Lead, Brand Creative Planning and Operations, North America
Top focus
Our Brand Creative team is at the heart of Nike’s storytelling, pushing boundaries and creating powerful stories about sport, athletes, and innovation. We take risks, break rules, and craft the unexpected. We flourish on bold creativity, fearless experimentation, and radical collaboration.
Creative Operations manages creative ways of working, improving collaboration, reducing bottlenecks, increasing efficiency and managing resources. In short, Creative Operations drives operational clarity and establish the seasonal project priorities for Brand Creative.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR Brand Creative Operations is seeking an experienced Brand Creative professional who is highly organized, detail-oriented, and a strategic problem-solver. You’ll collaborate with teams across the organization to find efficient and effective solutions and define processes that support the smooth running of the creative studio.
In this role, clear communication is key. Curiosity and attention to detail are essential, along with the ability to scope and estimate project size and volume, and support the team in managing creative staffing, capacity, and bandwidth. Key Capabilities: Adaptability & Strategic Support & Collaboration: Support and collaborate with senior team members in tasks that enable strategic planning.
Demonstrate flexibility and initiative in ambiguous situations Leadership: Lead week-to-week operations, ensuring the team is thriving and can produce high-quality work efficiently, whilst mentoring junior team members Organization & Detail Orientation : Maintain highly organized workflows to deliver clear operational information Tech Fluency: Use tools to centralize documentation and stay current with technology (e.g., AirTable, Figma, Keynote) Communication: Share updates clearly, escalate issues appropriately, and contribute actively to team dialogue Initiative: Show curiosity and initiative in learning, seek feedback and apply it quickly Cross-functional Collaboration and Influence: heavy collaboration with teams across the Nike enterprise and the ability to influence is critical in this role WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON Expert resource planning & seasonal management: Proven experience owning end-to-end resource planning across multiple concurrent seasons, balancing priorities, capacity, and delivery in a fast-paced environment.
Exceptional leadership & influence: A confident leader who can present to senior stakeholders, influence without authority, navigate complex matrix organizations, and champion new ways of working. Process transformation mindset: Someone who proactively challenges existing processes, isn’t afraid to break what’s not working, and rebuilds scalable, efficient solutions that improve how the team operates.
People leadership & ownership: Demonstrated experience leading and developing teams, with the confidence to oversee the function, make decisions, and keep the team operating effectively in my absence. Agency and retail operations expertise: Strong experience partnering with or working within external agencies, combined with a solid understanding of retail/store operations, production, or project management to bring operational credibility. (currently a skillset gap on my team) High-agency, high-performance operator: An externally minded, self-starting leader who takes ownership, anticipates challenges, drives execution, and is ready to step in as my second-in-command—a true force multiplier for the team.
WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH Reporting to the Creative Operations Director, you will collaborate with other Senior and Lead Creative Operations team members. Key partners include Brand Planning & Operations, Brand and Creative Leadership, Creative Production and Finance.
WHAT YOU BRING At least 5 years of experience in Studio Management, Creative Operations and/or Creative Project Management. Proven experience managing complex timelines, budgets, and deliverables Ability to streamline and optimize complex processes Excellent interpersonal skills and a strong team-player mindset Forward-thinking, solutions-oriented, and entrepreneurial approach Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed environment Passion for creativity and staying current with tools and technology (AirTable, Figma, Keynote, AI) Understanding of marketing initiatives and frameworks Strong familiarity with internal brand structures and external agency ecosystems.
Experience in stores and retail environments Demonstrated alignment with team principles: Embraces the unknown and adapts confidently to ambiguity and change Seeks inspiration in new challenges and opportunities Obsessed with craft, striving for excellence in every detail Prioritizes team success, collaboration, and mutual support Speaks up with conviction, contributing ideas and feedback openly and respectfully We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in-person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed.
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