Lead, Brand Creative Designer, Basketball, Global

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are seeking a highly creative and strategic Lead Brand Designer to join our multidisciplinary team. This role requires a dynamic designer who thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, working closely with Art Directors, Senior Designers, Studio Managers, Producers, and Narrative teams. The ideal candidate will have a deep passion for sport-particularly basketball-and a strong connection to the creative industry. They will be responsible for driving design excellence across multiple projects, ensuring all creative work remains authentic to athlete stories, product innovation, and key sport moments.

WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON

As a Lead Brand Designer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the visual direction of Basketball brand campaigns, with a focus on Signature athlete product launches. Your work will involve:

• Collaborating with the Creative team to evolve and elevate Basketball's visual identity.
• Leading the design execution for brand campaigns tied to athlete storytelling and product innovation.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with photographers, filmmakers, illustrators, designers, and writers.
• Staying ahead of emerging trends in basketball, fashion, design, film, art, media, and technology, ensuring relevance to Nike's creative vision.
• Overseeing the planning, execution, and timely delivery of high-quality creative projects.
• Maintaining the highest standards of quality, consistency, and innovation across all design work.
• Presenting creative concepts with confidence, demonstrating strong storytelling and public speaking skills.

• Minimum 5+ years graphic design and art direction experience in branded content, agency, editorial or marketing environment.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in graphic design or related field, or equivalent combination of education, experience, or training.
• A passion for the Athlete*, Sport and Culture.
• A stellar portfolio of creative work, exhibiting a seasoned background in digital and editorial design.

• Deep knowledge and expertise in all aspects of layout, typography, illustration, identity, digital and experience production and
• Publishing across formats and platforms.
• Detailed understanding of today's creative landscape and how people engage with content from digital products to environments and experiences.
• Ability to collaborate with and creatively manage external agency relationships.
• Proven ability as a manager and mentor, with a knack and passion for helping everyone on the team-especially senior-level and entrepreneurial talent-to grow, improve, succeed, and advance toward collective and individual goals.
• Ability to lead team efforts while also working independently to deliver on individual responsibilities.
• Proven ability to flex and adapt to changing business needs while maintaining creative quality.
• Laser-sharp focus with ability to work quickly and efficiently under pressure.
• Strong time management with ability to toggle between daily and long-term tasks, keeping workstreams moving forward simultaneously.
• Excellent verbal and visual communication skills; adept at presenting and defending creative work.
• Strong interpersonal skills with highly developed ability to foster cross-functional teamwork and an open, positive and collaborative environment.
• Highly developed curiosity and in-depth understanding of design culture, current and past.
• Love for Basketball