How to Apply to Puma

9 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 2 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • PUMA is the world's third-largest sportswear company, headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, with roughly 21,000 employees and majority ownership by the Pinault family's Artemis holding.
  • The careers hub is at about.puma.com/en/careers and applications run through PUMA's Workday-based candidate portal where you create a profile and upload your CV.
  • Hiring Managers shortlist candidates personally rather than HR screeners, so resume craft and category-specific evidence matter more than ATS keyword stuffing.
  • First interviews are Microsoft Teams calls with the Hiring Manager; second rounds are virtual or onsite and frequently include case studies or portfolio presentations.
  • PUMA's four explicit values (BE DRIVEN, BE VIBRANT, BE TOGETHER, BE YOU) and the Speed and Spirit ethos are real interview rubrics, not slogans - prepare stories for each.
  • English is the corporate language - submit applications in English regardless of the local market you are applying to.
  • Tailor each application to the specific posting; PUMA explicitly flags generic copy-paste applications as a negative signal in their published application tips.
  • Sustainability fluency under the FOREVER. BETTER. program is a genuine differentiator - reference real lower-impact, circular, or supplier programs you have worked on.
  • Visa and relocation support are standard for international hires, with PUMA covering visa costs and assigning a dedicated point person for the entire relocation journey.

About Puma

PUMA SE is a German multinational corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear, apparel, and accessories. Founded in 1948 by Rudolf Dassler after a famous split with his brother Adolf (who founded adidas across the river), PUMA has grown into the third-largest sportswear company in the world by revenue, behind Nike and adidas. The company employs roughly 21,000 people across more than 120 countries, generates annual revenue exceeding 8 billion euros, and trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker PUM. PUMA is majority-owned by the Pinault family's holding company Artemis (which also controls Kering), giving it a stable long-term ownership structure that distinguishes it from publicly diffuse competitors. The brand sits at the intersection of performance sport and street culture, sponsoring elite athletes such as Usain Bolt, Neymar Jr., and Antoine Griezmann while simultaneously running high-profile fashion collaborations with figures like Rihanna (Fenty x PUMA) and brands like A$AP Rocky, Dua Lipa, and LaMelo Ball. Football, running, basketball, motorsport (notably as Formula 1 supplier and BMW M Motorsport partner), and golf are core performance categories, while the lifestyle and Sportstyle divisions drive sneaker culture moments around silhouettes like the Suede, Speedcat, and Palermo. PUMA's stated values are summarized in four pillars - BE DRIVEN, BE VIBRANT, BE TOGETHER, BE YOU - and its founder-era motto, Speed and Spirit, is invoked constantly in recruiting messaging and on the careers site. Sustainability is a meaningful strategic axis: the company publishes detailed annual ESG reporting under its FOREVER. BETTER. program, has committed to 100 percent renewable electricity at owned and operated sites, and runs initiatives in supplier human rights, lower-impact materials, and product circularity. PUMA's Herzogenaurach campus, known as PUMAVision Headquarters, hosts roughly 1,000 employees and serves as the design, brand, and product nerve center, while regional hubs in Boston (PUMA North America), Hong Kong (sourcing), London, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, and Dubai handle commercial markets and global supply chain operations.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Browse open roles at about

    Browse open roles at about.puma.com/en/careers/job-openings - the Job Finder lets you filter by team (Design, Innovation, Marketing, Merchandising, Product, Sales, Sourcing, Tech, Finance, HR, Legal, Logistics, Retail), location, employment type, and experience level.

  2. 2
    Click APPLY ONLINE on a specific posting - this routes you into PUMA's Workday-b

    Click APPLY ONLINE on a specific posting - this routes you into PUMA's Workday-based candidate portal where you create a profile, upload a resume (PDF or Word preferred), and answer role-specific screening questions. English is PUMA's corporate language so applications should be submitted in English even when applying to a non-English-speaking market.

  3. 3
    Tailor each application to the specific posting rather than submitting one gener

    Tailor each application to the specific posting rather than submitting one generic CV across multiple roles - PUMA explicitly asks candidates to invest the time to customize materials, and the recruiting team flags copy-paste applications as a negative signal in the application tips guidance.

  4. 4
    Hiring Managers (not recruiters) perform the initial CV shortlist, so resume lan

    Hiring Managers (not recruiters) perform the initial CV shortlist, so resume language has to land with someone who actually owns the function rather than a generalist screener - emphasize craft, results, and category-specific knowledge over HR keyword stuffing.

  5. 5
    Shortlisted candidates are invited to a first interview by Microsoft Teams with

    Shortlisted candidates are invited to a first interview by Microsoft Teams with the Hiring Manager, followed by a second round that may be virtual or onsite at the relevant PUMA office; design, product, and creative candidates are routinely asked to prepare a case study or portfolio walkthrough for the second interview.

  6. 6
    After the second round the Hiring Manager and the HR Business Partner jointly ma

    After the second round the Hiring Manager and the HR Business Partner jointly make the offer decision, and the candidate is contacted by phone - PUMA explicitly notes that AI-assisted tooling is used only for organizational steps such as interview scheduling and does not influence selection decisions.

  7. 7
    Application status is visible at any time inside the candidate portal (sign in t

    Application status is visible at any time inside the candidate portal (sign in to your candidate home account), and applications can be self-withdrawn using the Candidate Withdraw button - once a posting is removed from the careers site no further applications are accepted, so apply quickly when you see a fit.

Resume Tips for Puma

recommended

Submit in English even for non-English locations - PUMA's corporate language is

Submit in English even for non-English locations - PUMA's corporate language is English and Hiring Managers across Herzogenaurach, Boston, Hong Kong, and other hubs all read English-language CVs as the default.

recommended

Frame your story around PUMA's four values (BE DRIVEN, BE VIBRANT, BE TOGETHER,

Frame your story around PUMA's four values (BE DRIVEN, BE VIBRANT, BE TOGETHER, BE YOU) and the Speed and Spirit ethos - bullets that show measurable performance plus collaborative team wins read as on-brand.

recommended

Lead each role with quantified outcomes (revenue lifted, units sold, sell-throug

Lead each role with quantified outcomes (revenue lifted, units sold, sell-through percentage, traffic or conversion gains, time-to-market reductions, sustainability metrics improved) rather than responsibility lists - the sportswear industry is performance-obsessed.

recommended

Demonstrate sport, sneaker, fashion, or retail fluency somewhere in the document

Demonstrate sport, sneaker, fashion, or retail fluency somewhere in the document - whether that is a category you have worked in, an athlete or product launch you led, or a collaboration you executed - generic CVs from outside the industry need a clear translation hook.

recommended

Keep the layout clean, modern, and easy to skim in under 30 seconds - one to two

Keep the layout clean, modern, and easy to skim in under 30 seconds - one to two pages with strong hierarchy, no walls of text, no cluttered tables; PUMA's tips explicitly call for a CV that is appealing and easy to read.

recommended

For Design, Innovation, Brand Creative, Visual Merchandising, and Product Develo

For Design, Innovation, Brand Creative, Visual Merchandising, and Product Development roles, attach a portfolio (PDF or hosted link) - the Workday application supports additional document uploads and these functions almost always require visual work samples.

recommended

Reference sustainability, DEI, and ESG fluency where genuine - PUMA's FOREVER

Reference sustainability, DEI, and ESG fluency where genuine - PUMA's FOREVER. BETTER. program is core to the brand and candidates who can speak to lower-impact materials, circularity, supplier programs, or inclusive design have an edge.

recommended

Save and submit as PDF (or Word as a backup) with a clean filename like Firstnam

Save and submit as PDF (or Word as a backup) with a clean filename like Firstname_Lastname_Role_PUMA.pdf - PUMA's application tips specify those two formats.

ATS System: Workday

PUMA SE uses Workday Recruiting as its applicant tracking system, hosted on the puma.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com tenant. All APPLY ONLINE links from the about.puma.com careers site route into the Workday candidate portal, where applicants create a candidate home account, upload a resume, complete role-specific screening questions, and track application status. Workday is one of the most widely deployed enterprise ATSes globally and parses standard PDF and Word resumes well, but it rewards clean single-column layouts, standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills), and exact-match keyword alignment to the posted job description.

  • Upload your resume as a PDF or Word file with a single-column layout, standard section headings, and machine-readable text - Workday's parser struggles with multi-column designs, embedded text-as-image, and creative text frames.
  • Let Workday auto-fill your profile from your resume upload but then manually verify every parsed field - parsing errors on dates, titles, and employer names are the single most common cause of silent application failures in Workday.
  • Mirror the exact role title and the most prominent skill keywords from the job posting in your resume language - Workday surfaces candidates to recruiters partly via keyword indexing, and PUMA Hiring Managers see the parsed structured data first.
  • Create one PUMA candidate home account and reuse it across applications rather than creating multiple accounts - duplicates fragment your application history and can suppress your visibility.
  • Use the Candidate Withdraw button inside the portal if you want to remove yourself from a specific role rather than emailing the recruiter - it updates the system of record cleanly.
  • Sign in to the candidate portal periodically to check application status; PUMA does not push status updates by email for every stage transition, so the portal is the source of truth.

Complete Workday Resume Guide →

Interview Culture

PUMA's interview culture mirrors the brand: fast-moving, energetic, sport-influenced, and noticeably less corporate than its German DAX peers.

The first round is almost always a Microsoft Teams call with the Hiring Manager rather than an HR screener - that is unusual in German-headquartered companies and tells you a lot about how PUMA recruits. The Hiring Manager has already personally read your CV and shortlisted you, so the conversation goes deep on craft, category knowledge, and your specific past projects from the first minute. Expect questions about a specific campaign, product drop, athlete activation, retail concept, or supply chain initiative you led, and be ready to walk through the trade-offs you made and what the measurable result was. The second round can be virtual or onsite at the relevant PUMA office (Herzogenaurach for global roles, Boston for North America, Hong Kong for sourcing, regional capitals for market-specific roles) and frequently includes a case study or portfolio presentation - especially for Design, Product, Marketing, Brand, Merchandising, and E-commerce candidates. Cases tend to be commercially grounded rather than abstract consulting puzzles: prep a real PUMA category, athlete partnership, sustainability initiative, or competitive scenario and bring a point of view. Onsite candidates at Herzogenaurach typically get a tour of the PUMAVision campus, which is itself a vibe check - the building is designed to communicate brand culture and interviewers watch how candidates engage with the environment. The four values - BE DRIVEN, BE VIBRANT, BE TOGETHER, BE YOU - are not posters on the wall, they are explicit interview rubrics, so prepare stories for each: a performance-under-pressure example for Driven, a brand or creative instinct example for Vibrant, a cross-functional collaboration example for Together, and an authentic point-of-difference example for You. PUMA recruiters and managers value warmth, humor, and personal energy - the brand is built on athletes and creators, and a stiff corporate interview style underperforms a confident, conversational one. Final decisions are made jointly by the Hiring Manager and the HR Business Partner, and the offer call comes from one of them by phone. Timelines vary by level and function but typically run two to six weeks from first interview to offer. PUMA explicitly asks for patience due to high application volume and confirms that AI tools are used only for scheduling logistics, never for interview content or selection.

What Puma Looks For

  • Speed and Spirit - the founder phrase that PUMA uses as a literal evaluation lens: candidates who move fast, ship work, and bring genuine energy outperform candidates who optimize for polish over momentum.
  • Authentic sport, sneaker, or fashion culture fluency - PUMA hires people who actually care about football, running, basketball, motorsport, golf, or sneaker and streetwear culture, not just people who can spell the categories on a resume.
  • Commercial intuition paired with creative instinct - the brand competes by being more agile and culturally connected than larger rivals, so they want people who can read both the P and L and the cultural moment.
  • Cross-functional collaboration ability - the BE TOGETHER value is not decorative; PUMA's matrixed global structure (Herzogenaurach plus regional hubs plus Hong Kong sourcing) requires people who genuinely partner across geographies and functions.
  • Sustainability and ESG literacy - the FOREVER. BETTER. program is a real strategic axis, and candidates who can speak fluently to lower-impact materials, circular design, supplier human rights, and DEI initiatives have a meaningful edge.
  • Craft and execution depth in your specific function - whether you are a footwear designer, a digital merchandiser, a sports marketer, a sourcing engineer, or a corporate function specialist, PUMA wants demonstrable craft, not generalist consulting language.
  • Comfort with English-language collaboration regardless of the home market - English is PUMA's corporate language and global teams default to it.
  • Cultural difference and individual identity (BE YOU) - PUMA explicitly leans into diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and creative voices as a competitive advantage in a culture-driven category.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ATS does PUMA use for job applications?
PUMA uses Workday as its applicant tracking system, hosted on the puma.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com tenant. The careers landing page at about.puma.com/en/careers/job-openings displays the Job Finder and routes APPLY ONLINE clicks into Workday, where candidates create a candidate home profile, upload their resume, and track application status. PUMA's published application tips reference the Candidate Withdraw button and the candidate portal/candidate home account, which are Workday-specific terminology.
What language should I write my CV in when applying to PUMA?
English. PUMA explicitly states in its application tips that English is the corporate language across the company globally. Even when applying to roles in Germany, France, Japan, or other non-English-speaking markets, submit your application in English. A second-language local CV can be added as a supplementary document if you have one, but the primary CV must be in English.
Does PUMA support visa sponsorship and international relocation?
Yes. PUMA's official application tips confirm that the company supports visa applications for international hires (with PUMA paying the visa fee) and partners with a dedicated relocation agency that assigns each new hire a personal go-to person to support them throughout the relocation journey. This is most common for global roles based at Herzogenaurach headquarters but is offered globally where required.
How long does PUMA's hiring process take from application to offer?
PUMA does not publish a fixed timeline and explicitly asks for candidate patience due to high application volume. In practice, the process typically runs two to six weeks from first interview to offer for most professional roles, with longer cycles for senior leadership, design, and roles requiring international relocation or visa coordination. Status is visible inside the candidate portal at any time.
What does the PUMA interview process actually look like?
Stage one is a Microsoft Teams call with the Hiring Manager (not an HR screener) - the Hiring Manager has personally read your CV and shortlisted you. Stage two is either a virtual or onsite interview at the relevant PUMA office, and for many functions (Design, Product, Brand, Marketing, Merchandising, E-commerce) it includes a case study or portfolio presentation. The Hiring Manager and HR Business Partner make the joint final decision and call the candidate with the offer.
Does PUMA use AI in its hiring decisions?
PUMA explicitly states that AI-assisted tools are used only for isolated organizational steps such as interview scheduling, and that these tools have no influence on selection decisions. CV review is performed by Hiring Managers personally, and offer decisions are made jointly by the Hiring Manager and the HR Business Partner.
Can I submit an unsolicited application if no role matches my background?
PUMA does not have a formal unsolicited application channel - the official guidance is to monitor the careers page (which is updated daily) and follow PUMA on LinkedIn for new postings. The recommendation is to apply only when you find a posted role where you are genuinely the best fit, and to invest time tailoring that application rather than sending generic materials.
What are the PUMA values I should reference in my application and interview?
PUMA articulates four explicit values - BE DRIVEN (perform), BE VIBRANT (sporting legacy and creative energy), BE TOGETHER (team spirit and collaboration), and BE YOU (bring your authentic individual talents). These sit alongside the founder-era motto Speed and Spirit. Both the application tips and interview rubrics map to these explicitly, so prepare a concrete story for each value during interview prep.
Where is PUMA hiring and what are the major office locations?
Herzogenaurach (Germany) is global headquarters and houses roughly 1,000 employees across design, brand, product, sourcing, IT, finance, and HR functions. PUMA North America is headquartered in Somerville, near Boston. Hong Kong is the global sourcing hub. Other major hubs include London, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Mexico City, Sydney, and Dubai, with retail and country sales offices across more than 120 markets. Open roles are filterable by location in the Job Finder.
Will PUMA give me feedback if I am not selected after applying?
Not in the first round. PUMA explicitly states that due to the high volume of applications they cannot provide individualized feedback for candidates who are not invited to interview. Candidates who reach interview stages typically do receive feedback from the Hiring Manager or HR partner during or after the rejection conversation, but this is not formally guaranteed.

Open Positions

Puma currently has 2 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 2 open positions at Puma

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