About this role
<p><strong>Purpose</strong></p> <ul> <li>A key player in Global Sourcing in driving Sourcing’s vision to be the Most Agile, Most Competitive, Most Digitalized & Cleanest Supply Base in the industry.</li> <li>Manage relations and drive innovation centers effectiveness on projects & resources allocation.</li> <li>Research & develop sourcing solutions for new product concepts and commercial competitiveness – Focus on FTW physical foams & bottom technologies</li> <li>Drive definition, readiness & validation of innovation & commercially ready technology solutions.</li> <li>Secure for adidas best in class bottom technologies (Material, process, machinery, tools & suppliers)</li> <li>Senior point of contact with industry & academic partners to remain on forefront of technology & FTW evolution</li> </ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Key Responsibilities </strong></p> <ul> <li>Drive innovative bottom solutions & validation towards specifications, compliance & integrity.</li> <li>Provide commercial tangible guidance throughout the readiness levels, ROI, timelines, and scalability.</li> <li>Work closely with supplier innovation teams & centers to ensure performance, competitiveness & advantage for adidas.</li> <li>Encourage suppliers to continuously upgrade their expertise, technical applications, new materials innovation, and manufacturing technologies.</li> <li>Scouting & Research in sporting goods and other industries to benchmark and identify potential opportunities for application of innovative technology, processes, and materials.</li> <li>Provide regular update and valuable input to project teams, key stakeholders & escalation to leadership team when needed.</li> <li>Challenge the team, stakeholders & suppliers to ensure feasibility, commercial readiness, impact & progress of projects.</li> <li>Project base allocation of resources</li> <li>Ensure project deliverables on time, in full & within budget.</li> <li>Lead & staff a cross divisional team</li> <li>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.</li> <li>Develop and coach the team to ensure the best standards of performance, appropriate skill set, and strong succession plans are in place.</li> <li>Role model leadership to foster a culture of Diversity Equity & Inclusion that strives for an inclusive workplace.</li> </ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Key Relationships</strong></p> <ul> <li>Product Development & Sourcing</li> <li>Sourcing Materials team</li> <li>HQ Innovation Teams</li> <li>Testing & quality</li> <li>adiLab, Innovation Management</li> <li>Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 Supply Partners Innovation departments, machine & tooling suppliers</li> </ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Knowledge, Skills and Abilities</strong></p> <ul> <li>Innovative & Visionary</li> <li>Strong people management skills and proven ability in leading multidimensional teams</li> <li>Have depth and breadth of experience in Materials and Methods of Make, but also sports product creation and engineering.</li> <li>Strong influencing, people, presentation, communication, and articulation skills</li> <li>Fluent in English (written and spoken)</li> </ul> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Requisite Education and Experience</strong></p> <ul> <li>Master/PHD Degree, in Materials/Polymers/Process/Textile/Chemical/ Mechanical Engineering or related areas – Expert in physical foam technologies</li> <li>Minimum of 10+ years of relevant experience and 3 years of people management experience</li> <li>Fluent in English & ability to communicate with technical teams & SLT</li> <li>International experience in both HQ & Sourcing</li> <li>Product and material experience is an advantage.</li> </ul>