Category Manager - Sneakers Detroit, MI

Overview

Help empower our global customers to connect to culture through their passions.

Stock

X is the world’s leading marketplace for current culture, built at the intersection of commerce, community, and credibility. Sneakers are foundational to Stock

X — not just as a category, but as a culture, an economy, and a global community. We are expanding how sneaker culture shows up on Stock

X through creator-driven, community-oriented commerce experiences that blend storytelling, expertise, and transaction. To do this well, we need category leaders who don’t just understand the sneaker market — they live inside it.

The Sneakers Category Manager is the single-threaded owner of sneaker category growth within a new, high-priority commerce initiative. This person is the in-house expert on sneaker culture, people, economics, and moments — and is responsible for translating that expertise into supply growth, engagement, and GMV. You will act as:

• The internal authority on the primary and secondary sneaker ecosystem
• The external face of Stock
  
  X to sneaker sellers, creators, and community leaders
• The architect of the sneaker go-to-market / growth playbook for this new initiative

This role blends deep cultural fluency, strategic ownership, and hands-on execution. Early on, you will own everything related to sneakers within this initiative. As the category scales, you will grow into a leader overseeing a broader sneaker portfolio and team.

• Define and execute the growth strategy for sneakers within the platform
• Own category-level performance across supply, engagement, and revenue
• Establish quarterly goals, leading indicators, and operating rhythms

• Maintain deep, current knowledge of sneaker culture, including:
• Key sellers, creators, collectors, and resellers
• Drops, releases, brand dynamics, and cultural moments
• Pricing dynamics, liquidity, and resale economics
• Serve as the internal voice of the sneaker community, informing product, marketing, and platform decisions

• Build and own a pipeline of high-impact sneaker sellers, shops, influencers, and creators
• Personally recruit and onboard flagship sellers who set the tone for the platform
• Develop seller strategies that balance credibility, storytelling, and commerce

• Identify and orchestrate sneaker-specific moments, campaigns, and formats that drive engagement and conversion
• Partner with Category Marketing to design culturally authentic activations
• Experiment with new approaches and iterate quickly based on performance and feedback

• Work closely with Account & Partnerships Managers to scale seller acquisition and support
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to shape features and tools that matter to sneaker sellers and buyers
• Provide clear, actionable insights from the market to influence roadmap prioritization

• Document learnings, frameworks, and best practices that can be reused across future categories
• Help define what “great” looks like for category ownership at StockX
• Support hiring and onboarding as the sneaker category team grows

• Deeply embedded in sneaker culture — you know the people, platforms, trends, and economics, and you’re already plugged into the ecosystem
• 5+ years of experience in category management, partnerships, marketplace growth, brand, or operator roles in sneakers, streetwear, or adjacent ecosystems
• Comfortable owning outcomes, not just strategy — you execute, iterate, and adapt
• Strong relationship builder with credibility among sellers, creators, and community members
• Data-literate and commercially minded — you understand pricing, margins, liquidity, and incentives
• Entrepreneurial, scrappy, and energized by building something from the ground up

• Existing network of sneaker resellers, store owners, creators, or influencers
• Experience buying and selling sneakers or operating within resale marketplaces
• Familiarity with content-driven commerce, creator platforms, or enthusiast communities
• Experience working cross-functionally with product and engineering teams