Technical Project Manager (PFRP)

adidas INNOVATION

Do you have the ambition to go ‘all in’ and apply your skills towards innovating high-performance sports product?  Can you drive cross functional projects by employing excellent organisational skills and attention to detail?   Do you want to help shape the future of sport by helping to shape the way we make product? Are you interested in providing the consumers of the future a new way to experience the adidas brand through your technical expertise?  Have you ever dreamed about applying your potential to create high level sport products for yourself, for your friends, or the world’s top athletes?

The adidas INNOVATION team is currently looking for a highly motivated and skilled individual to join our team as a Technical Project Manager. The successful candidate will manage the execution of key tasks in an exciting new publicly funded research project (PFRP) focused on developing a new sustainable material for applications in performance products.

Working closely with both internal and external partners, this multifaceted role requires a blend of project management expertise and technical leadership to drive the successful execution of the project. 

Role Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

This EU funded project works with multiple supply chain partners from across Europe.  Your role will be to represent, manage, and execute key adidas tasks in the project, whilst ensuring the reporting requirements and collaboration impact ethos is maintained.  The project outcomes will be leveraged to deliver market leading concepts, components, products, and processes that add value to consumers and athletes and improve brand competitiveness through product and technology leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

• Overall responsibility for Project ensuring strategic fit with brand needs and maximising impact of the project for adidas
• Responsible for guiding and managing technical workstreams and prototype development
• Managing product testing against adidas standards and industry benchmarks
• Stay updated on related current and emerging industry research, technologies, methods, and trends.  Develop a robust information network to access valuable insights
• Managing internal partners who have specific focus on material testing and product development, and ensuring that adidas effectiely leverages external stakeholders
• Supporting consortium partners in specific workstreams in gathering data for Consumer studies; Lifecycle Assessments (LCA); and Technoeconomic analysis (TEA)
• Prepare and maintain results-based reports and documentation, and regularly communicate status and updates to stakeholders and leadership within adidas and the project consortium, including both technical and non-technical audiences

Additional Responsibilities:

• Educate and train colleagues by sharing knowledge and disseminating project results on an on-going basis
• Create and maintain project plan and budgets for ensuring effective implementation of tasks and compliance with contractual obligations of public funding
• Consider legal implications of innovative concepts, working with the legal team to protect product, technology, innovation, process, and design

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Curiosity for science and engineering along with a passion for transferring insights in the field of sport
• Knowledge in bio-based materials, man-made cellulose fiber processes, and renewable feedstocks seen as an advantage.
• Development expertise for apparel and/or footwear, taking into account technical project outcomes
• Self-motivated with enterpreunial mindset
• University degree in a relevant field
• 3 years of working experience – previous work in publicly funded projects seen as an advantage
• Fluent English (verbal and written)
• Communicate and negotiate effectively
• Collaborate well, develop, and maintain relationships (eg. Companies, Universities, Government representatives)
• Work independently as well as part of a team
• Plan working time efficiently, balancing short term tasks with long term goals
• Strong analytical skills, solution driven and results-oriented
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally