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Brand Operations Manager

Outdoor Research, Seattle, WA, USA

Job type: Seasonal


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Title Brand Operations Manager

About the Organization About the Organization Since 1981, Outdoor Research has been building award-winning outdoor clothing and gear. We stand behind every product we make with the Outdoor Research Infinite Guarantee- warranty. Find out how we were born from our founder Ron Gregg's research-led approach to problem solving, and discover the origins of our first products in Our Story. Discover our roots in U.S. manufacturing, our legacy in Made in the USA tactical gloves, and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the development of face masks and medical-grade personal protective equipment in Protection. Learn about our product processes using recycled materials, how we enforce the safety and wellbeing of our workplaces, and our commitment to all people and the planet in Responsibility. Meet some of our community members who work to create safe, accessible, and equitable outdoor spaces in our Community Partnerships and our Ambassadors. We'd be thrilled to have you join the team and find your Career at Outdoor Research. Outdoor Research Values Curiosity: We are constantly striving to learn and improve ourselves. In our products, as a brand, as a team, and as individuals. Passion: We love what we do and take pride in sharing our work with others. Innovation: We are complex problem solvers. Collaboration: We are better together. Community: We embrace the collective impact we can have from our diverse perspectives; on each other, society, and our environment.

Position Brand Operations Manager

Description

Location Hybrid – Seattle, WA (4 days in office to start, moving to three, after 12 months.)

Rate: $100,000 – $115,000k

The Role: The Brand Operations is responsible for intake, prioritization, and trafficking of creative work across Outdoor Research's DTC and Wholesale marketing functions. The role serves as the primary operational partner to the Design and Production teams keeping work moving, briefs clear, and timelines honest.

This is not a campaign ownership role. It is the organizational infrastructure that allows an 8-person brand team to execute at full capacity. The person in this role must carry enough commercial literacy to understand how sell-in and sell-through cycles shape wholesale creative timelines and enough cross-functional range to coordinate across brand, sales, finance, and planning without losing the thread. Understanding Outdoor Performance categories is also a must.

What you’ll do

Serve as the first point of contact for all creative requests from DTC & Wholesale stakeholders

Own the team's project management system, maintain it, enforce adoption, and evolve it as the team's needs change

Support GTM planning by maintaining the master brand calendar, ensuring all workstreams are accounted for and production timelines ladder up correctly to launch dates

Assist in briefing seasonal creative needs across photo/video, design, and content in partnership with the Production team.

DTC intake ownership (email, web, paid social, promotional)

Wholesale creative trafficking (seasonal, sales tools, buyer events)

Stakeholder communication across both teams

Sell-in/sell-through calendar awareness

What This Role Is Not: This role does not own campaigns, set brand strategy, manage athletes, or direct creative work. It does not serve as a substitute for clear stakeholder briefs or act as an account manager for external agencies. It is not an entry-level coordinator position, and it is not a stepping stone for someone who ultimately wants to be a creative director or brand strategist.

The role requires genuine ambition around operations, process, and organizational craft not a temporary tolerance for it.

What Success Looks Like

Brief quality and completeness at intake (reduction in revision cycles caused by unclear direction)

Team capacity utilization: work is sequenced, not piled

On-time delivery rate across DTC and Wholesale workstreams

Stakeholder satisfaction across DTC and Wholesale on responsiveness and process clarity

Project management system adoption and accuracy

Position Requirements

Qualifications

4–6 years in a brand, agency, or marketing operations environment managing multiple concurrent workstreams.

Strong project management instincts, has built systems, not just followed them

Enough creative literacy to write a clear brief, give useful feedback, and know when something is off-brief.

Familiarity with wholesale and retail commercial cycles understands how sell-in and sell-through timelines connect to creative production needs.

Experience working across both wholesale/retail and DTC contexts is a genuine advantage.

Comfortable working in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment where priorities shift

Low ego, high ownership, takes pride in making other people's work better, not in getting credit.

Proficiency in project management tools (Asana); familiarity with creative production workflows.

What do we bring to the table?

11 paid holidays each year and 3 floating holidays

Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans

PTO/PSST

Transportation benefits

Paid volunteer time

401(k) with discretionary company match

Bouldering wall and work out rooms

Ron Gregg – annual get outdoors benefit

Product discounts

Employee interest groups including various sports activities

Exempt/Non-Exempt Exempt

Full-Time/Part-Time Full-Time

Location Seattle, WA

EOE Statement OR is committed to equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment in an unlawful manner. Employment-related decisions are made based on an individual’s qualifications without regard to race, sex, color, religion, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or military status, genetic information, political ideology or other applicable protected class status. This commitment extends to all employment practices including selection, hiring, placement, recruitment advertising, promotion or transfer, rate of pay or other forms of compensation, selection for training, demotion, layoff, or separation. All employment decisions are based upon the qualifications of the individual and the job requirements.

OR supports this commitment with an Affirmative Action Program, which is updated annually. The

objectives of the Affirmative Action Program are to ensure that our team reflects the diversity of our local community. We fully support affirmative action to include women, ethnic minorities, veterans and persons with disabilities throughout our workforce. The OR Affirmative Action Program is available for review by all employees and is maintained in the Human Resources Department.