Senior Director NAM Cost Management

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

Our aspiration as the Finance function at adidas is to be the reliable business partner driving growth and value creation. As a central element of Finance activities, we are responsible for managing costs across the organization by steering and optimizing decision making through high-quality financial analysis and foresight. This department covers the areas of Marketing Expenditures (Maex), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Personnel Expenditures (PEX), and variances other Operating Overhead spending areas.

As a Senior Director and part of the Finance Senior Leadership Team in North America, you will play a critical role in the execution of our business and department strategy to ensure profitability growth. You will work in a fast-paced, highly visible environment, lead a team of 10-15 people and liaise with a broad set of stakeholders including the NAM Senior Leadership Team and other business leaders across North America.

Key Responsibilities:

• Enhance transparency and improve processes around spending areas in Marketing Spend, Supply Chain costs, and corporate Operating Overhead (OOH)
• Refine processes and communication flows to enable holistic OOH and other cost management
• Improve management reporting and increase degree of standardization
• Strengthen spending analytics, planning and forecasting incl. link to FTE
• Anticipate cost challenges, identify savings opportunities, structure initiatives and control
• implementation
• Manage cross-functional projects towards achieving cost excellence across multiple stakeholders and spending areas
• Lead change management to better connect spending against areas in Non-trade Purchasing (NTP) and other Finance areas
• Further develop cross-functional OOH investment governance
• Further develop and strengthen a new team that is coming together under single leader vision

Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Very strong understanding of finance/accounting, controlling and FP&A
• People leadership capabilities to connect with team members and engage team to drive better consistency and connectivity
• Ability to manage senior business partners with strong communication abilities
• Proven track record in budgeting & planning activities, identifying cost savings / reinvestment opportunities at scale and implementation of respective programs
• Understanding of financial planning and front-end reporting tools
• Strong analytical mindset and facility with numbers
• Outstanding problem-solving skills (structuring, analysis, synthesis)
• Strong management and coaching skills and experience in leading multi-cultural teams in an fast moving environment
• Innovative, action-oriented and solution-minded team player
• Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:
  • Advanced degree or qualification in Business, Finance or Economics
  • Min. 8-12 years of broad-based Finance and cross-functional experience with progressive responsibility
  • Significant leadership and budget responsibilities