Lead Professional, Global Football Communications

Nike•Beaverton, OR

About The Position

Nike Global Communications delivers breakthrough stories of sport and innovation where consumers are—across the right channels and conversations. We craft authentic, innovative narratives that inspire action, spark engagement, and amplify the message of our relentless pursue to create the best for the athlete, worldwide. This role reports into the Senior Director Communications, Nike Football. We are looking for a Lead Professional of Brand Communications to join the Global Nike Football Brand Communications team in Beaverton, OR. This person will proactively develop, author, and support strategic communications plans and ongoing storytelling in service of Nike Football’s global innovations, products, and athletes across key business priorities. They will support in the development of a long-term strategy and narrative to proactively reach consumers and fans and shape a positive brand reputation for Nike Football. This position will engage directly with cross-functional teammates across global and geo communications, business, brand management, sports marketing, league and federation partners and internal stakeholders. The right candidate has significant experience driving communications strategy in the global sports industry and understands the evolving landscape of audiences, media, and communities in football culture and competition. Is highly collaborative, exhibits high-level critical thinking, and can manage multiple and competing priorities in a fast-paced environment. The ability to track and share insights, trends, and best practices around evolving storytelling practices is critical. This person has a proven track record of success in communications, mastering the fundamentals of earned storytelling, preferably working for a consumer brand, sports organization, teams and/or communications agency with a focus on sports and new audiences. Key competencies of the role include: Excellent written and verbal communications skills, with the ability to craft compelling narratives, cut-through messaging, and media strategies around Nike Football initiatives 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

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communication, business or reated field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, exerience or training.
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

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 mangement 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