Senior Manager, Sports PR

Purpose

Shape how adidas shows up in sport and culture. This role helps lead the charge on earned media strategy and execution for North America—driving high-impact storytelling that deepens consumer connection, earns credibility, and generates brand heat. The Senior Manager, PR must be a sport-obsessed cultural strategist: someone who lives and breathes the modern sports landscape, from pro leagues to NIL to the creators shaping the sidelines. This person will help define the next generation of adidas athlete icons, crafting stories that ladder up to brand purpose while breaking through in the cultural zeitgeist. You’ll help position athletes as modern-day icons who move culture both on and off the field showing up in fashion, gaming, streaming, music, and other lifestyle spaces where sport intersects with influence.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of horizontal PR strategies across key brand and category verticals including US Sports, Originals, Basketball, Training, Women’s and Global Football / American Soccer.
• Serve as a key voice in athlete storytelling, identifying, developing, and amplifying the next generation of sport icons, including NIL talent, rising stars, and culturally influential athletes.
• Craft culturally attuned media plans that break through across Gen Z, multicultural, and creator-led audiences.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with top-tier editors, journalists, digital creators, and cultural voices across both traditional and emerging platforms.
• Develop long-lead storytelling with internal partners across Sports Marketing, Brand Comms, Purpose, and Digital Publishing.
• Drive earned media around tentpole moments—Super Bowl, NBA/WNBA All-Star, Boston Marathon, World Cup—as well as product and brand campaigns.
• Shape integrated campaign strategies alongside cross-functional teams, ensuring PR is embedded from concept through execution.
• Manage PR agency partners and budgets to deliver both creative excellence and measurable impact.
• Navigate fast-moving cultural moments with real-time storytelling and reactive press strategies.
• Represent the voice of PR internally building consensus, aligning stakeholders, and advocating for earned storytelling across all consumer touchpoints.
• Partner with Global PR to ensure strong NA representation in global narratives and calendars.

Key Relationships

• Global PR, Brand Comms, Brand Experience (Events), Sports Marketing, Culture Marketing, Digital / SEO, Purpose, and Retail teams
• Creative and PR Agency Partners
• Media, Journalists, Influencers, Stylists, Photographers, Cultural Insiders
• Athlete Managers, NIL Reps, and Talent Networks

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep knowledge of the modern sports landscape across pro leagues, college athletics, NIL, women’s sports, and emerging media 
• Naturally curious and culturally connected, a consumer of sports content, not just a strategist
• Strong POV on what makes an athlete a cultural icon and how brands should show up in their world
• Digitally fluent, with experience across the social PR spectrum including creator/influencer amplification, digital storytelling, and emerging channels
• Proven experience building relationships with national media, tastemakers, and editorial gatekeepers
• Strong cross-functional collaborator who can manage multiple stakeholders, balance priorities, and build consensus across teams
• Excellent communication and writing skills, with an ability to translate complex ideas into compelling, media-ready narratives
• Experience leading agency partners and managing campaign budgets
• Confident in real-time reactive PR and crisis comms scenarios

Qualifications

• Degree (or equivalent experience) in Communications, PR, Marketing, Journalism or related field
• 7+ years of experience in PR, communications, or brand storytelling—preferably within a culturally driven, consumer-facing brand or agency
• Demonstrated track record of delivering earned media results through creative storytelling and sharp media strategy
• Fluent written and spoken English

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at adidas means championing individual uniqueness and cultivating a culture of belonging in which everyone can create at their best.  We embrace diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives and seek to create a workforce that reflects our consumers and communities.​
• adidas offers robust and progressive medical, including HSA (Health Savings Account) with employer funding or FSA (Flexible Spending Account) options, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, adoption, with surrogate and fertility support, short and long-term disability, and basic life and AD&D insurance, which can be supplemented with employee-paid coverage. Employees are able to enroll in adidas’ 401k plan and Stock Purchase Plan with employer match. Full-time employees are eligible for education assistance and generous Leave policies including 12 weeks of paid parental leave. ​
• Employees are eligible to earn an annual bonus based on both company and personal performance. Employees accrue prorated flexible time off in the amount .4388 hours per day that increases with years of service, twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year and Service Time Off during milestone years.
• The anticipated low and high end of the base pay range for this position is $116,000 - $150,000. Actual salary will be based on various factors, such as a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills and competencies, proficiency for the role.​
• At adidas we offer a Hybrid work policy which requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in-person presentation, in-office attendance is required even on Friday. The working location of this position is New York, NY.​
• Though our teammates hail from all corners of the world, our working language is English.