Lead, North America Nike Direct Sport Business

Nike•Beaverton, OR

About The Position

The Sport Business Lead, Nike Direct North America, elevates operational excellence within a dedicated Sport category, such as Basketball or Kids, across the approximately $9B North America Nike Direct business. Reporting to the Senior Director, NA Direct Business Operations, the role helps set the standard for Sport strategy, execution, and business performance. It serves as the primary Operations partner and integrator for NA Direct Sport Business Senior Directors. The role leads pre-season planning, including CODE, go-to-market execution, and financial target management; enables in-season business performance through weekly read-and-react processes; and supports long-term strategic planning through quarterly business reviews and multi-year visioning. As operational leader for a Sport category, this position drives alignment, accountability, and execution across teams, leads cross-functional forums that inform real-time decisions, and designs and optimizes processes to bring Sport strategies to life through assortments, product depth, and channel activations. It measures business impact, aligns stakeholders across Sport, Channel, and Functional teams, and fosters a collaborative, high-performing team culture.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration or a related field; a suitable combination of education, experience, and training is also accepted.
At least 6 years of directly relevant experience.
Proven strategic thinking and ability to translate consumer and business strategies into retail execution.
Demonstrated ability to lead and coordinate cross-functional teams, solve problems, synthesize diverse perspectives, and drive progress.
Ability to navigate ambiguity, influence across a matrixed environment, and manage multiple priorities and competing business needs.
Experience developing, documenting, and operationalizing retail and go-to-market strategies, processes, and ways of working.
Proactive, solution-oriented mindset with ability to anticipate challenges, identify opportunities, and maintain business momentum.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level presentation development in Keynote.
Familiarity with Nike seasonal offense and CODE.

Nice To Haves

Experience across Digital, Stores, Strategic Planning, Merchandising, Planning, Finance, or Marketing.

Responsibilities

Lead CODE and go-to-market operations and readiness for the NA Direct Sport category by managing pre-season planning processes, meeting cadences, and key deliverables.
Set agendas, track actions, and ensure alignment of planning activities to seasonal Sport strategies.
Drive cross-functional accountability for key CODE moments, synthesize business inputs and outputs, and integrate perspectives from Merchandising, Planning, Marketing, and other partners.
Inspire and align cross-functional Sport teams to manage the in-season business, partnering with Sport Business Senior Directors to drive execution and results.
Co-create, evaluate, and continuously refine Sport strategies to maximize consumer impact and business performance.
Support the Nike Direct Sport GM in end-to-end business management and leadership of the cross-functional Sport team.
Lead preparation for and summarize outcomes from Sport and Innovation milestones across NA Direct channels.
Drive key Sport moments and Innovation launches, ensuring integrated execution across categories.
Facilitate weekly Integrated Business Attack meetings and readiness forums, maintaining a focus on operational excellence and execution.
Lead special projects that advance operational excellence and support strategic priorities established by the VP/GM, NA Nike Direct.
Measure business impact, align stakeholders across Sport, Channel, and Functional teams, and foster a collaborative, high-performing team culture.