PUMA is seeking an experienced and visionary Vice President Global Brand Communication & Partnership to define and lead the company’s global communications agenda, encompassing PR, entertainment, influencer marketing, collaborations, and social media strategy. Reporting into senior executive leadership, this role is responsible for shaping PUMA’s global brand narrative, strengthening cultural relevance, driving reputation and visibility, and ensuring consistent, impactful storytelling across all markets and consumer touchpoints.

Responsibilities:

• Define and lead the global PR, communications, and social media vision and strategy, ensuring a unified and distinctive brand voice across all key markets and business units

• Establish the long-term global roadmap for priority social platforms, driving innovation, platform evolution, audience engagement, and business impact

• Set global standards, governance frameworks, and operating models for local PR and social activation, balancing worldwide consistency with local market relevance

• Own PUMA’s global entertainment, partnerships, collaborations, and influencer strategy, determining the most effective brand voices, ambassador ecosystem, and global seeding approach

• Build, lead, and scale an integrated global influencer and creator ecosystem that strengthens brand credibility, consumer connection, and cultural relevance

• Lead the strategic development of PUMA’s flagship global brand experiences and events in partnership with brand and category leadership, ensuring maximum storytelling impact and earned media value

• Drive PUMA’s global earned media strategy, proactively identifying opportunities to strengthen brand reputation, visibility, and cultural influence

• Serve as a key strategic advisor to executive leadership on communications, reputation management, cultural trends, and emerging opportunities

• Ensure seamless cross-functional alignment across marketing, product, regions, commercial teams, executive stakeholders, and external partners

• Oversee global agency partnerships, investment strategies, and resource allocation to maximize effectiveness, efficiency, and return on investment

• Establish performance frameworks, KPIs, and governance processes, leveraging data, insights, and global trends to continuously optimize communications, social, and influencer strategies

• Build and lead a high-performing global team, fostering collaboration, innovation, and leadership excellence across regions and functions.

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in PR, communications, social media, brand marketing, or related fields, including significant global leadership responsibility

• Proven track record of defining and executing global communications, PR, and social media strategies within leading lifestyle, sports, fashion, or consumer brands

• Deep expertise in influencer ecosystems, talent partnerships, entertainment initiatives, collaborations, and modern brand-building practices

• Demonstrated success in leading high-profile global brand moments, events, and cultural activations that drive measurable business and brand impact

• Exceptional communication, storytelling, and executive presence, with the ability to influence senior leadership, regional management, and external stakeholders

• Strong strategic and conceptual thinking capabilities, translating consumer insights, cultural trends, and business priorities into impactful brand actions

• Extensive experience managing global agencies, strategic partnerships, large-scale budgets, and cross-functional teams

• Proven ability to lead and inspire diverse, high-performing teams within complex, matrixed global organizations

• Strong commercial acumen and ability to align communications strategies with broader business and brand objectives

• Experience operating at executive leadership level, influencing organizational direction and enterprise-wide decision-making.

• Develop and lead the global marketing strategy for the Training category, ensuring a consistent and compelling representation of products, athletes, and training solutions across the entire marketing mix

• Drive the execution of seasonal and long-term marketing strategies by delivering global communication toolkits, defining guidelines for regional markets, and monitoring excellence in implementation across all channels

• Ensure consumer relevance by translating training consumer insights, athlete needs, product innovations, and category trends into impactful marketing initiatives that strengthen brand preference and drive business growth

• Lead the development of category communication strategies and franchise product storytelling across multiple seasons, ensuring alignment with brand and business objectives while reinforcing PUMA's position in the Training market

• Partner closely with Product Line Management, Design, Merchandising, Sports Marketing, Consumer Marketing, and regional teams to create integrated and consumer-centric marketing plans

• Manage and develop the Training Marketing team, fostering a high-performance culture through coaching, performance management, talent development, and recruitment

• Build and maintain strong relationships with athletes, ambassadors, training experts, agency partners, and key stakeholders to maximize category visibility, credibility, and business impact

• Monitor and communicate competitive landscape developments, market trends, fitness and training consumer behaviors, and emerging opportunities to Central Marketing and regional teams, providing actionable recommendations

• Track and evaluate key marketing KPIs, collaborate closely with Consumer and Commercial Marketing teams, and lead the creation of seasonal Sell-In tools and category presentations to support commercial success and market expansion.

• 8+ years of experience in Brand Marketing, Product Marketing, Category Marketing, or a related field, preferably within the sporting goods, fitness, training, lifestyle, or consumer goods industry

• University degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications, Sports Management, or a related discipline

• Extensive experience in developing and executing global marketing strategies, preferably within performance, fitness, training, or sports-related categories

• Strong leadership skills with proven experience managing, developing, and inspiring high-performing teams in a global matrix organization

• Deep understanding of training and fitness consumers, brand building, integrated marketing communications, athlete and product storytelling, and category growth strategies

• Strong analytical capabilities with experience defining, tracking, and optimizing marketing KPIs and business performance metrics

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams globally

• Strategic, proactive, and highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and drive results in a fast-paced environment

• Team-oriented, resilient, and confident under pressure, with a collaborative and solution-driven mindset

• Fluent in English; additional language skills are considered a plus

• Passion for sports, fitness, and training, with a strong understanding of current consumer and industry trends

• Willingness to travel internationally.

As Senior Director Consumer Journey & Digital Marketing, you lead PUMA’s global consumer journey across all marketing channels, categories and regions – from awareness to loyalty. You own the end-to-end consumer journey architecture and the global digital demand engine, turning brand storytelling into a connected, data-led omnichannel ecosystem that drives full-price sell-through, digital revenue growth and brand relevance. You are the commercial engine of marketing, linking brand, product and sales outcomes.

• Define and implement the global consumer journey framework from awareness to advocacy, integrating paid, owned and earned channels across DTC, retail and wholesale and removing fragmentation between global, regional and channel execution

• Lead cross-channel integration of the global always-on demand engine across brand marketing, performance marketing (owned by E-Com) and CRM, loyalty and lifecycle marketing in partnership with E-Com

• Connect the digital strategy across Brand, DTC and Wholesale, align storytelling, product drops and activations globally, and enable shared demand creation with key partners such as JD, Foot Locker and Zalando

• Shape the consumer data strategy and first-party data capture with E-Com and Omnichannel, and co-create segmentation, audience modelling and personalisation at scale to deliver a single customer view and actionable insights

• Co-own the digital product roadmap across web, app and retail tech with E-Com, Omnichannel and Technology, and champion customer experience excellence across every touchpoint

• Translate brand storytelling into platform-native ecosystems, build scalable content systems rather than campaign-led execution, and provide global toolkits and frameworks for local market activation

• Define global, regional and local roles and decision rights, lead the operating model transformation, and standardise planning, campaign orchestration and performance tracking to drive efficiency, consistency and adoption across markets

• 15+ years’ experience in digital marketing, including proven experience leading global teams at a senior level

• University degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Communications or a comparable field

• Expertise in channel management, in particular media, social and retail activation

• Proven track record of leading successful cross-channel global campaigns and navigating matrixed stakeholders across global, regional and local teams

• Strong command of consumer data, analytics and personalization, and the ability to translate insight into commercial results

• Experience shaping operating models, governance and ways of working across a global organization

• Passion for sport and for creating show-stopping moments that blend sport and culture

• Excellent communication skills, intercultural competence and a strategic, commercially minded approach

• Team-oriented, resilient and confident under pressure

• Fluent in English; German is a plus.

Lead PUMA’s global entertainment, influencer, creator and cultural talent strategy, building a world-class ecosystem of celebrities, artists, musicians, athletes, creators, stylists and cultural tastemakers who increase brand relevance, desirability and commercial impact.

Based in Los Angeles, the role serves as PUMA’s global hub for entertainment, creator culture, music, sport culture, fashion and youth influence, ensuring the brand is connected to the people, platforms and moments shaping global culture.

The role is accountable for moving PUMA from ‘single campaign-based’ influencer activity to a structured, global entertainment and creator marketing model that supports brand heat, product demand, social engagement and commercial conversion.

Global Entertainment & Influencer Strategy

• Define and lead the global entertainment, influencer and creator marketing strategy across all major brand, category and commercial priorities.

• Build a global talent architecture across celebrities, musicians, actors, athletes, creators, streamers, stylists, cultural connectors and commerce creators.

• Identify which talent drives brand elevation, category credibility, social velocity, community relevance and commercial conversion.

• Ensure entertainment and influencer activity is integrated into global brand planning, campaign development and product launch strategy.

• Develop long-term cultural partnership opportunities that strengthen PUMA’s position in sport, fashion, music, entertainment and youth culture.

Talent Network & Relationship Management

• Build and manage PUMA’s global network across entertainment, music, sport, film, fashion, gaming, creator platforms and cultural communities.

• Act as senior relationship lead with agents, managers, publicists, stylists, labels, studios, creator agencies and key cultural intermediaries.

• Establish PUMA as a preferred partner for culturally relevant talent through meaningful, long-term and mutually valuable partnerships.

Influencer & Creator Operating Model

• Design and implement a global operating model for influencer and creator marketing across HQ, regions and markets.

• Establish globais standards for talent identification, vetting, tiering, contracting, usage rights, briefing, approvals, reporting and brand safety.

• Build and maintain a global talent database and pipeline across entertainment, creators, VIPs, stylists and cultural connectors.

• Balance global consistency with local cultural relevance across all influencer and creator activity.

Campaign, Category & Product Integration

• Partner with Brand, PR, Social, Product Marketing, Sports Marketing, Retail Marketing, E-commerce and Regional Marketing teams to embed talent into major campaigns and launches.

• Develop entertainment and influencer strategies for key categories including Football, Basketball, Running, Training, Motorsport, Sportstyle, Women’s and Collaborations.

• Ensure the right talent is matched to the right product stories, cultural moments and consumer communities.

LA Cultural Hub Leadership

• Establish PUMA’s LA-based entertainment and influencer function as a global cultural intelligence and activation hub.

• Build PUMA’s access across LA’s entertainment, music, basketball, fashion, wellness, creator and sport culture ecosystems.

• Translate cultural insight into actionable recommendations for global campaigns, collaborations, seeding, events and product storytelling.

VIP Seeding & Product Heat

• Lead PUMA’s global VIP and product seeding strategy.

• Shift product seeding from volume-led gifting to a curated, high-impact brand heat model.

• Define priority talent, products, moments and objectives for VIP and creator seeding.

• Develop high-touch processes for priority talent, including product access, styling support, gifting, event integration and bespoke storytelling opportunities.

Creator Commerce & Platform Innovation

• Develop creator-led demand models across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Snap, Discord and emerging platforms and partnering across Marketing teams to connect activity to traffic and conversion.

• Build programs across short-form video, livestreaming, affiliate models, creator storefronts, UGC and community-led product storytelling.

• Ensure PUMA remains platform-native and competitive in the evolving creator economy.

Measurement & Performance

• Develop a global measurement framework for entertainment, influencer and creator marketing.

• Track brand heat, earned media value, engagement quality, sentiment, share of voice, traffic, search uplift, conversion and sell-through contribution.

• Use data and insight to optimize future talent selection, campaign investment and platform strategy.

Team Leadership & Agency Management

• Lead, develop and structure a team of 10–20 people across entertainment marketing, influencer strategy, creator marketing, VIP relations, talent operations and performance reporting.

• Manage external agencies, creator platforms, production partners, talent partners and specialist consultants.

• Own budget planning, forecasting, allocation and performance management.

• Build a high-performance culture combining cultural intelligence, operational excellence, commercial discipline and relationship strength.

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing
• 15+ years’ experience in entertainment marketing, influencer marketing, creator strategy, cultural marketing, talent partnerships, PR or brand partnerships.
• Experience within global consumer brands, ideally across sportswear, fashion, luxury, entertainment, music, media, platforms or youth culture.
• Strong network across Los Angeles entertainment, music, fashion, sport, creator and cultural ecosystems.
• Strong judgement on brand fit, cultural credibility, reputation risk and talent behaviour.
• Demonstrated ability to build talent partnerships that drive brand relevance, not only paid reach.
• Commercial understanding of how influence connects to traffic, conversion, product demand and sell-through.
• Proven experience leading teams of 10+ people.
• Strong understanding of creator platforms, social commerce, influencer measurement and digital content behaviour.
• Experience working across global HQ, regional and local market structures.
• Experience managing budgets, agencies, contracts, usage rights and legal complexity.
• Ability to travel both Domestically and Internationally required

The hiring range base pay for this position is $156,000-$216,060 + Bonus + Benefits

(Benefit Summary Corporate) 

Pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.