WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH
You will lead the Design Strategy function and work in close partnership with the Chief Design Officer, Product Creation business leaders and their strategy teams, VP/Creative Directors across Design, Brand Marketing creative leaders, NXT and Innovation leaders, and cross‑functional partners in HR and Business Integration. You’ll operate as a connector across design, product, innovation, brand, and marketplace teams to ensure strategic cohesion.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
A senior enterprise leader who bridges creative and business worlds. You combine strong design intuition with business acumen, strategic thinking, and exceptional communication and executive influence. You have a track record of building high‑performing, inclusive teams and driving complex, multi‑threaded initiatives that align design vision with company priorities, innovation roadmaps, and marketplace impact.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Economics, Applied Science, or a related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training.
- 10+ years prior design leadership experience in strategy, innovation-led or future-focused creative studios.
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders and align diverse stakeholder groups to clear decisions.
- Expertise and proven track record of leading teams at the intersection of design, strategy, and business.
- Experience working across multiple initiatives and objectives across the enterprise.
- Expertise in organizational strategy, foresight, and design systems.
- Demonstrated ability to influence and drive action plans multidisciplinary teams and cross-functional partners effectively.
- Strong design intuition combined with business acumen and strategic thinking.
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Compliance:
- Recruiters refer to the Job Levelling Grid on the TA Playbook for education + years of experience
- US approved Immigration job posting compliance verbiage (choose one):
- Bachelor’s degree in design management or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training
- Master’s degree in design or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training
- For US roles, job descriptions should not include any verbiage that reference a requirement to pass a background check for the role.
- To promote this role to retail talent, please include the tagline- “Mynext: Be Empowered to Grow within Nike and Create the Future”
WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON
You will translate Nike’s business vision into actionable design strategies and operating mechanisms, enabling teams to deliver breakthrough consumer experiences. You’ll connect long‑range ambition to near‑term execution and bring clarity, tools, and cadence to how design delivers value across the enterprise.
Additionally, in this role you will:
- Operate further upstream by translating business and consumer priorities into a clear long-term Design strategy.
- Connect strategy to product creation, ensuring strategic decisions reflect how Design, creation, and product actually come to life.
- Shape the organization intentionally, identifying future capability needs, organizational opportunities, redundancies, and resource priorities.
- Create strategic clarity and prioritization, establishing a portfolio-level view of initiatives and ensuring leadership resources are focused on the highest-value work.
- Build organizational leadership capability, establish a Design Leadership Effectiveness agenda that equips leaders with the organizational, business and management practices required to translate strategy into high-performing teams, while maintaining clear accountability for people leadership within each functional organization.
- Strengthen Design’s position as a business partner, enabling Design to proactively shape business decisions rather than primarily respond to them.
- Translate strategy into action, partnering closely with Operations to turn strategic priorities into tangible initiatives, operating mechanisms, and measurable outcomes.
- Increase the CDO’s strategic leverage, by ensuring his time and attention are focused on creative vision, product, consumer relevance, future opportunities and business impact, while strategic and organizational execution is actively led.
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. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in business administration, Economics, Applied Science, design management, or a related field, or suitable combination of education, experience, and training
- 10+ years of design leadership experience in strategy, innovation-led, or future-focused creative studios
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders and align diverse stakeholder groups to clear decisions
- Experience leading teams at the intersection of design, strategy, and business
- Experience managing multiple initiatives and objectives across an enterprise
- Expertise in organizational strategy, foresight, and design systems
- Ability to influence and drive action plans with multidisciplinary teams and cross-functional partners
- Strong design intuition, business acumen, and strategic thinking
Nike Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Nike and has not been reviewed or approved by Nike.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with a company match is complemented by options such as a Mega Backdoor Roth and deferred compensation for eligible earners. Financial coaching and structured savings programs support long-term financial security.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — An Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a stock discount sits alongside broad-based equity vehicles like RSUs and non-qualified stock options. These avenues expand wealth-building opportunities beyond base pay.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave includes maternity and paternity time, recently expanded in the U.S. to 16 weeks and extended to part-time retail teammates. Additional supports include childcare assistance at select locations and family-building benefits such as fertility, surrogacy, and adoption.
Nike Insights
What We Do
At NIKE, Inc., we innovate to serve athletes*. Every teammate - from coder to creator - plays a role in making these athletes’ dreams real. Our tech, data, and digital teams push limits every day, building the future of sport and the tools that drive it. Here, curiosity is fuel. Innovation is the game plan. Different perspectives keep us on the offense. You’ll solve challenges worth tackling, grow fast and belong to a team that backs you to do the right thing. Bring your drive. Bring your bold. Let’s move the world, together. Take your first step at nike.com/careers * If you have a body, you’re an athlete.
Why Work With Us
At NIKE, Inc., your dedication fuels the future of sport. There is a sense of pride that comes from representing an iconic brand and shaping its future. Here, we treat every day as a new opportunity to push boundaries, ask tough questions and share whole-hearted convictions. We are a team – united by the belief that anything is possible.
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