Product Director jobs 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

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

As a Senior Manager in Product Marketing, you lead the development of product marketing strategies that align with brand and business objectives while driving local market acceleration. You combine a global strategy with a strong local mindset, ensuring consumer-centric decision-making and the creation of compelling product assortments tailored to local needs. Through agility and entrepreneurial leadership, you guide cross-functional teams, manage complex timelines, and deliver insight-driven execution that influences category growth and elevates brand presence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Maintain a strong understanding ofBrand vision, strategic roadmap, and financial objectives to ensure product direction and goals remain aligned with brand positioning and evolving market demands.
• Align seasonal product portfolio plans and tactics with strategic direction and category priorities to achieve business goals and maximize consumer impact.
• Translate market and consumer insights into actionable growth opportunities within the business unit, with a focus on local market acceleration.
• Drive the execution of the product creation process and key milestones, coordinating cross-functional teams to meet timelines, quality standards, and strategic targets.
• Deliver against product creation milestones, ensure teams follow the agreed development calendar, and influence efficient range development.
• Manage accurate and complete product master data to enable downstream systems and processes.
• Own the creation and maintenance of product master data and ensure all relevant attributes are accurately managed to meet go-to-market and sales readiness milestones for assigned product ranges.
• Foster strong cross-functional collaboration and ensure Design, Development, and Marketing teams are aligned on product creation goals and timelines.
• Cultivate and strengthen collaboration across aJ BU and Global BU to identify opportunities and ensure strategic consistency.
• Lead the analysis of market trends, consumer behavior, and product performance to optimize product offerings and future range planning.
• Drive KPI performance (Financial KPIs) and provide actionable insights to optimize planning and product performance reviews.
• With entrepreneurship mindset, proactively identify growth opportunities and lead initiatives that deliver measurable business impact.

Key Relationships:

• Partnerships across global functions, markets, and creation centers.
• aJ/global Business Unit
• aJ Business Unit
• Cross-functional teams, Designer, Operation (Developer).
• External partners, key accounts, and market stakeholders.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• In-depth knowledge of sport/style industry dynamics and product category expertise
• Strong familiarity with cross-functional marketing and go-to-market planning
• Advanced analytical, strategic, and tactical planning proficiency
• Excellent verbal and written communication
• Clear and engaging presentation capabilities for internal and external stakeholders
• Ability to resolve conflicts and align cross-functional stakeholders
• Experience executing change management in fast-paced environments
• Strong consumer-centric mindset in product decisions
• Creative and lateral thinking to challenge the status quo and drive innovation
• Ability to travel and represent brand passion for sports

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree (BA/MA) in Marketing, Business Administration, Product Management, or related field.
• 6–8 years of experience in Product Marketing or Category Management, specifically in Footwear.
• Deep understanding of consumer behavior and segmentation across markets.
• Familiarity with global retail environments, e-commerce, and omnichannel strategies.
• Proven track record in leading product creation processes from concept to launch.
• Fluent in English and Japanese (native level).
• Digital fluency in Office 365 applications and product and marketing tools.

France-Île-de-France; Germany-Düsseldorf; Netherlands-Kerkrade; Spain-Madrid; United Kingdom-Hemel Hempstead

ADay in the Lifeof the EMEA Data Product Manager & Owner:

You’ll begin your day by reviewing data products performance and reliability signals across your portfolio - usage and adoption trends, data quality scores, pipeline SLAs/SLOs, and customer feedback. You’ll meet with internal customers to connect business outcomes to clear data products objectives, refining priorities to unlock measurable value.

When EMEAspecific regulatory constraints (e.g., GDPR) arise, you’ll partner with Legal, Security, and HR to chart compliant pathways that keep delivery moving.

You will work with data engineering, platform, architecture and governance teams to clarify data contracts, schemas, lineage, and access models, ensuring every increment is productionready and governed by design. You’ll groom the roadmap and backlog, decomposing epics, sharpening acceptance criteria, and balancing new capabilities with technical debt, observability, and cost optimization. You’ll demo recent increments, capture user feedback, and turn it into testable stories that improve usability, trust, and performance. You’ll brief sponsors on value realized and present investment options for the next phases.

On a monthly rhythm, you’ll coordinate with global data and architecture forums to reuse patterns, converge on standards, and ensure EMEA needs are represented in the enterprise roadmap.

As a champion of the data strategy & enablement team, you will drive adoption through excellent product experience - discoverability in the catalog, clear documentation, and dependable service levels that help teams selfserve trustworthy, governed data at scale.

The role:

Reporting to the Data Strategy & Enablement Sr Manager, the EMEA Data Product Manager & Owner is accountable endend for strategy and dayday delivery of data products

You will translate business outcomes into product capabilities, manage scope and trade

Success requires a blend of product strategy, stakeholder leadership, and handson ownership to ship secure, compliant, and scalable data products that power analytics, AI, and operational workflows across the region.

Key Responsibilities:

• Product vision & strategy: Define a 12–24‑month vision, value hypotheses, and positioning for EMEA data products, maintain an outcome‑based roadmap aligned with enterprise standards and local needs.
• Backlog ownership & delivery: Convert outcomes into prioritized epics/stories, lead refinement and planning, uphold DoR/DoD, balance features with reliability, observability, cost, and sustainability.
• Value & metrics: Establish VIPs/KPIs/OKRs (adoption, time‑to‑data, data trust, NPS, ROI); run quarterly value reviews, iterate the roadmap based on evidence.
• Data governance by design: Embed privacy, security, quality, and lifecycle controls (policies, lineage, access models, retention, auditability) into every increment, ensure GDPR compliance and data residency adherence.
• Data contracts & semantics: Maintain versioned schemas and contracts, define business rules and semantic layers that ensure interoperability across domains.
• Platform leverage & reusability: Reuse enterprise platforms, patterns, and reference architectures, drive reusability and scale across markets while meeting country‑specific requirements.
• Stakeholder & change leadership: Communicate clearly at all levels; manage dependencies and risks, prepare business cases, Investment Board inputs, release notes, and adoption communications.
• Incident, risk & release management: Triage issues, lead RCA, and prioritize preventative fixes, plan releases and change controls, coordinate rollbacks/hotfixes where needed.
• Enablement & adoption: Publish documentation, examples, and learning paths, champion catalog discoverability, access requests, and community channels.
• Financial stewardship: Own product budgets/forecasts, track benefits realization and ROI, report performance and outcomes to sponsors and Finance partners.
• Global alignment: Partner with global product, platform, and architecture teams to align roadmaps, share learnings, and represent EMEA needs and impact.

What you will need:

• Bachelor’s in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 7–10+ years across product management/ownership, data platforms, analytics, or digital strategy. Medtech/pharma/consulting experience is a plus.
• Proven success delivering data products from concept to scaled adoption (data product mindset desirable).
• Strong grasp of data privacy (GDPR), regulatory frameworks, security, and AI ethics.
• Practical understanding of ELT/ETL, event streaming, data modeling, semantic layers, and production operations (SLAs/SLOs, observability).
• Expert backlog management, story writing, acceptance testing, and agile delivery at scale (Scrum/Kanban).
• Excellent communication and facilitation, able to influence executive, technical, and non‑technical audiences.
• Technical fluency and eagerness for continuous learning in Data & AI capabilities and products.

What do you offer:

• A passion for enabling teams with trustworthy, usable data, and a bias for measurable outcomes.
• Ownership mindset with high accountability for user satisfaction and product reliability.
• Pragmatic product instincts: you simplify, focus, and ship, balancing new value with platform hygiene and cost.
• Curiosity for emerging capabilities (semantic modeling, GenAI augmentation …etc.) and how to apply them responsibly.

What do we offer:

• A chance to shape the EMEA data product portfolio and set enterprise‑wide standards.
• A collaborative, global network and supportive coaching culture focused on your growth.
• Opportunities to lead high‑impact initiatives that advance analytics and AI adoption across diverse markets.
• A coaching culture environment focusing on your success and development!

ADay in the Lifeof the EMEA AI Product Owner:

You’ll begin your day translating business needs into technical requirements, prioritizing features in the backlog, and overseeing the AI product lifecycle to ensure successful, ethical, and valuable implementations. Key responsibilities include defining success criteria, collaborating with data scientists and engineers, and bridging the gap between business goals and AI capabilities.

You will work on initiatives like AgentForce AI, PACE and other new AI opportunities in the region.

You will collaborate with the AI Product Managers, Data Engineering, Platform, Architecture, and Governance teams to clarify data contracts, schemas, lineage, and access models, ensuring each increment is production-ready and guided by design. You’ll groom the roadmap and write user stories to add to the backlog, break down epics, refine acceptance criteria, and balance new features with technical debt, observability, and cost efficiency. You’ll demo recent increments, gather user feedback, and turn it into testable stories that enhance usability, trust, and performance. You’ll brief sponsors on the value delivered and present investment options for the next phases.

Your role is more technically demanding, requiring an understanding of AI technologies and ethical considerations. You must navigate challenges like data privacy and compliance with data protection regulations. Additionally, you will manage AI bias by providing diverse datasets for model training and using bias detection mechanisms to monitor AI outputs.

On a monthly rhythm, you’ll coordinate with global data and architecture forums to reuse patterns, converge on standards, and ensure EMEA needs are represented in the enterprise roadmap.

As a champion of the data strategy & enablement team, you will drive adoption through excellent product experience - discoverability in the catalog, clear documentation, and dependable service levels that help teams selfserve trustworthy, governed data at scale.

The role:

Reporting to the Product Ownership Sr Manager, the EMEA AI Product Owner is accountable for the dayday delivery of data products

You will translate business outcomes into product capabilities, manage scope and trade

Success requires a blend of AI technology expertise, stakeholder leadership, and hands-on ownership to deliver secure, compliant solutions for the EMEA region.

Key Responsibilities:

• Backlog ownership & delivery: Convert outcomes into prioritized epics/stories, lead refinement and planning, uphold DoR/DoD, balance features with reliability, observability, cost, and sustainability.
• Value & metrics: Establish VIPs/KPIs/OKRs (adoption, time‑to‑data, data trust, NPS, ROI); run quarterly value reviews, iterate the roadmap based on evidence.
• Privacy and Data Governance by design: Embed privacy, security, quality, and lifecycle controls (policies, lineage, access models, retention, auditability) into every increment, ensure GDPR compliance and data residency adherence.
• Platform leverage & reusability: Reuse enterprise platforms, patterns, and reference architectures, drive reusability and scale across markets while meeting country‑specific requirements.
• Stakeholder & change leadership: Communicate clearly at all levels; manage dependencies and risks, prepare business cases, Investment Board inputs, release notes, and adoption communications.
• Incident, risk & release management: Triage issues, lead RCA, and prioritize preventative fixes, plan releases and change controls, coordinate rollbacks/hotfixes where needed.
• Enablement & adoption: Publish documentation, examples, and learning paths, champion catalog discoverability, access requests, and community channels.
• Financial stewardship: Own product budgets/forecasts, track benefits realization and ROI, report performance and outcomes to sponsors and Finance partners.
• Global alignment: Partner with global product, platform, and architecture teams to align roadmaps, share learnings, and represent EMEA needs and impact.

What you will need:

• Bachelor’s in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 7–10+ years across product management/ownership, data platforms, analytics, or digital strategy. Experience in medtech, pharma/consulting is a plus.
• Strong understanding of AI, machine learning, and data science concepts. Proven success delivering AI products from concept to scaled adoption. Strong understanding of ethical AI considerations.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience in defining product roadmaps and requirements.
• Familiarity with AI tools and a data-driven approach.
• Strong grasp of data privacy (GDPR), regulatory frameworks, security, and AI ethics.
• Expert backlog management, story writing, acceptance testing, and agile delivery at scale (Scrum/Kanban).
• Excellent communication and facilitation, able to influence executive, technical, and non‑technical audiences.
• Technical fluency and eagerness for continuous learning in Data & AI capabilities and products.

What do you offer:

• Ownership mindset with high accountability for user satisfaction and product reliability.
• • Pragmatic product instincts: you simplify, focus, and drive value creation and delivery of AI products
• • Learning agility and curiosity about emerging capabilities and responsible ways to apply them.

What do we offer:

• A chance to drive innovation by delivering meaningful AI solutions across the EMEA region.
• A collaborative, global network and supportive coaching culture focused on your growth.
• Opportunities to lead high‑

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