Sr. Manager, Materials Innovation Scaling

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. Commercialize and build-up the infrastructure for new material technologies to achieve business objectives. Manage strategic suppliers of new materials technologies. Scaling up innovative materials technologies and ensure smooth transition into Materials Operations team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
·    Work with Engineering & Manufacturing Innovation (E&MI) team and Advanced Creation to identify new development requirements and define handover timelines to Sourcing for new materials technologies.
·    Develop and implement project plans to outline the required technology infrastructure to be developed. Capabilities may include but are not limited to facilities, machinery, software, and human resources.
·    Project management to ensure project delivery on time and regular briefing on the status to internal stakeholders.
·    Incubating and onboarding new supply bases with insights from Creation Functions and Horizontal Concepts.
·    Inspire continues improvement activities for outlined technologies with ‘best practices’ as well technical education programs for the development teams.
·    Proactively identify potential constraints to raw material supply and production capacity.
·    Where new machinery is required, monitor the machinery suppliers’ capacity and machine lead times to ensure that machinery purchases are aligned to production requirement.
·    Facilitate the communication paths and contacts between T1 and T2 as new factories incorporate defined technology. Ensure alignment of lead times, ordering process and quality requirements between T1 & T2.
·    Collaborate and provide intelligence to Materials Operations team for handed-over technologies.
·    Collaborate with Costing to develop and/or optimize methods of costing new material technologies.
·    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, e.g. Materials Operations, Portfolio Management and Costing, Planning & Allocation, Engineering and Manufacturing Innovation
·    Global Operations: Sustainability Strategy in Headquarters, Advanced Creation
·    External Stakeholders: T1 Factories, T2/T3 Suppliers
·    Liaison Office Operations
·    Brand Operations
·    Finance
·    Global Legal
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
·    Leadership qualities that contribute to achieving the company’s strategic objectives and personal development goals.
·    Strong people and influencing communication skills.
·    Strong business acumen.
·    Strong problem-solving and project management skills.
·    Ability to drive initiatives and challenges status quo.
·    Possesses growth mindset and prioritize one’s betterment to enhance performance.
·    Strong knowledge of sports wear industry, specializing in product development.
·    Good knowledge of Microsoft office, especially PowerPoint and Excel.
·    Fluent in English communication.
·    Ability to lead multidimensional teams.
REQUISITE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
·    University Degree in preferably textile engineering, industrial or chemical engineering or economics.
·    7+ years’ experience in textile industry or footwear.
·    Material Development, Tooling, or Materials background is an advantage.