Licensing Specialist

Description

The Licensing Specialist position at Zak Designs is responsible for assisting Marketing and Licensing leadership in maintaining good licensor relations/communications, licensor forecasting, following up on licensor requests, communicating licensing information to the internal team, and helping to secure licenses for company product lines and programs. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES  include the following. Other duties may be assigned as necessary. 

Licensor Communications/Relations

• Establish and maintain a good working relationship with Zak’s current and prospective licensors
• Work with Marketing and Licensing to develop licensing plans and prepare licensing evaluation forms for new license consideration.
• Maintain a communication follow-up system so that each prospective licensor receives a letter communicating receipt of the new property information and the next step direction
• Maintain prospective license files
• Research new license opportunities.
• Develop new license and contract extension proposals.
• Provide follow-up to licensor requests on a timely basis, coordinating with other departments as necessary.
• Prepare Licensing business updates for licensor meetings.

License Contract Administration

• Administer contract process in-house to ensure that all key managers review incoming contracts on a timely basis.
• Review contracts and work with the licensor’s contract department to ensure that the license is set forth as proposed by Zak and that Zak’s interests are protected; maintain contract files.
• Maintain the contract expiration follow-up system to ensure timely extension proposals can be submitted and sell-off periods are communicated to appropriate departments.
• Maintain a License-At-A-Glance system that provides efficient monitoring of the license portfolio.
• Maintain an Embargo report that includes all special rules that may be required for certain licenses as directed by the licensor.

Intra-Departmental Communication

• Develop a monthly review of each license's progress toward achieving the guarantee. Create reports for review with Licensing leadership.
• Work with the Royalty Specialist, Legal, and Chief Financial Officer, as well as the licensor’s legal department, to make revisions to contracts that are in Zak’s best interests.
• Update the Internal team on licensor’s marketing initiatives; coordinate with the Sales team as necessary for account-specific programs.
• Work with Marketing to ensure licensor’s objectives are met when planning social media initiatives; coordinate cross-promotional displays.
• Work with Marketing and Product Development to research opportunities to add items to our contracts.
• Work with Product Development to ensure the licensor’s objectives are communicated when creating product line listings for each new property.
• Ensure updated contract information is entered into Centric on a timely basis after a new contract or renewal is finalized.

Other Licensing Activities

• Work with Business Analytics and internal sales/forecasting systems to develop quarterly forecasts for licensors as requested.
• Work with the Sales Department and Marketing to gain approval from the licensor on marketing materials and internet distribution approvals.
• Work with Marketing and licensors in developing cross-license promotions. 
• Travel to trade, vendor, and licensor locations where applicable. Some travel required, up to 10%. 

Requirements

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required for this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Education and/or Experience: Bachelor’s Degree (BA/BS) preferred, and one to two years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Language Skills: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports, correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of the company.
• Mathematical Skills: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute discounts, interest, commissions, percentages, area, circumference, and volume.
• Reasoning Ability: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.
• Other Skills and Abilities: Must be able to tactfully deal with various personalities throughout the company and deal effectively and professionally with internal and external customers. Must be proficient in utilizing computer programs for processing data and writing reports. Required program applications include: Microsoft Outlook (intermediate level), Microsoft Excel (intermediate level), Microsoft Word (intermediate level), Microsoft PowerPoint (intermediate level).

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands or arms; talk and hear. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 5 pounds, occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds, and on rare occasions lift up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

*This position is eligible for a hybrid-remote work schedule after the initial training period has been completed, allowing for remote work from an approved location 2-3 days per week. 

EOE, including disability/vets

Salary : $23 - $27