, marketing operations, or strategic planning roles, preferably within a global matrixed organization.
Proven track record of leading cross-functional teams and managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects.
Experience building and scaling operational systems, tools, and processes that support brand and marketing functions.
Strong understanding of seasonal marketing workflows, go-to-market planning, and consumer-led brand strategy.
Strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into actionable plans and frameworks.
Operationally excellent with a strong grasp of project management, resource planning, and budget oversight.
Proficient in planning and collaboration tools (e.g., Airtable, Smartsheet, Box, Tableau).
Exceptional communication and storytelling skills including high proficiency in keynote and the ability to influence at all levels of the organization.
Comfortable navigating ambiguity and leading through change with resilience and clarity.
Demonstrated ability to lead and develop high-performing teams with empathy and accountability.
Committed to Nike’s values of innovation, inclusivity, and purpose-driven leadership.
Passionate about fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic and operational thought leadership and partnership to the APLA Brand leaders
Lead the activation/orchestration of critical strategies into the teams’ ways of working and marketing plans across the Sport-led offense from Global to Geo to Territories
Lead the development, coordination and execution of seasonal and long-range brand planning frameworks for APLA Nike Brand across Sports
Coordinate with and inform seasonal and long-range brand planning frameworks for APLA Jordan Brand
Partner with cross-functional teams (e.g., Marketplace, Merchandising, etc.) to ensure integrated planning and execution.
Partner to build, evolve and implement tools and systems (e.g., budget tool, project trackers) to be leveraged by brand management teams.
Leading and driving the APLA Sport Brand teams through the seasonal marketing process from long-range planning to final execution alongside the APLA Nike Brand leader and in coordination with the APLA Jordan brand leader
Identify, implement and drive process efficiencies and process optimization
Partner with Brand teams to build, lead and continually improve the operating model - orchestration of meeting cadence, team resourcing, communication, and tools, etc.
Leading, mentoring and developing a team of of APLA Brand Planners that support all of the APLA Sport brand teams