Retail Product Line Manager

Kforce's client in Beaverton, OR is seeking a Lead Product Line Manager to support its Kids Basketball Footwear team. This role will help define and deliver product strategies and footwear collections designed for young basketball athletes. Summary: The Lead Product Line Manager will partner closely with cross-functional teams across Design, Development, Engineering, Materials, Merchandising, Brand, and Marketplace to take footwear products from consumer insight and initial briefing through development and commercialization. Responsibilities:

• Lead the creation of Kids Basketball footwear from product brief through concept, development, testing, refinement, and commercialization
• Develop a strong understanding of the Kids Basketball consumer through consumer research, athlete feedback, product testing, marketplace insights, and competitive analysis
• Translate consumer and marketplace insights into clear product briefs outlining product vision, performance benefits, positioning, pricing, and marketplace opportunities
• Partner with Design, Development, Engineering, and Materials teams throughout the footwear creation process
• Help develop Kids versions of signature basketball footwear while ensuring products meet the unique fit, function, performance, construction, and price needs of young athletes
• Support seasonal footwear collections and key basketball franchises
• Evaluate concepts, prototypes, materials, testing, and consumer feedback to guide product decisions
• Balance consumer needs, design, performance, cost, timing, and commercialization requirements
• Manage multiple products and workstreams while driving decisions and maintaining key development milestones
• Communicate product strategies and stories to cross-functional partners
• Strong experience in footwear product management, product line management, or a closely related footwear product creation role
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end footwear product creation process, including consumer insight, product briefing, concept development, testing, refinement, and commercialization
• Experience translating consumer and marketplace insights into actionable product briefs and product opportunities
• Experience partnering with cross-functional footwear teams such as Design, Development, Engineering, and Materials
• Ability to evaluate product concepts and make decisions balancing consumer needs, performance, design, cost, price, and timing
• Strong communication, storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Ability to manage multiple products and workstreams in a fast\-paced product creation environment

• 5+ years of footwear product management or product line management experience
• Experience with basketball, performance footwear, or athletic footwear
• Experience managing footwear products from initial brief through commercialization
• Experience developing seasonal footwear collections or managing established product franchises
• Experience with signature athlete or signature footwear products
• Knowledge of youth/Kids footwear, including considerations around fit, function, construction, materials, and pricing
• Strong understanding of basketball culture, youth consumer trends, and the athletic footwear marketplace