Director Materials Strategy Footwear Materials

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
- We’ll never launch a product unless we consider it perfect. Our product development teams create every shirt, every shoe and every piece of equipment for thousands of athletes and fashion lovers as if it was one of a kind. And it truly is, as they weave their passion into every single product. But translating designs, drawings and renderings into real products requires a lot of decision making.
As _Director Materials Strategy _you are a key contributor in the product creation process by ensuring the end-to-end availability of innovative materials which support the strategic marketing & design direction for enabling commercial success within various Business Units (BUs). The selection of materials has to be made in alignment with various stakeholders and attending different operational aspects such as calendar timelines, target prices, sourcing policy and quality standards among others. In this role you will lead a team of material strategists who work as an integral part of the BUs and you will focus of finding synergies across the different departments, taking multiple points of view into consideration and collaborating effectively with multiple senior stakeholders across the organization. You will also lead the creation, harmonization and presentation of the seasonal Materials Strategy on behalf of the BUs and towards our material suppliers.- Key Responsibilities:
- Act as the key contact for strategic material-related questions from Product Development, Marketing and Design.
- Steer the material selection process by leading regular cross-functional meetings within the BU to facilitate discussions around materials.
- Oversee the creation of sharp Material Briefs which informs Materials Development and accurately captures the needs of the BUs around specific materials and products. Ensure alignment with Sourcing on the strategic selection of suppliers.
- Oversee the creation of the seasonal Materials Strategy for the BUs and present it to material suppliers and to all relevant internal stakeholders.
- Lead material consolidation efforts and ensure adherence from al BUs to the efficiency targets set by Global Materials Creation.
- Develop tools and reports that support the BU Product Creation teams on making fact-based and faster decisions around materials.
- Provide material risk management analysis for the BUs upon request. Collaborate with Materials Development and Materials Sourcing to ensure alignment on allocation decisions for development and mass production of materials.
- Seek for continuous improvement through regular exchanges with the extended Materials Strategy community. Identify possible synergies across BUs and product divisions (Apparel, Footwear, Accessories & Gear) and enforce know-how sharing around materials where possible.
- Collaborate with Materials Data & Infrastructure on analyzing relevant reports of material management data. Ensure proper follow-up within the BU.
- Collaborate with Materials Innovation on implementing a business plan for launching new, innovative materials and/or technologies in full alignment with the BU commercial needs.
- Support BUs during team travel for product reviews. Identify and fix any material-specific issues.
- Leadership:
- Build the appropriate structure to be able to manage the respective organization effectively, identify and develop the future talents and create realistic succession scenarios for key positions.
- Ensure appropriate leadership skills are present at every level through creating a motivational and supportive work environment in which employees are coached, trained and provided with career opportunities through development.
- Allocate the different topics and work streams to the respective teams and employees considering experience, complexity, workload and organizational efficiency.
- Continuously monitor and evaluate team workload and organizational efficiency with the support of systems, data and analysis and team feedback and make appropriate changes in order to meet business needs.
- Provide team members/direct reports with clear direction and targets that are aligned with business needs and Legal objectives.
- Key Relationships:
- Materials Development
- Materials Innovation
- Materials Sourcing
- Product Development
- Product Marketing
- Product Design
- Planning
- Costing
- Finance
- Legal
- Suppliers Tier 1 and Tier 2
- Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Excellent communication, presentation and influencing skills.
- Strong and proven leadership skills.
- Solution-oriented mindset.
- Solid understanding of material properties, production processes and T2 supplier landscape.
- Solid understanding of the product creation process and T1 supplier landscape.
- Excellent planning and organization skills, ability to multi-task and manage priorities.
- Ability to work with people at all hierarchy levels in an organization.
- Experience in working with multiple senior stakeholde