Senior Product & Design Manager - Mitre

We’re Pentland Brands: a global family business behind some of the world’s most iconic active and lifestyle brands. We bring integrity, energy and ambition to our work, setting high standards and striving to deliver great outcomes without ego.

Design football product built for quality, durability and the real game.

At Mitre, product has to do more than look good. It has to perform wherever football is played, from grassroots pitches and training grounds to match days, cages, clubs and competitive leagues. Every detail matters when the product is part of the game.

The Senior Product and Design Manager, will lead the product and design strategy, for an iconic global brand. We are looking for an experienced product person, to ensure that the brand continues to do what it does best: making brilliant product for every level of the game.

You will be tasked with translating the Mitre brand direction into compelling propositions, strong design briefs, and innovative product. Central to this, will be the build and execution of the brand’s long-term product strategy, for which you will work with key internal and external partners across the world, to bring to market, an innovative and insight driven range.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead the brand’s long-term product and design strategy.

• Translate brand direction and consumer insight into clear range priorities and design briefs.

• Build and manage the brand’s critical paths, in line with go-to-market timelines.

• Oversee the design process from the initial concept through to collaborating closely with the design and product development team, to achieve launch readiness. Ensure product direction is innovative, market-right and aligned to Mitre brand DNA.

• Work cross-functionally with the wider brand and commercial teams, to align product creation to brand and business objectives.

• Develop product stories that support brand campaigns, retail activation and sales tools.

• Manage range reviews, sample feedback, colour direction and seasonal product edits.

• Use consumer, competitor and category insight to shape product choices and maintain an efficient range.

• Maintain high standards across visual brand language, range architecture and product storytelling.

• Track key product milestones, risks and dependencies, escalating issues early where required.

• Partner with sourcing and development teams to ensure designs can be delivered to specification and timeline.

• Work closely with our League Partners to support product delivery and ‘readiness.’

• Support creation of product information, toolkits and assets needed by marketing and commercial teams.

• Coach, brief and support the Designer, ensuring creative output is clear, timely and commercially useful.

• Champion sustainable, responsible and quality-led product choices where relevant to the range.

What you’ll bring:

• Experienced across product, design, category management or product marketing in sport or consumer brands.

• Able to demonstrate a strong understanding of seasonal calendars, range development, design briefing and brand identity.

• An accomplished operator, able to effectively prioritise.

• Instinctively commercial, with the ability to identify white space and opportunity.

• Strong at stakeholder management and confident, working within a hands-on, compact team.

Why Mitre?

Mitre is a football brand built around the real game, the players, teams, coaches, clubs and communities who make football what it is.

With a heritage dating back to 1817, Mitre has been part of football for generations, creating products known for quality, durability and performance at every level of the sport. From first kicks to Sunday League, training sessions, cup competitions and the road to Wembley, Mitre is there for real football people.

Joining Mitre means becoming part of a team that cares deeply about the game and the products that support it: how they perform, how they last, how they feel in play, and how they help bring people together through football.

Perks & Benefits

We offer a competitive salary, discretionary bonus, hybrid working, flexible start and finish times, generous holiday allowance, product discounts, sample sales, enhanced family-friendly policies, healthcare support, gym and fitness discounts, cycle to work scheme and electric car scheme.

You can find full details of our benefits and perks on our UK Benefits page.

The Interview Process

We want our interview process to feel clear, straightforward, and supportive. If your experience and expectations look like a strong match for the role, here’s what you can expect next:

1. Talent Team Intro Call - A 30-minute video call with our Talent Team to get to know each other, talk through the role and your experience, and answer any questions you have.

2. Experience Interview - A more in-depth interview (usually online) with the hiring manager to explore your skills, experience and approach, and how these align with the role, our principles, and our ways of working.

3. Final Interview - A final in-person interview at our office, focused on deeper discussion and practical application, giving you the chance to meet more of the team and see Pentland Brands in action.