Senior Specialist Inbound & Customs - EM South
Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
Responsible and accountable for the end-to-end management of inbound logistics from factory handover through to receipt at the in-house Distribution Centre (DC) or the customer’s DC for Direct-to-Customer (DRS) shipments.
This encompasses all aspects of the process, including inbound planning, customs clearance, delivery scheduling, and all activities in between to ensure seamless execution.
Key Responsibilities
- Verify and validate shipping instructions and shipment pre-advises to ensure all cargo is delivered accurately and in line with customer and business requirements.
- Manage inland transportation for all local sourcing directly with the factory representatives, ensuring timely and cost-effective movement of goods.
- Collaborate closely with 3PL Service providers to ensure all shipments are received On Time In Full (OTIF).
- Oversee and coordinate customs clearance processes, including documentation, broker liaison, compliance with import standards, and invoice management.
- Review and approve freight billing for all inbound shipments.
- Maintain and update the DRS Inbound Tracker, providing regular ETA and delivery readiness updates to relevant stakeholders.
- Prepare and distribute weekly inbound performance reports with key metrics and exception highlights.
- Support the compilation of end-to-end rolling forecasts, contributing to monthly targets and quarterly budget planning and financial inputs.
- Monitor and manage exceptions on logistics costs, identifying root causes and implementing corrective measures.
- Conduct Total Lead Time (TLT) analysis and adjustments to enhance operational efficiency.
- Perform ASN verification and Inbound Delivery (IBD) maintenance, including manual IBD creation to ensure the physical product movement matches the systematic information.
- Log and track all claims related to carriers and forwarders to ensure timely resolution.
- Prepare and log all insurance related claims for Good-In-Transit (GIT) where applicable.
- Support preparation of data for the annual global customs report.
- Execute Virtual Goods Receipt (GR) for all DRS shipments, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
- Follow up to ensure all deliveries are goods receipted (GRV’d) into the DC to within agreed Service Level (SLAs), to allow the business to call-off all delivered products.
- Respond proactively to team queries, resolve operational issues affecting performance, and escalate challenges where necessary.
- Monitor and communicate KPI performance, taking corrective actions to influence cost, productivity, and service metrics.
- Collaborate across cross-functional teams to deliver a seamless and efficient end-to-end inbound operation.
Key Relationships
- Global Operations (Supply Chain, Planning, Customs)
- Purchasing Team
- Order Fulfilment Team
- DC Operations team
- Customer Service
- Sales and Key Accounts Management teams
- Product Marketing / Sports Marketing
- Finance team
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Proven experience in managing import and inbound logistics operations (Global and Cross-boarder)
- Strong knowledge of customs clearance procedures and regulatory compliance.
- High proficiency in SAP and Microsoft Office Suite.
- Strong operational and financial acumen.
- Able to deliver high-quality results while managing competing priorities and tight timelines.
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and administrative capabilities.
- Adopts a results-oriented and analytical approach, anticipating issues and driving effective solutions
- Demonstrated leadership and management ability, with a customer-centric mindset.
- Capable of building trust-based, collaborative relationships across diverse stakeholder groups.
- Project management skills with a continuous Improvement mindset.
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply chain management, Logistics. (preferred)
- 5–7 years’ experience in Supply Chain, Logistics, or Transport Operations.
- Competent in Microsoft Office applications, SAP or similar ERP systems.
At adidas, we strongly believe that embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into our culture and talent processes gives our employees a sense of belonging and our brand a real competitive advantage.
– Culture Starts With People, It Starts With You –
By recruiting talent and developing our people to reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities, we foster a culture of inclusion that engages our employees and authentically connects our brand with our consumers.