In his role, Scholefield will be responsible for leading Nike's technology strategy to support its future growth. The former Coca-Cola CTO was responsible for creating and executing the giant beverage company's worldwide information technology strategy, technology operations, production support and technology engineering across the organisation, providing global leadership across the Coca-Cola enterprise on all technology matters.
Nike Chief Operating Officer Eric Sprunk said: "Jim is a proven leader with more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry and we look forward to his strong leadership at Nike as we continue to create technology solutions to drive our robust innovation agenda across our global business.
The 53-year-old will join Nike on June 29.
Ex-Barclays technology executive left Nike at the end of last year after less than 12 months running the CIO estate at the Portland-based company, having joined in February 2014.
Watson has since become COO and president of startup banking service Bitreserve, a cryptocurrency service which aims to allow users to hold Bitcoin as a stable real-world currency in a digital wallet.