Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization
As Manager Category, Brand Projects, you will drive the execution of cross-category initiatives and nearshoring programs that improve speed, agility, and commercial responsiveness across Southeast Asia.
With a particular focus on nearshoring and local production initiatives, this role will help scale fast-response capabilities, improve cross-functional ways of working, and support healthier inventory and go-to-market outcomes across SEA.
Key Responsibilities
Horizontal Category Strategy & Concept Development
- Own and rollout of horizontal category concepts that apply across multiple categories (e.g. franchise segments, Kids, product types).
- Identify operational opportunities to improve responsiveness, flexibility, and local market relevance.
- Ensure horizontal concepts support both brand ambition and commercial performance.
- Build frameworks, playbooks, and reporting routines to scale nearshoring initiatives across the region.
- Track KPIs linked to speed-to-market, service, inventory health, and commercial outcomes.
Project Management & Cross Functional Coordination
- Drive alignment around consumer‑led thinking, enabling consistent application across categories and markets.
- Partner with Category teams to help define clear roles of product within the broader adidas portfolio.
- Contribute to cleaner assortments by supporting horizontal guardrails for breadth, depth, and differentiation.
- Support key marketplace moments by ensuring horizontal concepts are reflected in seasonal line‑ups.
- Help balance global consistency with local relevance, enabling markets to flex within agreed frameworks.
- Own project plans, governance routines, action trackers, and follow-up mechanisms.
- Ensure alignment across stakeholders, proactively flagging risks, dependencies, and bottlenecks.
- Support workshop preparation, steering meetings, and executive updates for priority initiatives.
- Support disciplined execution and follow-through across multiple workstreams.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Category Management, Brand Analytics ,GTM, MOPS, Product, Brand, Demand Planning, Supply Chain and Finance teams.
- Act as a connector between Emerging Markets strategy and SEA regional / market needs, translating priorities both ways.
- Support SEA countries and GTM teams with frameworks, tools, and materials to enable consistent execution.
- Act as project owner for cross‑functional brand or category projects, ensuring timelines and outputs are aligned.
Commercial & Marketplace Impact
- Contribute to improved assortment productivity, clarity, and scalability across channels and markets.
- Support key marketplace moments by ensuring horizontal concepts are reflected in seasonal assortments.
- Assist in analysing cross‑category performance to identify structural opportunities and risks.
- Use insights and learnings to support continuous improvement of future concepts and plans.
Nearshoring & Speed Enablement
- Drive the connection between sourcing, supply chain, category planning, and go‑to‑market to develop responsive supply solutions tailored to SEA.
- Assist in the development and execution of the Southeast Asia nearshoring strategy, aligned with Global speed and agility priorities, in collaboration with Emerging Markets.
- Help identify categories, franchises, and price points best suited for nearshored or fast‑response production models.
- Work with stakeholders to translate strategic intent into concrete nearshoring use cases.
- Own tracking of nearshoring initiatives against speed, service, cost, and inventory KPIs.
- Contribute to the development of playbooks, frameworks, and tools to standardize nearshoring execution.
Behaviors & Capabilities
- Structured, systems‑oriented thinker with strong attention to detail.
- Confident communicator able to manage multiple stakeholders.
- Curious, learning‑oriented, and comfortable operating in ambiguity.
Key Relationships
- Internal: SEA Brand, Supply Chain & Operations, Country Teams, Emerging Markets Teams, Local Creation Centres, Factories / LO partners
Professional Experience & Profile
- 5-8 years of experience in category, planning, merchandising, supply chain, or related roles.
- Exposure to product creation, sourcing, or local production is a strong plus.
- Strong analytical, organizational, and stakeholder management skills.
- Passion for learning, speed, and end‑to‑end business understanding.
