Principal, Communications, Nike Football  

Nike Global Brand Communications – Beaverton, OR 

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH 

Nike Global Communications delivers breakthrough stories of sport and innovation where consumers are—across the right channels and conversations. We craft authentic, innovative narratives that inspire action, spark engagement, and amplify the message of our relentless pursue to create the best for the athlete, worldwide. This role reports into the Senior Director Communications, Nike Football and Kids. 

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR 

We are looking for a Principal of Football Communications to join the Global Nike Brand Communications team. This person will proactively develop and orchestrate strategic communications plans and ongoing storytelling in service of Nike Football’s global innovations, products, and athletes across key business priorities. They will develop a long-term strategy and narrative to proactively reach consumers and fans and shape a positive brand reputation for Nike Football. This position will engage directly with cross-functional teammates across global and geo communications, business, brand management, sports marketing, league and federation partners and internal stakeholders.  

The right candidate has extensive experience driving communications strategy in the global football industry and understands the evolving landscape of audiences, media, and communities. Is highly collaborative, exhibits high-level critical thinking, and can manage multiple and competing priorities in a fast-paced environment. The ability to access and apply knowledge of consumer and media insights, trends, and intelligence related to football is paramount.  

This person will be an outstanding communications professional with a demonstrated track record of success, preferably working for a large consumer brand, sports organization, teams and/or communications agency with a focus on global football. Key competencies of the role include: 

• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, with the ability to craft compelling narratives, messaging, and distribution strategies around Nike Football initiatives 

• Ability to pre-empt global football trends, news, and stories, and be agile working in a fast-paced, team-focused environment 

• Strong awareness of the network of key opinion leaders that shape the pulse of football in media and social media, content, experiences, gaming, etc. 

• Experience working with top global football athletes, teams, and leagues to develop and execute communications strategies 

• Strong understanding of the global football industry against the backdrop of new media, including consumer and digital trends, challenges, and opportunities 

WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON 

You will be building and driving communications strategies and storytelling that builds energy, connection, and signalling for Nike as the leading brand in global football: 

• Own the global communications strategy for Nike Football, defining message hierarchy and seasonal story architecture.  

• Create and govern content line plans and story maps that connect product pipelines, athlete/club/fed moments, and cultural insights across channels and markets.  

• Craft compelling narratives and messaging frameworks for global initiatives, ensuring consistency.  

• Develop and execute storytelling strategies across earned media, creators, speaking engagements to maximize reach and impact.  

• Lead stakeholder alignment across product, brand, sports marketing, retail, and geographies to deliver cohesive communications plans.  

• Design and oversee global event strategies, including product launches and athlete activations, ensuring long-term and short-term strategic objectives are met.  

• Identify and mitigate project risks, partnering with senior leadership to develop proactive solutions.  

• Build and maintain multi-season project plans, calendar, and status updates.  

• Manage budgets and allocate resources to deliver high-impact storytelling and activations.  

• Pre-empt global football trends, news cycles, and cultural moments; activate agile response protocols to maintain relevance.  

• Develop strategic actions to engage key opinion leaders, creators, and gaming communities shaping football culture.  

• Partner with top athletes, clubs, leagues, and media to execute end-to-end communications strategies.  

• Oversee agency ecosystems, setting scopes, creative direction, and performance standards for global football moments.  

• Define success metrics (SOV, sentiment, tier-1 placements, creator amplification) and lead post-mortems to optimize future work.  

• Serve as a subject matter expert on football industry trends, new media behaviors, and digital opportunities to inform strategic decisions. 

• Create, lead and execute key communications activations and sport moments globally, including WC26, WC27, and LA28. 

WHAT YOU BRING 

• Has an enterprise mindset with the ability to "see the bigger picture" and navigate risk, issues and opportunities 

• Ability to develop and execute strategic communications plans, manage and proactively drive brand reputation and deliver narrative-led storytelling 

• Excellent verbal and written skills, and the ability to articulate them in a digital landscape 

• Strong media relations background 

• Ability to paint a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to take action 

• Thinks strategically-can cut through complexity to find solutions and approaches for impact 

• Experience working on complex issues that require thoughtful analysis and high-level strategic counsel 

• Proactive and flexible-able and eager to respond and adapt to a rapid-paced environment and circumstances, seeking clarity and problem solving at every step 

• Sport, cultural and societal acumen- able to leverage critical thinking skills to identify/assess dynamic and evolving cultural/social/political moments, events, trends 

• 8+ years relevant work experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communication, business
  or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education,
  experience or training.