Portfolio Strategy & Licensing Manager

Dorel Juvenile; Foxborough (MA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Dorel Juvenile is seeking a Portfolio Strategy & Licensing Manager to drive growth via consumer insights and strategic licensing partnerships. You will collaborate with Product, Sales, Design, Engineering, Legal, and Commercial teams to translate insights into actionable plans and optimize portfolio performance.

This role emphasizes licensing execution, three-year roadmap development, and global category leadership to strengthen brand equity while expanding market reach.

Qualifications

• B.S. or B.A. in Marketing or Business preferred.
• 3-5 years’ experience in consumer goods, preferably with big-box retailers.
• Expertise aligning global cross-functional teams to protect brand equity while expanding licensing reach.
• Strong negotiation skills with licensors/licensees and cohesive brand representation.
• Excellent communication and presentation abilities.

Responsibilities

• Define category and portfolio strategy, including inbound/outbound licensing opportunities.
• Lead the creation and execution of three-year roadmaps.
• Global Product Lead for assigned categories and US roadmap execution.
• Manage portfolio analysis for adding, growing, exiting categories and SKUs.
• Provide inputs for business cases and financial assessments.
• Analyze marketplace conditions and consumer needs across channels.
• Conduct market analysis and report to brand leaders and sales.
• Oversee category margin requirements for new products and P&L impact.
• Develop product briefs and drive scope changes with Product Management.
• Lead cross-functional teams to drive schedules and launch plans.
• Collaborate with Brand and Retail Marketing on commercialization plans.
• Lead market launches for assigned categories.
• Occasional domestic and international travel.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Licensing negotiations

Brand management

Market analysis

Communication & presentation

Education

B.S. or B.A. in Marketing or Business

Job description

The Portfolio Strategy & Licensing Manager is responsible for driving portfolio growth through consumer insights, strategic licensing partnerships, commercialization excellence, and portfolio planning. This role supports the development and execution of category and portfolio strategies by identifying growth opportunities, evaluating market trends, leading licensing initiatives, and translating consumer and market insights into actionable business recommendations. The position works cross-functionally with Product, Sales, Design, Engineering, Legal, and Commercial teams to deliver sustained growth, strengthen strategic partnerships, and optimize portfolio performance.

This position does not support immigration sponsorship.

Key Responsibilities

• Support vision and strategy for the relevant category and/or product group, including inbound and outbound licensing partnerships. Identifies product (B&M & E-commerce) opportunities based on in-depth analysis of trends, consumer and market data, as well as sales and retailer feedback.
• Participates in the creation and implementation of three-year roadmaps.
• Global Product Lead for specific categories and supporting efforts to drive the US segmented portion of the roadmap
• Support efforts to manage the product portfolio including analysis related to adding, growing and exiting categories, sub-categories and SKUs
• Ability to provide quantitative and qualitative inputs for the development of business cases and other financial assessments
• Provide analytical support to assess growth and profitability of assigned category and product group, recommend initiatives based on that analysis
• Build and maintain a robust assessment of current marketplace conditions. This will include constant analysis of market information and understanding the relevant consumer needs including sales (internal & external), retailers, e-tailers and other stakeholders.
• Conducts market analysis (competitive landscapes and market overviews) on a consistent basis and reports to brand leaders, brand managers and sales. Creates market-data based questions for qualitative and quantitative research associated with them.
• Manages the category margin requirements for respective new products.
• Develop and display an understanding of what drives category performance, execute a variety of activities that support category P&L improvement. Manage the category margin requirements for respective new products.
• Create product briefs driven from ideas on the product roadmaps and drives the process forward with help of Product Management. Responsible for updating product briefs when/if there is a scope change to active the primary marketing and brand goal objectives.
• Influence and lead cross functional team to drive schedule Champion the cross-functional team members with the help of Product Management to drive the schedule. Inputs and facilitates checklist tickets to proper channels to drive products forward.
• Develop and maintain close working relationships with Brand and Retail Marketing to execute commercialization plans that support annual brand and sales plans.
• Plays a lead role in market launches for assigned category and/or product groups.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Education, Experience and Skills

• B.S. or B.A. in Marketing or Business preferred
• 3- 5 years’ experience in a similar position, preferably in consumer goods working closely with big box retailers.
• Expertise in aligning global cross-functional teams to protect brand equity while expanding reach through licensing, and regional adaptation strategies.
• Skilled in negotiating licensing deals, managing international licensors/licensees, and ensuring cohesive brand representation worldwide a plus.
• Must have the ability to inspire people, within and outside of their immediate working environment to effectively direct and guide their respective teams.
• Must be an out-of-the-box thinker who is constantly looking for ways to improve processes, team and themselves.
• Ability to think big picture yet understand the need for strong execution.
• Must have strong communication and presentation skills to effectively lead, influence and inspire others within the organization.
• Strong sense of “customer comes first” attitude.
• Must be a strong team player who has the ability to maintain a positive attitude through challenges and demanding deadlines.
• Occasional domestic and international travel if required.