Company Overview
Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. The company ignites the passions of global sports fans and maximizes the presence and reach for hundreds of sports partners globally by offering innovative products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans, a global partner network with over 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, teams, players associations, athletes, celebrities, colleges, and college conferences, and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail business stores.
As a market leader with more than 18,000 employees, and hundreds of partners, suppliers, and vendors worldwide, we take responsibility for driving toward more ethical and sustainable practices. We are committed to building an inclusive Fanatics community, reflecting and representing society at every level of the business, including our employees, vendors, partners and fans. Fanatics is also dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities where we all live, work, and play through strategic philanthropic initiatives.
Role Purpose:
To grow profitable vertical penetration of Fanatics Branded products by creating product propositions that are desirable to the end consumer.
A leader in the development of short to medium term category strategies & range plans that drives sales growth across multi channels and international markets.
This role is critical in the planning and execution of consumer-led ranges that are compelling to our license partners, multi-channel retailers and shoppers and deliver against our business commercial targets, strategic priorities and positioning.
To be viewed within the business as the product category expert for Fanatics Branded propositions and be the first point of reference for issue resolution, insight and strategic product plans. A senior manager and role-model within the Fanatics Branded Division product team.
Responsibilities:
- Develop strong relationships with external partnership teams, ensuring strategic alignment and stakeholder management throughout the seasonal process.
- Highlight opportunities for growth within the category as part of the seasonal strategic planning process.
- Determine range roadmap and product solutions that deliver the business & Fanatics Branded product strategy.
- Accountable for annual & seasonal plans including range architecture, RRP hierarchy, SCO count & productivity, product mix, product segmentation and margin to meet agreed business objectives.
- Propose appropriate range architecture and positioning based on deep understanding of consumer and competitor landscape, product and feature benchmarking and business strategy.
- Work closely with key leads within the wholesale, ecom and retail channels to understand consumer needs and market opportunities in order deliver the most relevant product range assortments.
- Collaborate with the USA product team to ensure alignment of product strategies, to leverage global product ranges & to build a ‘one team’ resource network.
- Work closely with International wholesale to determine local product requirements & build local needs into the seasonal range plans.
- In collaboration with the Design & Marketing teams, create integrated product / marketing concepts that increase sales growth for the business.
- Write, submit and manage timely delivery of product briefs to design (and development) teams ensuring design output is commercially acceptable, aligned to partner guidelines and meets the brief.
- Sign off all Special Make-Ups (SMUs) ensuring they are aligned to the process policy and agreed controls (KPIS).
- Ensure cross functional teams deliver all concept to consumer milestones aligned to the seasonal critical path, including approval of products by the external Partnership teams.
- Play an active role in the seasonal International sales launches as part of a cross functional team
- Lead category presentations and plans at the seasonal sales launches.
- Actively build relationships with key global retail accounts & support the commercial team during the pre-line or sell in period.
- Where applicable manage the gift of kit process & associated budgets to ensure effective on time delivery of product.
- Integrate processes & cross functional relationships across the business that delivers improved efficiencies & establishes a ‘one team’ approach.
- Responsible for driving increased performance throughout the team.
- Leadership, development and motivation of any direct reports.
- Undertake any other duties and/or responsibilities as may reasonably be required by management from time to time
- You may also be required from time to time to work additional hours including but not limited to providing support around events and hot markets.
Knowledge and Experience:
- Extensive category experience and understanding of the broader market.
- Strong analytical & numerical experience and skills.
- Strong understanding and appreciation of the end to end concept-to-consumer (C2C) process.
- Strong understanding of how to gain and translate consumer needs into product.
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to work across a broad range of functional areas (interpersonal and influencing)
- Excellent project management skills to ensure the team are adhering to timelines.
- Strong presentation & communication skills.
- Proven influencing skills at all levels of the business and especially with cross functional teams
- Demonstrable success within category management roles.
- Proven ability to propose, implement and deliver short to mid-term strategic initiatives.
- Highly motivated, independent and able to work on own initiative to deliver results to tight deadlines.
- Able to create buy-in, support and belief in their plans within the organization.
- Curious; quick to identify trends and patterns; always looking for ways to improve category performance.
- Driven to exceed expectations, a self-starter and self-motivator.
- Perceived as credible and an expert in their area with an ability to challenge upwards and across functions to drive initiatives through to completion.
- Highly analytical, solution driven and result oriented; able to consider both the bigger picture and scrutinize detail when necessary;
- Excellent in presentation and interpersonal skills. Able to convey complex issues simply and communicate with conviction and awareness of functional, cultural and regional differences.
We are an equal opportunity employer and celebrate diversity and inclusivity at Fanatics. Our commitment to inclusion drives us forward every day; across all races, gender, gender identities, age, sexual orientation, religion & spiritual beliefs, neurodiversity, disability and all identities of our people both current and future. If you have any requirement(s) for reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, and/or to perform essential job functions, please contact us.
Ensure your Fanatics job offer is legitimate and don’t fall victim to fraud. Fanatics never seeks payment from job applicants. Feel free to ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of communication for interview, and ensure your communication is coming from a Fanatics or Fanatics Brand email address. For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at www.fanaticsinc.com/careers
Tryouts are open at Fanatics! Our team is passionate, talented, unified, and charged with creating the fan experience of tomorrow. The ball is in your court now.
Fanatics is committed to responsible planning and purchasing (RPP) practices, working with its business partners across its global and multi-layered supply chain, to ensure that planning, sourcing, and purchasing decisions, along with other supporting processes, do not impede or conflict with the fulfillment of Fanatics’ fair labor practices.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS/APPLICANTS: In connection with your application, we collect information that identifies, reasonably relates to or describes you (“Personal Information”). The categories of Personal Information that we collect include your name, government issued identification number(s), email address, mailing address, other contact information, emergency contact information, employment history, educational history, criminal record, and demographic information. We collect and use those categories of Personal Information about you for human resources and other business management purposes, including identifying and evaluating you as a candidate for potential or future employment or other types of positions, recordkeeping in relation to recruiting and hiring, conducting criminal background checks as permitted by law, conducting analytics, and ensuring compliance with applicable legal requirements and Company policies. For additional information on how we collect and use personal information in connection with your job application, review our Candidate Privacy Policy-CA