Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

This is an exciting position that will directly contribute to the Corporate Internal Audit (CIA)

mission to provide independent, objective assurance to improve the effectiveness of business risk management, internal controls, and governance processes throughout adidas.

The Senior Director Internal Audit is tasked to lead the largest, highest risk and most complex assurance and advisory projects, and reporting results to the CIA Senior Leadership Team, including the Chief Audit Officer. The Senior Director Internal Audit is also tasked with being the trusted advisor and deputy to the Chief Audit Officer, as well as ensuring all ongoing operations of CIA achieve the annual audit plan in accordance with IIA standards. Further, this role requires oversight responsibility and ensuring the standards defined in the Corporate Internal Audit Charter are being lived on a regular basis by all team members.

This role is a bridge between the staff, CIA Senior Leadership Team and the Chief Audit Officer: the Senior Director Internal Audit acts as a compassionate, supportive line

manager and steers continuous development and coaching of team members, while also

defining and ensuring execution of CIA priorities, initiatives and audit plan.

This position offers learning, development and creation opportunities in an international environment within a multi-cultural, sports enthusiastic team that values inclusion and diversity. The team embraces change and innovation in order to support the company mission to be the best sports company in the world.

Corporate Internal Audit team members are value-adding business partners focused on supporting adidas in creating a sound governance, risk and compliance framework which

secures the achievement of strategic objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

Supervise project leads to achieve all phases of audit projects – i.e. planning, execution, completion & reporting, and follow-up according to the standards defined in CIA. Lead  and coach teams to deliver quality, thorough and fact-based documentation of work performed throughout all deliverables. Review and sign-off on documentation and deliverables from team members.

• Planning: oversee and supervise audit risk assessments; lead planning inquiry meetings and review relevant information in advance of project; document relevant information in the planning section of the audit file and propose audit scope; for complex projects, define and align project scope and approach with CAO; for less complex projects, constructively improve audit scope and approach proposed by the project lead; establish project timelines and present project scope and approach through collaboration with audit entity management/key stakeholders.
• Fieldwork: execute audit work programs timely; conclude audit work with fair and objective results including audit rating; ensure timely delivery of detailed review and quality check of project team’s work papers and documentation; continuously guide and develop project team members across levels; update CAO on all key issues and clear all coaching and development notes from working papers; update and validate observations and solutions with stakeholders (e.g. audit entity management and HQ functions); conduct update meetings with project stakeholders.
• Completion & Reporting: document and review detailed observations and recommendations; responsible for quality report/closing presentation content; review the audit rating, prepare and communicate the executive summary to the Executive Board and Audit Committee; present closing meeting to project sponsors and stakeholders and present topics of responsibility (e.g. audit rating) for most complex audit projects; for less complex audit projects, perform detailed review and quality-check of completed deliverables (including the audit closing presentation and audit report) before submission to CIA management.
• Follow-up: coordinate available team members who will monitor implementation of project recommendations.
• Provide guidance and development feedback to project team members as part of each engagement.
• Continuously expand and upgrade knowledge and skills by utilizing resources such as reading materials and attending training workshops.
• Continuously review and improve team processes or systems from personal experience, feedback, and best practices. Stay alert of key trends and topics in the audit field, and initiate actions if relevant (e.g. annual top risks, digitalization etc.).
• Lead medium to large scale team initiatives (e.g. board presentations, recruitment etc.), including those that will significantly change day-to-day processes.
• Maintain and update audit universe(s) and risk models for new risk assessment and audit plans. Align audit plan and timelines with relevant stakeholders (e.g. aligned assurance teams, auditees) accordingly.
• Develop and provide guidance and advice for teams within the company, obtain breadth of understanding of key processes, systems, initiatives and business models and continuously develop professional expertise.
• Develop expertise in assigned subject, involving staying alert of company-wide initiatives, process changes and organization changes. Leverage from experience and knowledge gathered throughout projects. Conduct training for team members and update audit work programs when required.
• Drive the CIA annual calendar and audit schedule process, ensuring audits are adequately resourced with appropriate team leads and members, sufficient time is provided to achieve objectives and timing of activities do not interfere.
• Act as a line manager for team members. Provide ongoing coaching to team members for their personal and career growth and development. Define quarterly goals (business & developmental) with assigned team members and evaluate their performance accordingly.

Key Relationships:

• Chief Audit Officer and Corporate Internal Audit team, including Internals Controls
• Senior Management and team members of audit entities
• Global support functions including Sales, Brand, Finance, Supply Chain, TECH, Human Resources, Product Development & Sourcing
• Key Governance functions: Internal Controls, Risk Management, Policies, Legal & Compliance, Employee Relations, Privacy, Information Security, etc.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Solution-oriented, adaptable, decisive, self-motivated, driven and committed team player with integrity and perseverance.
• Able to accept and meet deadlines, involving effective time management capacity and sense of priorities and agility.
• Strong analytic capabilities to manage large volume of information from various sources (interviews, data) and derive meaningful observations. Experience with data analytics extremely beneficial.
• Strong interpersonal skills combined with a high degree of customer orientation; can adapt and navigate easily within a changing environment and complex organizations, able to connect with a variety of functions, audiences, management styles, or cultures and create/foster stakeholder relationships.
• Curious and growth mindset; keen to learn and approach subjects outside of comfort zone, able to think critically and bring in different perspectives.
• Comfortable to present and communicate in English effectively, both in writing and verbally.
• Additional language skills would be advantageous (e.g. German, Mandarin, Spanish, etc.)
• Mobile; business related travel up to 15-30% per year.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in a business-related discipline (e.g. Accounting/Controlling/Finance, Management, Business Administration, International Business etc.).
• Professional designations (e.g. CIA, CPA, CISA, CFE, etc.) required.
• 10+ years of combined assurance, advisory, consulting or industry experience, preferably within multi-national organizations or professional services firms.
• Evidence of training or discipline specialization in consumer products industry, diverse sales channels and brands (e.g. Tech, Fraud, Supply Chain, Wholesale, Retail, e-Commerce, Digital, Finance).