Sr. Insights & Engagement Manager - Performance & Run

KEEN Footwear•Portland, OR

About The Position

The Sr. Insights & Engagement Manager leads seasonal category strategy development and insight synthesis in support of KEEN’s Integrated Go-to-Market (GTM) process. This role translates enterprise priorities, consumer insights, and market data into clear strategic direction that informs cross-functional planning across Product, Merchandising, Brand Communications, Regional teams, and GTM partners. The position partners with senior strategy leadership to ensure seasonal direction reflects KEEN’s Strategic House, long range plan, and consumer target commitment. The Senior Manager ensures insights are translated into action, cross functional teams work from the same strategic foundation, and Integrated GTM receives structured inputs that enable consistent execution across global and regional markets.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Design Strategy, Insights, or related field required.
Minimum seven (7) years experience in strategy, insights, brand planning, category strategy, consumer research, or related strategic fields.
Any equivalent combination of experience and education which clearly indicates the ability to perform the essential functions of the position may substitute on a year for year basis.
Advanced strategic thinking, synthesis, and structured problem solving.
Ability to translate insights into clear, compelling strategic direction.
Strong communication, storytelling, and facilitation skills.
Ability to influence without authority across global and regional teams.
Experience working with qualitative and quantitative research sources.
Skilled at building frameworks and strategic narratives that guide decision making.
Thrives in a lean, fast paced environment.
Ability to partner with senior leaders and cross functional partners with clarity and confidence.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in or with an Integrated GTM or cross functional planning model preferred.

Responsibilities

Develops seasonal category strategies for a business category (run, performance, kids, etc.), translating enterprise priorities and long-range plans into actionable direction.
Defines strategic problem statements, consumer priorities, and category opportunities to guide Product, Merchandising, Brand Communications, Regional, and Go-to-Market (GTM) teams.
Aligns cross functional teams on the seasonal strategic narrative and ensures strategic clarity before downstream GTM planning begins.
Partners with leadership to refine, validate, and finalize strategies in alignment with brand and business objectives.
Synthesizes multiple data sources—including consumer insights, market trends, brand health, category performance, and competitive intelligence—into actionable strategic recommendations.
Partners with Insights teams to support development and continuous improvement of reporting and insight frameworks.
Identifies emerging risks and opportunities and translates findings into clear strategic actions.
Creates clear, digestible storytelling that translates data into strategic actions for partners across the business.
Leads strategic workshops, insight immersions, and alignment sessions with Product, Merchandising, Brand Communications, and Regional teams.
Ensures teams understand and adopt the seasonal strategy before brief development, concepting, or activation planning begins.
Acts as a strategic partner to Brand Communications to build narrative foundations prior to creative development.
Provides continuing insight and strategic interpretation throughout the season cycle.
Develops and delivers strategic sell-in materials to support global and regional Sales teams in communicating category strategy to retail partners.
Supplies consumer (fan) narrative grounded in the Expressive Explorer target, including key mindsets, motivations, behaviors, and unmet needs.
Provides seasonal Merchandising Architecture and Key Story Priorities including hero drivers, volume drivers, icon builders, innovation leaders, and retailer tier story guidance.
Defines and communicates key product knowledge (in partnership with PLMs) such as key benefits, tech guides, KEENparison charts, testing results, and proof point summaries.
Defines directional strategies for in-season support to reinforce retailer confidence and sustain consumer demand through sell-through.
Partners with Creative to develop seasonal category concepts that establish the early creative foundation which will mature into full sell thru campaigns in later stage gates.
Provides Sales teams with clear, concise strategic narratives and ready to use materials that ensure consistent storytelling across global and regional retailers.
Serves as the primary strategic partner to Integrated GTM teams, providing clear and actionable seasonal strategy inputs.
Leads formal handoff of strategy, including consumer insights, opportunity framing, product intent, and narrative direction.
Supports GTM teams throughout execution to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
Provides data-informed rationale to support channel prioritization, pathway development, and investment decisions.
Partners with Integrated GTM to ensure continuity from strategy through activation, but does not own activation planning or execution.