Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

Provide support to the MDI team by establishing relevant business intelligence for apparel materials which allows educated decision-making. Lead and support the continuous improvement and evolvement of internal processes within MDI. Represent the MDI team on Management level in PDX.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with cross-functional business partners (Marketing/Development/Design) to identify strategic Material Management information needs and develop tools and reports that enable Product teams to make fact based, faster material and product decisions.
• Establish and provide regular Material Market relevant trend data as well as macroeconomic trends and developments.
• Develop and execute regular in depth reporting of material management data focusing on material usage reports across our key material types (leather, synthetic and textiles) and categories.
• Provide material related risk management analysis by category and lead all activities on proactive risk management by taken relevant decisions on material/supplier changes.
• Drive the department internal process management and continuous improvement of all material development processes globally.
• Represent the MDI team in cross-functional initiatives and projects.
• Ensure the existing System Landscape supports material and product development processes.
• Work with the relevant IT owners and COE teams to ensure alignment between systems and process needs.
• Create, maintain and communicate the MDI relevant timelines. Ensure representation of MDI key milestones in Product Creation Calendars.
• Represent the Senior Management of MDI in the US and be the point person for Management discussions and decisions relevant for the US teams
• Manage the Budget for the PDX Apparel MDI team.

Key Relationships:

• Design
• Marketing
• Sourcing
• BOPS
• CoE Brand Operations
• External Supply Base Partners
• Performance Management

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent analytical, planning and organizational skills
• Excellent problem solving skills
• Ability to work with people at all hierarchy levels in an organization
• Ability to lead project teams and implement change at a global level
• Certified Lean Specialist or Six Sigma Green Belt an advantage
• Ability to approach projects both operationally and analytically
• Experience synthesizing and packaging complex analyses and delivering easy-to-interpret results to senior leadership
• Experience in working with multiple stakeholders and liaising with Business and IT partners; experience building relationships & partnerships across functions
• Ability to cope with change, make decisions and act comfortably with risk and uncertainty.
• Ability to effectively communicate (both written and verbal) and to lead discussions in small and larger groups

Requisite Education and Experience/ Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Textile Sciences, Textile Engineering/Technology, Design or related field
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive work experience in material research and/or development