Product Line Manager II, Footwear

Who We Are:

At Brooks, we believe movement is the key to feeling more alive. That’s why we’re driven to create gear and experiences that take people to the place that makes them feel more alive — whether it’s a headspace, a feeling, or a finish line.

Everyone who works at Brooks is propelled by a company culture that sparks excitement, fuels collaboration, inspires creativity, and ignites innovation.

Our brand values help bond us together and drive our success:

• Runner First

• We act in the best interest of the runner

• Word is Bond

• We do what we say we’ll do

• Champion Heart

• We give our all in everything we do

• There is no “I” in Run

• We stay generous with our humanity

• Keep Moving

• We find ways to move every day, because joy is kinetic!

We welcome everyone from every walk of life looking to inspire others through the power of movement - because we’re all moving towards something. Let’s run there.

Your Job:

The Mission of the Product Line Management and BlueLine teams are to be the voice of the consumer in the product creation process, set the product benefit expectations, and ensure that this vision is maintained from brief to market. The primary goal is to bring Brooks’ complete and competitive footwear product lines to market in a timely and profitable manner and to identify the products, technologies, experiences and processes that will shape the future of running in innovative ways.

The Footwear Product Line Manager II (PLM II) plays a critical role in delivering successful seasonal footwear assortments at Brooks. In this role, you are responsible for the execution of assigned seasonal footwear projects, ensuring consumer wants and needs, product intent, and business objectives come together from brief through commercialization.

As a PLM II, your primary focus is owning and executing within a season, translating consumer insights and springboards into strong consumer-centric product briefs and guiding the product team through the product creation process.

Your Responsibilities:
Strategic Planning and Execution

• Be the expert on the evolution of the line plan for your season of focus.

• Partner with Manager, Footwear PLM to translate multi year strategies, innovation pipelines, and line plan evolution into executable inline briefs.

• Ensure seasonal product assortments are competitive, consumer‑relevant, and aligned to business objectives.

Consumer, Insights, Briefing and Product Execution

Consumer and Insights

• Serve as the seasonal consumer and marketplace expert, staying ahead of trends, competitive moves, and evolving runner needs.

• Participate in insights latent and expressed needs research projects in conjunction with RSL and/or other PLMs that are then leveraged as springboards within the consumer briefs for each season. Mentor PLM-I through this process to grow their knowledge to participate in future projects.

• Curate time in market with key footwear team members, analyzing and interpreting data, interacting directly with consumers including but not limited to leading consumer on-on-one interviews, shop-alongs and rapid prototyping.

• Maintain regular interactions with retailers to identify additional insights and opportunities and anticipate future trends.

Briefs

• Begin with the ‘Why’ and the ‘Key consumer problem to solve’

• Combine consumer insights (latent and/or expressed) and springboards, biomechanics POV, and new or future innovation capabilities to articulate a crafted story that comes to life in a product brief.

• Lead the cross functional and collaborative brief creation process that includes the story crafting, key consumer benefits, KPIs, development toolbox and design concepts

Product Execution

• Work cross functionally within footwear team to drive product execution and be accountable for product readiness at key milestones - design review, triad scorecard and calibration presentations, sales meeting, etc.

• Hold continuous optimal experience and knowledge of technical execution across materials, upper construction, foams, midsole and outsole parts (2D, 3D and wood models) to be able to ensure the team is executing at the highest level for the consumer and product readiness

• Maintain a level of understanding in Biomechanics to facilitate in depth dialogue with Engineering while translating technical verbiage into stories that resonate with the laymen.

• Ensure market and consumer readiness of all products managed within your season of focus at a level of 75% at Spam 1 and at a level of 95% at Spam 2

• Travel at least twice a year to Asia development centers to work with footwear colleagues to finalize changes for Spam product creation milestones

Collaboration

• Partner closely with cross functional colleagues in design and development to create a productive, collaborative environment to cover all the consumer, engineering, costing and design considerations and areas of focus throughout the product creation process

Story Crafting, Presentations and Cross Functional Support

• Be an exceptional story crafter by building stories that are informed by consumer insights

• Present line architecture, products, concepts and new technologies to internal and external stakeholders

• Provide product expertise to Merchandising, Product Marketing, PR, Sales and Marketing to assist in the creation of product presentations and videos to be used for Pre-lines, Calibration meetings, GTM meetings and media events

Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business or a related field preferred or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Proven experience and success in bringing a footwear product line to market (preferred)

• 5+ years prior experience working in a footwear running product related job.

• 3+ years experience in a relevant product management related role.

• Working knowledge of the footwear product management process, retail environment and consumer buying habits

• Business orientation preferred with demonstrated financial ability in managing gross margins, inventory, and costing.

• Excellent oral and written communications skills – skilled presenter (using MS Presentation tools)

• Strong analytical skills and experience

• Proven ability to influence, persuade and negotiate to achieve progress toward goals – skilled communicator.

• Results-oriented person with the ability to balance numerous tasks and utilize all available resources with a high sense of urgency and self-motivation.

• Demonstrated ability to conceive/create new thinking and ideas pertaining to the consumer and the product line – skilled “product eye.”

• Ability to work professionally and efficiently within the team and across departments.

• A passion for the running enthusiast and active lifestyle

Compensation: The pay range for this position, based out of the Brooks Seattle HQ, is $98,286 - 147,428 per year. Base pay offered will vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Other:

Brooks is proud to offer a robust benefits package to our employees and their families!

Benefits - Including medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance, HSA and employer contribution, FSA, family & fertility assistance, 401K Savings Plan and match, employee assistance program, and transportation assistance.

Paid Time Off - Brooks offers generous time off, including five weeks of paid time off, eleven paid holidays, and paid sick and parental leave.

Bonus - In addition to base pay, Brooks employees may also be offered an annual bonus based on company performance.

Perks - Including product discounts, employee recognition, fitness discounts, volunteer and donation benefits.

Location - You will spend 4 days per week in our Seattle offices, as we believe our organization flourishes when connections, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and celebrations happen in person.

At Brooks, we celebrate diversity & equity. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment, and encourage people of all backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and skills to apply. Brooks is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, two-spirit identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, the presence of a physical, mental, or sensory disability, marital status, pregnancy (including childbirth and related conditions), caste, citizenship or immigration status, honorably discharged veteran or military status, actual or perceived victims of domestic violence, harassment, sexual assault or stalking, HIV or Hepatitis C infection, political ideology, use of a trained service animal by a person with a disability, or on any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law, or any other non-merit based factors.