Licensing Sales Manager - Footwear & Accessories

About The Role & Team

Join Disney as a Licensing Sales Manager for Footwear & Accessories, where you’ll lead strategic planning, manage key licensee relationships, and drive commercial growth within EMEA. You’ll oversee a portfolio of accounts, evaluate and optimise our licensee base, and secure new partners to expand the category.

Success in this role means building strong internal and external partnerships, negotiating regional contracts, and delivering sales growth. Drawing on your expertise in footwear, accessories, and market trends, you’ll develop and execute agile strategies across digital, retail, and social channels to capitalise on new opportunities and keep Disney at the forefront of the industry.

This is a permanent position located at our London office in Hammersmith, requiring four days of on-site attendance per week.

What You Will Do

• Leverage key trends and both commercial and consumer insights to shape clear, inclusive strategies within the Footwear & Accessories sector, remaining agile to seize new opportunities and identify promising partners.
• Manage the annual operating plan and quarterly forecasting for Footwear & Accessories, developing supplier (licensee) goals and collaborating across diverse team, including markets, demographic insights, category partners, franchise, marketing, product development, and finance to drive sustainable growth.
• Actively cultivate strong, positive relationships and facilitate partnership and joint business planning with all EMEA accounts,
• both new and existing, in the Footwear & Accessories portfolio.
• Lead and support contract negotiations for select accounts, ensuring all relevant stakeholders at global, EMEA, and local levels are informed and engaged.
• Work closely with creative teams and as needed, Global Interactive Experiences, on the development of inclusive and innovative footwear and accessories products, supporting marketing efforts to ensure successful product launches for licensees/retailers.
• Communicate and facilitate the International Labour Standards (ILS) process, serving as a key conduit between suppliers and The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) ILS team, with particular focus on ethical manufacturing for footwear and accessories.
• Deliver new business development pitches and contribute to research initiatives aimed at discovering scalable and accessible opportunities within the category.
• Coordinate and engage proactively in market meetings to share category-specific insights and strategic updates.
• Collaborate and foster strong relationships with Disney market teams, providing timely updates on strategy and franchise information, while listening to and accommodating the unique needs and perspectives of local markets. Share best practices throughout the network.
• Build connections with international DCP teams to encourage the sharing of knowledge and inclusive best practices across the Footwear & Accessories category.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Background in fashion buying, product development, merchandising, or commercial fashion sales, with degree-level education in a related field or equivalent work experience.

• Experience within the consumer products business, with a strong track record of building effective relationships, leading teams, managing change, and collaborating across departments to achieve financial and strategic goals.
• Proven ability to develop team performance and drive growth by leveraging effective planning, organisation, and strategic problem-solving skills.
• Financial acumen with the ability to analyse data, translate numbers into actionable plans, construct practical conclusions, and implement recommendations that achieve business targets.
• Agility and resilience in a dynamic environment, with the capacity to capitalise on emerging opportunities, target new partners, and remain nimble amidst change.
• Excellent communication skills, including written and spoken English for business use (other European languages are beneficial), and strong influencing skills to achieve buy-in at all levels.
• Digitally savvy with a keen eye for digital, social, and brick-and-mortar marketing.
• Computer literate, with proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Keynote.
• Forward-thinking, able to translate industry trends into actionable growth initiatives for TWDC, with cultural sensitivity and understanding of local EMEA markets.

The Perks

• 25 days annual leave
• Private medical insurance & dental care
• Free Park Entry: the opportunity to enter any of our parks with your family and friends for free
• Disney Discounts: entitled to discounts on designated Disney products, resort F&B and ticketing
• Excellent parental and guardian leave
• Employee Resource Groups – WOMEN @ Disney, Disney DIVERSITY, Disney PRIDE, our new disability & neurodiversity focused group - ENABLED, and our Mental Health & Wellbeing Group, TRUST.

The Walt Disney Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strive to be a diverse workforce that is representative of our audiences, and where all can thrive and belong. Disney is committed to forming a team that includes and respects a variety of voices, identities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.