Global Senior Merchandise Manager, US Sports

GTM MERCHANDISING PURPOSE & OVERALL RELEVANCE FOR THE ORGANIZATION

As the Global Senior Merchandise Manager of the US Sports BU (Football, Baseball, Softball) you will play a pivotal role growing the US Sports presence and performance in all Global Markets. Your primary objective will be to deliver strategic business imperatives, implement key brand priorities, and drive growth for adidas as a leading sports brand. In this role, you will be responsible for creating, communicating, and implementing a strategy for seasonal sell-ins. You will ensure that the product range is aligned with market needs and that it meets the financial targets set for US Sports. This individual is tasked with creating a category Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy considering market, account, and consumer insights. Execute the BU GTM strategy in markets and accounts to create demand, drive market share growth and enable achieving the financial category targets. Manage business conversations with markets and accounts. Orchestrate and manage all internal/functional milestones with a special focus on Japan, Korea, Europe and Latin America. This role requires a strong consumer focus on all sport consumers Youth to Pro, advanced marketing knowledge, and the ability to balance brand and commercial priorities effectively.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop category initiatives to meet key commercial goals for US Sports
• Execute short/long-term strategies for specific category areas (e.g., FTW, APP) in line with market and account opportunities
• Own go to market planning excellence in compliance with targets for forecasting, pricing, profitability, range size, range flow, range adoption, APR etc. including system, catalogue and master data maintenance
• Build category range architecture for seasonal specific category areas (e.g., FTW, APP) incl. franchise management, price architecture, flow and segmentation that aligns with the category targets
• Execution of a BU GTM strategy that creates demand and drives market share growth
• Act as the go-to Global Brands consultant and business partner to all cross functional key stakeholders, providing transparency and influencing fact-based decision making
• Conduct quantitative and qualitative data analysis, presenting results and evaluation as necessary to drive actionable recommendations
• Build a consumer and shopper-centric range segmentation methodology and framework, ensuring as a brand that we show up with the right product at the right place
• Perform category insights and analytics including market/consumer/competitor insights and sales analysis and leverage for planning
• Seasonal review and update of global price bands and price points as necessary, in collaboration with Strategic Brand Insights.
• Lead the category through key Global milestone deliverables focused on THO and GTMSO. Ensuring best-in-class sell-in tools, imagery, segmentation, sample readiness, and data integrity.
• Manage and support all business conversations for specific category areas (e.g., FTW, APP) with markets and accounts
• Manage and support the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) meetings for specific category areas (e.g., FTW, APP) from a global side, orchestrate the communication and drive follow-ups
• Manage and support market / account facing milestone meetings for specific category areas (e.g., FTW, APP)
• Manage and track the implementation of seasonal GTM plans towards markets and channels

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• GTM leadership and teams
• Category Creation & Marketing
• Global Finance
• Market Category team
• Market Finance
• Global Sales
• Market Account Sales

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Extensive knowledge of the US Sports industry: Deep understanding of professional leagues, clubs, and athletes, as well as the competitive landscape
• Strong presentation/communication, negotiation and influencing skills, especially with senior stakeholders within a global matrix organization.
• Consumer-focused with deep product and range understanding and the ability to balance Brand and Commercial priorities to build channel- and consumer-specific activation plans that meet KPI targets

• Extensive knowledge of the US Sports industry: Deep understanding of professional leagues, clubs, and athletes, as well as the competitive landscape
• Advanced cross-functional Merchandising and Marketing knowledge and Market experience in sport focused on Sporting Goods, Grassroots, and DTC.
• Strong presentation/communication, negotiation and influencing skills, especially with senior stakeholders within a global matrix organization.
• Consumer-focused with deep product and range understanding and the ability to balance Brand and Commercial priorities to build channel- and consumer-specific activation plans that meet KPI targets
• Advanced user of MS Office suite of products
• Experience in both market and above market organization preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong presentation, planning, and analytical skills
• A thorough understanding of consumer markets
• Passion for sports
• Ability to intake multiple sources of information/briefs and confidence and acumen to act decisively and with speed
• Advanced analytical skills, be solution driven and result oriented, strong business orientation
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to travel domestic and international up to 20% of time

REQUISITE EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE / MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• University degree or equivalent education required
• 5+ years of relevant experience in/transferable to the sports industry linked to GTM functions, e.g., retail, merchandising, buying, e-com

• Up to 2 years of managerial experience (if applicable/ required)
• Previous global, wholesale, retail, digital/ecom, vertical experience in merchandising, buying
• Detailed theoretical and practical knowledge in functional area
• Experience in Product Creation, Supply Chain, Visual Merchandising, Planning & Allocation is a plus
• Fluent in English
• PC skills (MS Office programs)

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at adidas means championing individual uniqueness and cultivating a culture of belonging in which everyone can create at their best. We embrace diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives and seek to create a workforce that reflects our consumers and communities.
• adidas offers robust and progressive medical, including HSA (Health Savings Account) with employer funding or FSA (Flexible Spending Account) options, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, adoption, with surrogate and fertility support, short and long-term disability, and basic life and AD&D insurance, which can be supplemented with employee-paid coverage. Employees are able to enroll in adidas' 401k plan and Stock Purchase Plan with employer match. Full-time employees are eligible for education assistance and generous Leave policies including 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Employees are eligible to earn an annual bonus based on both company and personal performance. Employees accrue prorated flexible time off in the amount .4388 hours per day that increases with years of service, twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year and Service Time Off during milestone years.
• At adidas we offer a Hybrid work policy which requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in-person presentation, in-office attendance is required even on Friday. The working location of this position is Portland, Oregon.
• Though our teammates hail from all corners of the world, our working language is English.