PURPOSE

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. Lead material strategy process & strategic allocation to balance material portfolio against multiple factors, e.g. availability, cost, quality, sustainability, innovation etc. Ensure a best-in-class supplier portfolio. Drive implementation of data-driven sourcing best-practices and advanced materials costing approaches. Develop strategic plans to ensure that Material Sourcing contributes to the overall adidas’ strategy.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure a balanced supplier portfolio, considering multiple factors such as cost competitiveness, availability, sustainability, innovativeness, quality and speed.
• Define the materials sourcing strategy process and sign-off the portfolio strategy jointly with the Vice President, Materials Sourcing and materials leadership team.
• Ensure strategy alignment with stakeholders, transparency to Brand, Horizontal and Sourcing teams.
• Ensure and track the implementation of portfolio strategy in line with the overall materials sourcing strategy (e.g. onboarding or phase-out of suppliers).Steer and ensure the implementation of the defined portfolio strategy and supplier reactions with all stakeholders, e.g., no new developments with suppliers that will be phased-out.
• Collaborate within materials team on translating strategic portfolio decisions into operative actions.
• Develop business reporting capabilities & manage regular reporting process of the material strategy, supplier performance measures as well as a comprehensive analysis of adidas materials spend.
• Establish standardized, advanced and data-driven materials costing approaches and procedures.
• Ensure the accurate and continuous tracking of market data for raw materials, currencies, and other cost factors to enable the comprehensive analysis of material cost.
• Possess general price trend knowledge and cost indications for new developments.
• Define and continuously improve the seasonal material price negotiation process.
• Lead the seasonal price negotiations and align targets for different categories, including sustainable materials and materials from innovative technologies such as waterless colorization.
• Building business cases or material pricing models from a cost & supplier portfolio perspective for sustainable materials incl. new technologies.
• Guide the application of advanced procurement techniques, e.g., tendering of materials.
• Lead the seasonal FOB forecasting process for materials and collaborate with Finance and T1 Costing to provide the right guidance to BUs and Markets.
• 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.
• Role model leadership to foster a culture of Diversity Equity & Inclusion that strives for an inclusive workplace.
• Develop and coach team to ensure the best standards of performance, appropriate skillsets and strong succession plans are in place.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• Global Sourcing: Materials Operations, Materials Planning, Sourcing Operations
• Product Operations: Business Unit Costing, Planning
• External stakeholders: T2 suppliers, Strategic T3 suppliers

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Leadership qualities that contribute to achieving the company’s strategic objectives and personal development goals.
• Excellent people and influencing communication skills.
• Strong business acumen, data-analytical and negotiation skills.
• Strong problem-solving and project management skills.
• Ability to drive initiatives and change.
• Strong knowledge of sports product and manufacturing methods.
• Possesses growth mindset and prioritize one’s betterment to enhance performance.
• Strong knowledge of MS office, especially PowerPoint and Excel.
• Fluent in English communication.Ability to lead multidimensional teams.

REQUISITE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• University degree in Business Administration, Finance or Procurement is preferred.
• 10+ years professional experience in soft goods manufacturing, preferably in Costing or Materials function.
• Knowledge of sports product and/or project management preferred.
• 3+ years of people management experience