Product Creation Business Operations Lead, Footwear

Aquent is thrilled to partner with a globally recognized athletic footwear and apparel powerhouse to find a visionary leader in business operations. This is an exceptional contract opportunity to make a significant impact by optimizing the intricate processes behind iconic footwear products. If you thrive on improving workflows, enhancing collaboration, and driving efficiency in a dynamic product creation environment, this role offers the chance to directly influence how groundbreaking products come to life for a high-profile brand.

About the Role

Step into a pivotal position where you'll be instrumental in shaping the operational backbone of product creation. You'll work hand-in-hand with product and development teams, bringing order to complexity and fostering seamless collaboration. This role is for a strategic thinker and an operational doer, someone who can identify bottlenecks, implement solutions, and empower cross-functional partners to execute shared priorities with precision and speed. Your expertise will directly contribute to bringing innovative footwear products to market faster and more efficiently.

What You'll Do

• Support day-to-day business operations across Product Management, Development, Design, Merchandising, and Planning teams within the footwear domain.
• Maintain product creation calendars, meticulously track milestones, and communicate critical updates to all stakeholders.
• Proactively identify operational inefficiencies and champion the implementation of impactful improvements to processes and workflows.
• Build and maintain essential collaborative tools, trackers, reporting processes, and comprehensive documentation.
• Facilitate crucial cross-functional meetings to resolve issues, ensure stakeholder alignment, and drive project execution.
• Prepare insightful operational reports and translate complex data into actionable business insights that inform strategic decisions.
• Develop clear process documentation and engaging training materials to support consistent execution across teams.
• Coordinate operational projects from inception to completion, expertly managing timelines, deliverables, and interdependencies.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years of robust experience in product operations, business operations, project management, or process improvement.
• A deep understanding of physical product creation and development, ideally within footwear, apparel, or consumer products.
• Proven experience in enhancing business processes and skillfully coordinating work across multiple functional teams.
• Exceptional organizational, facilitation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated experience managing project timelines, calendars, operational reporting, and documentation.
• Strong Excel proficiency, including mastery of formulas, pivot tables, and lookup functions.
• Hands-on experience building or maintaining collaborative tools and workflows using platforms such as Airtable, Smartsheet, Miro, or similar industry-standard applications.
• A Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant professional experience.

Bonus Points

• Previous experience with a major athletic footwear company.
• Knowledge of seasonal footwear product creation calendars, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) processes, or global product operations.
• Experience supporting process adoption, training initiatives, or organizational change management.
• Advanced reporting, dashboard development, or workflow automation expertise.

Why This Role Matters

• You'll be at the heart of product creation operations for one of the world's most recognizable athletic brands, contributing to products loved globally.
• Collaborate closely with experienced leaders across Product, Design, Development, and Merchandising, gaining invaluable insights and mentorship.
• Make a tangible and immediate impact by directly improving the processes and tools utilized by global teams.
• Gain unparalleled visibility across multiple functions within a complex and influential product organization.
• Join an established and supportive team where your operational expertise will be recognized and make a significant difference from day one.