Product Line Manager

The People Brand; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

The People Brand is seeking a Product Line Manager II – Running in Southern California. You will own the running category strategy, translate consumer insights, and drive seasonal ranges to hit revenue, margin, and inventory targets.

Lead cross-functional teams, forecast assortments, and develop briefs for product and packaging while staying ahead of market trends and consumer needs. 10–20% travel is possible.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of relevant product, consumer, brand, and/or sporting goods experience.
• Meaningful experience within the Running category strongly preferred, particularly Running Footwear and/or Running Apparel.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or a related field.
• Strong understanding of product lifecycle management and the end-to-end product creation process.
• Experience developing product briefs and presenting product strategy and recommendations to leadership.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to influence and lead cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Become the global expert within your assigned Running categories, developing a strong understanding of North American and international markets, including the consumer, competition, and retail landscape.
• Drive product strategy through 1–3 year strategic plans incorporating global market analysis, key business drivers by region, historical performance, retail opportunities and challenges, new business opportunities, emerging technologies, and the competitive landscape.
• Create seasonal product briefs defining product positioning, pricing, product and packaging attributes, consumer insights, competitive analysis, regional relevance, brand relevance, and margin objectives.
• Create advanced development and design briefs that lead to new product and innovation initiatives.
• Analyze and develop market segmentation strategies to deliver unique and relevant products that meet the needs of individual consumer segments while achieving company revenue and margin goals.

Skills

Running category experience

Leadership

Product lifecycle management

Strategic planning

Data analysis

Forecasting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

Relocation Assistance: Available

POSITION OVERVIEW

Our client, a leading global sports and consumer products organization, is seeking a driven Product Line Manager II – Running to join its Southern California team.

As the Product Line Manager for Running, you will serve as the consumer and product expert for your assigned categories. You will identify and translate meaningful consumer insights and marketplace opportunities across channels to build strategic range plans that support seasonal revenue, margin, and inventory goals.

This role is responsible for maintaining timely and relevant product, competitor, consumer, and market intelligence, enabling the broader Product organization to effectively manage the collection and business on a day-to-day basis.

The ideal candidate brings meaningful experience within the Running category, with backgrounds in Running Footwear and/or Running Apparel particularly relevant.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Become the global expert within your assigned Running categories, developing a strong understanding of North American and international markets, including the consumer, competition, and retail landscape.


• Drive product strategy through 1–3 year strategic plans incorporating global market analysis, key business drivers by region, historical performance, retail opportunities and challenges, new business opportunities, emerging technologies, and the competitive landscape.


• Create seasonal product briefs defining product positioning, pricing, product and packaging attributes, consumer insights, competitive analysis, regional relevance, brand relevance, and margin objectives.


• Create advanced development and design briefs that lead to new product and innovation initiatives.


• Analyze and develop market segmentation strategies to deliver unique and relevant products that meet the needs of individual consumer segments while achieving company revenue and margin goals.


• Work within established product calendars to ensure on-time completion of all major milestones, dates, and gates.


• Partner closely with cross-functional teams including Design, Development, Operations, Finance, Sales, and Planning.


• Conduct ongoing consumer, athlete, marketplace, and trade research to identify product and technology trends and develop a deep understanding of the target consumer.


• Participate in the planning and delivery of presentations for key customers, brand partners, senior management, sales meetings, and trade shows.


• Drive product awareness and optimize sell-through by developing marketing and packaging briefs, catalogs, showroom merchandising standards, and in-store displays.


• Develop product training tools for Sales teams, including technical sheets, videos, and other materials that clearly communicate product strengths and positioning.


• Own forecasting for new and existing product assortments, including 24-month forecasting at the category, style, and SKU level by region and key customer.


• Drive cross-functional forecasting coordination with Finance, Sales, Operations, and Planning teams.


• Provide regular, accurate, and rigorous reporting on the existing business to identify opportunities for incremental sales and growth.


• Participate in athlete testing, wear/fit testing, consumer research, and other product-validation initiatives as appropriate.

WHAT TO BRING

• 6+ years of relevant product, consumer, brand, and/or sporting goods experience, with a proven track record of delivering results in a fast-paced, high-performance, entrepreneurial environment.


• Meaningful experience within the Running category strongly preferred, particularly Running Footwear and/or Running Apparel.


• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or a related field.


• Strong understanding of product lifecycle management and the end-to-end product creation process.


• Experience developing product briefs and presenting product strategy and recommendations to leadership.


• Strong leadership skills with the ability to influence and lead cross-functional teams.


• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, customer-relations, and presentation skills.


• Strong analytical capabilities and ability to translate data and consumer insights into product strategy.


• Understanding of the global marketplace and ability to consider regional consumer and business needs when developing product strategies.


• Ability to thrive within a fast-paced, results-driven organization.


• Strong organizational and project-management skills with the ability to manage multiple projects, deadlines, and priorities simultaneously.


• A sense of urgency and ability to operate with independent initiative.


• Ability to effectively communicate insights and recommendations to senior management.


• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.


• Experience with PLM platforms and product-management systems preferred.

ADDITIONALLY

• Ability to travel approximately 10–20%, primarily domestically with some potential international travel.


• Detail-oriented, self-driven, and highly motivated.


• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively and diplomatically across all levels of an organization.


• Strong time-management skills and ability to work effectively within a collaborative team environment.


• Comfortable working in a brand-driven, consumer- and customer-focused environment serving major multinational sporting goods and specialty retailers.


• Must understand the needs and wants of the consumer and align product decisions with category business plans to ultimately serve the needs of the athlete.