Director Sourcing Operations Apparels jobs at Adidas in Germany

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

This role is to

• Lead the C4C concept creation and implementation of retail design concepts and solutions for GCA through Flagship Stores and the Pilots architectural design- ensuring locally relevant design solutions that are also on-brand - bringing global retail creative direction to life for GCA
• Develop retail design concepts and solutions that create brand desire for Chinese consumers and set worldclass standards for the image of the adidas brand in GCA, and enable GCA to successfully implement the global vision
• Inspire a winning culture and drive operational excellence through leadership of the Retail design architecture team, and collaboration with the HQ & other markets
• Interact the Global development & landing of Global new concepts and the optimization of all consumer touchpoints to elevate consumer impact in GCA.

• Lead a team of channel marketing professional driving premium experiences in retail architectural environment, own retail and franchise
• 360 digree management of execution budget across all channels
• Drive the cascade of Global Retail concept guidelines to GCA related team on the architecture elements, but not limited to the other concept rollout tools including long term ISC and digital experience or servieses
• Orchestrate and gather input on current and future retail concepts and formats, digital and physical experience topics based on local customer/consumer and channel distribution needs
• Lead the capture and consolidation of input across all channels of GCA to inform and influence Global HQ-CE to ensure concepts and stories land with impact
• Become the Market communication counterpart for the Global HQ Consumer Experience team
• Validate global deliverables on current and future key store concepts, digital and physical experience, and other Consumer Experience topics are in line with China input.

• Drive strong partnership with local execution team ensuring brand look and feel lands correctly in key stores across China. Monitor design execution across channels and formats according to concept guidelines
• Drive the design review & approval process cross key stakeholders for flagship stores/ new concept pilots, as well as manage the approval process with Senior Leadership Team if required.
• Continue to optimize & develop a stronger design architecture vendor pool and lighting design vendor pool with NTP, ensuring high quality of delivery to the China market
• Additional projects as agreed

• Be responsible on design execution cost review and managing cost efficiency for Flagship/ pilot stores of GCA

Team Management

• Coach and mentor team members on an ongoing basis, driving a focus on personal development
• Foster a highly empowered and motivational working environment that encourages diversity of thought
• Instill a team culture in which all important issues are discussed openly and constructively
• Promote a high-performance culture by setting clear objectives, expectations and individual goals
• Evaluate the hard and soft competencies of your team on a regular basis and provide timely feedback and guidance to drive continuous learning

Key Relationships in adidas:

• HQ Consumer Experience
• HQ Brand Units
• China Brand Activation
• China Business Units
• China Store Design & Construction
• China Finance
• China Procurement
• China Ominichannel
• China Retail Expansion
• HK & TW counterpart

Key Relationships outside adidas:

Government AuthoritiesLandloardsAgencies, Architects
Vendors, Supplies

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong presentation, communication, negotiation and influencing skills, especially with senior stakeholders within a global matrix organization.
• Strong cross-functional and stakeholder management experience across commercial functions (e.g. marketing, sales, etc.) and support functions
• Fluent spoken and written Mandarin and English.
• Regional languages an advantage, but not required
• Willingness to travel upwards of 20% of time

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• 8-12 years architectural design/ interior design industry working experience
• Progressive channel marketing and consumer experience expertise
• Regional expertise desired
• Sporting Industry experience desired
• University degree in Business or equivalent professional experience, ideally in Sales and/or Marketing

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

Leads and manages a team of product developers to complete the footwear product creation process for the assigned business unit (BU). Actively monitors development calendars to ensure deadlines, costing KPI and quality standards are met. Acts as an advocate for footwear product integrity by working closely with Business Units, Design, Tier 1 suppliers, Liaison Office’s (LO) to uphold quality standards and achieve BU and GOPs strategy and targets.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Sourcing & Development organization to implement and develop the strategic BU direction and ensure cross-functional alignment within the Creation teams
• Ensure achievement of OKR (Objectives & Key Results) set by the BU through partnership with Marketing and Design
• Identify new business opportunities and drive key product and/or process innovations. Provide input to short-, mid- and long-term planning and budgeting
• Work with adidas Innovation and Materials Development, and support research into new technologies and materials and communicate to Design and Marketing on potential new development options
• Manage the material development and costing related aspects in cooperation with the functional teams to ensure the Sourcing & Product Operations objectives are met and that strategies (i.e. material tool box strategy, costing framework) set forth by the Functional Heads of Material Development and Costing are supported
• Supervise the Costing process in alignment with Costing Framework and assume responsibility in alignment and cooperation with BU and Design to meet category margin targets for your area of responsibility.
• Ensure continuous product and process improvement with emphasis on leading and Right First Time development of products in accordance with the operation calendar
• Be responsible for Buy Ready performance through strong interfaces with T1, Quality Assurance, Sourcing and Product Marketing
• Manage your team Budget to yearly targets as set by BOPS
• Manage workload and organizational efficiency with the support of the process and capacity management organizaiton
• Allocate/delegate the different products/projects to the respective development teams considering experience, product complexity and workload
• Work with Development organization to support and develop the T1, Sourcing / Allocation and QA strategies
• Provide team with clear direction, projects and targets that are aligned with business needs and GOPS objectives
• Create a motivational, supportive work environment in which employees are challenged, coached, trained while being provided with performance feedback and career development opportunities
• Take ownership for the entire development process for assigned products and/or projects with an emphasis on quality product development and timely completion of all tasks in accordance with the applicable product creation calendar

Key Relationships:

• Marketing
• Design
• adidas innovation
• Tier 1 supply partners
• Tier 2 supply partners
• Material Development
• Costing Department
• Fit and Wear Test Department
• Quality Assurance
• Supply Chain Management

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong communication (both written and verbal) and facilitation of meetings with (small and large groups) skills
• Ability to deliver effective and persuasive presentations on complex topics to diverse audiences
• Ability to think strategically, anticipate and define problems, synthesize complex data and develop innovative solutions
• Ability to think end-to-end with a global mindset
• Ability to manage through change, make decisions and act comfortably with risk and uncertainty
• Ability to provide a clear framework for performance to direct reports
• Ability to coach, guide, manage and develop a team
• Good understanding of sourcing allocation impact on product from a quality and cost perspective
• Fluent in English (written and spoken
  )
• Strong IT skills (MS office, PDM, CAD )
• Travel, domestic and international as required by business needs

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• Four-year college or university degree with emphasis on footwear technology and/or manufacturing
• Minimum 7 years of progressive work experience in the athletic footwear industry, specializing in product development, design and / or marketing.
• 1-2 years of experience in Merchandising, Production or Development
• Minimum 3 years of experience managing a team
• Exposure to the latest in materials, components, processes, and concepts

• Key player in Sourcing in driving Sourcing’s vision to be the Most Agile, Most Competitive, Most Digitalized & Cleanest Supply Base in the industry.
• Drive day-to-day together with functional counterparts on Planning, Development, Production Management, Engineering & Manufacturing Innovation, Costing, SEA, Materials (End-To-End) for specific country or assignment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Independently manage all production, quality, production availability and manufacturing efficiency and escalate critical issues and drive discussion to mitigate impact and achieve resolution.
• Manage relationship with factory management in applying the right resources, processes, tools, strategy to achieve operation excellence.
• Rollout and implement adidas best practices and directions to the responsible factories.
• Influence factory production/ quality middle management and drive change to achieve production objectives.
• Make day to day decisions within defined scope through exceptional management by balancing risks, and with support on complex issues.
• Validate and confirm T1 capacity offer and follow up on availability performance when there is a constrain.
• Support sampling process for product development as prescribed by current process (i.e., Proto Sample to Size Set Sample).
• Collaborate with Tier1s on quality of virtual & physical sample meets adidas standards and reflect design intent.
• Carry out Direct Development audits at key milestones together with Development Manager.
• Collaborate on identifying Create to Value (CTV) opportunities.
• Drive feedback loop from production to development - sharing improvement areas/best practices/risks to improve future development.
• Provide input on development to production digitalized handover package to ensure complete and smooth transition to bulk production.
• Role model leadership to foster a culture of Diversity Equity & Inclusion that strives for an inclusive workplace.

Key Relationships:

• Global Sourcing
• Headquarter (HQ) laboratory – factory laboratories.
• Product Operations
• Other Global Functions Teams: Social and Environmental Affairs / Government Affairs
• External stakeholders: Sourcing Suppliers

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Independently ability to identify issues, analyse facts and make correct decisions regarding complex production issues without undermining any required standards.
• Strong presentation, negotiation, influencing, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong leadership skills and ability to work in multidimensional teams.
• Fluent in English (written and spoken)
• Strong MS Office Skills

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in product creation or related areas
• Minimum 5+ years of work experience in similar positions.

People Management:
• Evaluate the competencies of his/her subordinates on a regular basis and provides prompt and feedback and guidance to drive high performance
• Takes ownership for Talent Management processes to grow, develop and retain talents.
• Promote a high-performance culture by setting clear expectations and individual goals.
• Translate the company goals into team specific actions and business plans. Control and monitor performance and results.

Key Relationships:

• Global Retail
• Market Retail team including:
o Retail Back Office (RBO) team (within both Lead and Multifunctional Markets)
o Multi-Store Managers
o Store Managers and their Store teams
• Logistics
• Finance
• Global Operations
• Go To Market (GTM) teams
• Supply Chain

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Leadership and influencing skills
• Advanced user of MS Office suite of products
• Fluent in English
• Fluent in Market HQ language
• Additional third language is an advantage
• Advanced knowledge of Retail Management Systems
• Strong analytical skills
• Structured, organised and process orientated
• Attention to detail as error in analysis will have crucial impact to business
• Ability to work effectively within a team environment and under pressure
• Geographically mobile

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in business, ideally with marketing and sales focus or equivalent professional experience
• Merchandising Experience: 10-12 years
• Management Experience: 5 years

PURPOSE

• Key player in Sourcing in driving Sourcing’s vision to be the Most Agile, Most Competitive, Most Digitalized & Cleanest Supply Base in the industry.
• Lead the overall business of the Operation Centers/designated factories or factory groups and manage the relationships between adidas Group and T1s ensuring that adidas objectives are met.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the overall sourcing business, operations, and functions in designated groups of factories/operations centers, to execute the global sourcing strategies.
• Lead the Development & Commercialization and Production teams in the partner groups/OCs ensuring that they fully carry out their expected JD/R&R and that all company standards are met with support from relevant functional heads when needed (including development, material, costing, quality, SEA & ME&I)
• Own all KPI performance and utilize SPIKE framework to drive KPI performance of the managed partners
• Build and maintain close working relationships with the partner senior leadership and functional leads to ensure quick resolution of issues as well as engage them in the overall company strategies.
• Represent operations both internally & externally and foster a strategic partnership and relationship with our customers.
• Contribute to the allocation process through regular collaboration with stakeholders.
• Ensure all operations comply with relevant local laws and adidas workplace standards and freedom of associations.
• Develop and coach team members and take an active role in driving engagement.
• Streamline processes through continuous improvement techniques and tools and challenge existing standards and procedures.
• Maintains a flexible organizational structure capable of adapting to changing business needs.
• Ensure all sourcing operations and practices fully comply with adidas’ Responsible Sourcing & Purchasing Policy, adidas standards and legal requirements, while managing the relevant processes internally and externally.
• Develop and coach team to ensure the best standards of performance, appropriate skillsets and strong succession plans are in place.
• Role model leadership to foster a culture of Diversity Equity & Inclusion that strives for an inclusive workplace.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• Global Sourcing
• Headquarter (HQ)
• Product Operations
• Other Global Function Team
• External stakeholders: Sourcing Suppliers

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Have a wide experience of quality management concepts in manufacturing of consumer goods.
• Strong conceptual thinking
• Strong presentation, negotiation, influencing, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Fluent in English (written and spoken)
• Strong MS Office Skills
• Strong leadership skills and ability to lead multidimensional teams.

Requisite Education and Experience

• University degree in engineering/materials or related areas or relevant ‘expert’ work experience
• Minimum 10+ years of relevant business experience and3+ years of people management experience

• Key player in Sourcing in driving Sourcing’s vision to be the Most Agile, Most Competitive, Most Digitalized & Cleanest Supply Base in the industry.

• Drive day-to-day together with functional counterparts on Planning, Development, Production Management, Engineering & Manufacturing Innovation, Costing, SEA, Materials (End-To-End) for specific country or assignment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Independently manage all production, quality, production availability and manufacturing efficiency and escalate critical issues and drive discussion to mitigate impact and achieve resolution.

• Manage relationship with factory management in applying the right resources, processes, tools, strategy to achieve operation excellence.

• Rollout and implement adidas best practices and directions to the responsible factories.

• Influence factory production/ quality middle management and drive change to achieve production objectives.

• Make day to day decisions within defined scope through exceptional management by balancing risks, and with support on complex issues.

• Validate and confirm T1 capacity offer and follow up on availability performance when there is a constrain.

• Support sampling process for product development as prescribed by current process (i.e., Proto Sample to Size Set Sample).

• Collaborate with Tier1s on quality of virtual & physical sample meets adidas standards and reflect design intent.

• Carry out Direct Development audits at key milestones together with Development Manager.

• Collaborate on identifying Create to Value (CTV) opportunities.

• Drive feedback loop from production to development - sharing improvement areas/best practices/risks to improve future development.

• Provide input on development to production digitalized handover package to ensure complete and smooth transition to bulk production.

• Role model leadership to foster a culture of Diversity Equity & Inclusion that strives for an inclusive workplace.

Key Relationships:

• Global Sourcing

• Headquarter (HQ) laboratory – factory laboratories.

• Product Operations

• Other Global Functions Teams: Social and Environmental Affairs / Government Affairs

• External stakeholders: Sourcing Suppliers

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Independently ability to identify issues, analyse facts and make correct decisions regarding complex production issues without undermining any required standards.

• Strong presentation, negotiation, influencing, interpersonal and communication skills.

• Strong leadership skills and ability to work in multidimensional teams.

• Fluent in English (written and spoken)

• Strong MS Office Skills

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in product creation or related areas

• Minimum 5+ years of work experience in similar positions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead onboarding and integration of external creative agencies, ensuring seamless collaboration and tool access
• Manage budgets and contracts for agency partnerships, supporting resource planning and vendor operations
• Roll out brand guidelines and updates across internal teams and external partners
• Host monthly creative reviews for the North America market, driving alignment and quality
• Partner across departments to streamline workflows, unify processes, and support system implementations

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

You’ll work closely with the Director of Operations and Production, Brand Studio creatives, Brand Communications, Finance, Procurement, Legal, IT, and other cross-functional teams across adidas.

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
• Experienced with project management tools and enterprise platforms
• Skilled in digital workflows and process optimization
• Strong communication and presentation abilities
• Fluent in English, written and verbal

REQUISITE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Communications, Design, Advertising, or related field—or equivalent experience. Minimum 4 years in creative operations, project management, or production within a creative agency or global organization. Experience managing complex processes across multiple teams and geographies is essential.