Lead Professional, Global Football Communications

Nike•Beaverton, OR

21h•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Professional of Brand Communications will join the Global Nike Football Brand Communications team in Beaverton, OR. This role is responsible for proactively developing, authoring, and supporting strategic communications plans and ongoing storytelling for Nike Football's global innovations, products, and athletes across key business priorities. The individual will contribute to the development of a long-term strategy and narrative to reach consumers and fans, shaping a positive brand reputation for Nike Football. This position involves direct engagement with cross-functional teams across global and geo communications, business, brand management, sports marketing, league and federation partners, and internal stakeholders. The role focuses on building and driving communications strategies and storytelling that generate energy, connection, and signal Nike as the leading brand in global football.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communication, business or related field
A minimum of 6+ years relevant work experience
Has an enterprise mindset with the ability to "see the bigger picture" and navigate risk, issues and opportunities
Ability to develop and execute strategic communications plans, manage and proactively drive brand reputation and deliver narrative-led storytelling across traditional and emerging formats
Excellent verbal and written skills, and the ability to articulate them in a digital landscape
Media relations background or experience
Ability to paint a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to take action
Proactive, flexible, and eager to respond and adapt to a rapid-paced environment and circumstances, seeking clarity and problem solving at every step
Sport, cultural and societal acumen - able to leverage critical thinking skills to identify/assess dynamic and evolving cultural/social/political moments, events, trends
Significant experience driving communications strategy in the global sports industry
Understands the evolving landscape of audiences, media, and communities in football culture and competition
Highly collaborative
Exhibits high-level critical thinking
Can manage multiple and competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
Ability to track and share insights, trends, and best practices around evolving storytelling practices
Proven track record of success in communications, mastering the fundamentals of earned storytelling
Confidence in the current digital landscape, particularly over the orchestration of earned and paid storytelling channels, content creators, and IRL influence platforms
Ability to pre-empt global media, creator, and sports trends, news, and stories, and share them across a fast-paced, team-focused environment
Strong awareness of new age media and influence landscapes across sports, critically for football, as well as of the network of key opinion leaders that shape the pulse of sports and social media, content, experiences, gaming, etc.
Experience working with global athletes, teams, and leagues to develop and execute communications strategies
Strong understanding of the global sports industry against the backdrop of new media, including consumer and digital trends, challenges, and opportunities

Nice To Haves

Preferably working for a consumer brand, sports organization, teams and/or communications agency with a focus on sports and new audiences

Responsibilities

Support the global communications strategy for Nike Football, developing key story maps, message hierarchy, and seasonal story architecture
Ideate and execute content line plans and story maps that connect product pipelines, athlete/club/fed moments, and cultural insights across channels and markets
Craft compelling narratives and messaging frameworks for global initiatives, ensuring consistency and buy-in from Nike teams across geographies
Support and execute storytelling strategies across earned media, creators, speaking engagements in support of the various stakeholders and geographies
Oversee and evolve global event strategies, including product launches and athlete activations, ensuring long-term and short-term strategic objectives are met
Build and maintain multi-season project plans, calendar, and status updates
Manage budgets and allocate resources to deliver high-impact storytelling and activations
Develop strategic actions to engage key opinion leaders, creators, and gaming communities shaping football culture
Oversee agency ecosystems, setting scopes, creative direction, and performance standards for global football moments
Define success metrics (SOV, sentiment, tier-1 placements, creator amplification) and lead post-mortems to optimize future work
Serve as a subject matter expert on football industry trends, new media behaviors, and digital opportunities to inform strategic decisions
Handle seasonal product ordering, submissions, and sample management to support communications and event needs
Monitor global football news, cultural moments, and social trends; recommend agile adjustments to keep campaigns relevant
Collect and report performance metrics (coverage, sentiment, engagement) and contribute insights to improve future campaigns