About your role:
In this role, you will define and drive the long-term KPI’s governance, capability, and knowledge management strategy for Sourcing Development across the multi-branded Footwear and Equipment organization. This is a leadership role responsible for governing PD systems and building institutional frameworks that enable the organization to scale, adapt, and sustain competitive advantage, not just for today, but across product cycles and organizational transitions.
You will lead a team of Managers and Specialists, setting strategic direction across three main areas: (1) organizational knowledge preservation and maturity, (2) technical capability development and support future talent readiness, and (3) development KPI governance and performance intelligence. You will serve as the primary strategic interface between Product Development and Enterprise Platform teams, ensuring that enterprise tools and frameworks are translated into practical, brand-relevant outcomes.
This role requires a leader who operates at the intersection of technical depth, strategic thinking, and organizational influence, someone who can connect operational realities to long-term capability investment and represent the function credibly at the senior leadership level.
Your responsibilities will include (but not limited):
- Strategic Leadership & Organizational Impact
- Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Senior FW & EQ leadership on capability investment priorities, organizational design, and transformation roadmaps.
- Support the development of the function multi-year strategic plan, ensuring alignment between knowledge preservation, capability maturity, and business performance objectives.
- Drive FW & EQ cross-teams alignment across regions, brands, proactively identifying gaps and building consensus on standards, priorities, and ways of working.
- Knowledge Preservation & Institutional Continuity
- Set the strategic direction for organizational knowledge management, defining what institutional knowledge must be preserved, how it is structured, and how it evolves as the organization scales.
- Architect the governance framework for SOP lifecycle management, ensuring documentation reflects current best-in-class practices and adapts to changes in manufacturing, materials, and construction methods.
- Ensure the organization reduces dependency on individual expertise by building sustainable, scalable knowledge systems that support continuity through talent transitions, market shifts, and organizational change.
- Capabilities Development & Future Talent Readiness
- Design and own the multi-year capability roadmap for the Sourcing Development organization, aligning technical upskilling, leadership development, and process maturity with strategic priorities.
- Set the standard for what "technical depth" means across the function, defining competency expectations by level and ensuring the organization builds deep, transferable expertise, not just individual skill.
- Champion the development of the next generation of leaders within the function, building accountability, and creating an environment where individuals grow into strategic contributors.
- Sponsor the adoption of new ways of working, including AI and digital capabilities, ensuring the organization remains future-ready.
- Development KPI Governance & Performance Intelligence
- Shape the organization's performance intelligence framework, defining what we measure, why it matters, and how insights translate into strategic action at the leadership level.
- Own the governance architecture for development KPIs, ensuring alignment, consistency, and relevance across brands and categories.
- Identify systemic risks to milestone integrity and design intervention frameworks that enable proactive course correction across project lifecycles.
- Deliver strategic intelligence to senior FW & EQ leadership, translating data patterns into actionable recommendations that inform resource allocation, process investment, and organizational priorities.
- Tools Strategy & Platform Partnership
- Lead the strategic relationship with Enterprise Platform teams (PxM, PSE, DT, …), ensuring that platform roadmaps and tool deployments are aligned with PD business needs and adoption realities.
- Define the category-level tools strategy, ensuring consistent, effective utilization across teams and functions, and translating enterprise frameworks into actionable results at the brand level.
- Own the readiness and change management approach for major tool deployments, ensuring teams are equipped and adoption is sustained.
- Operational Governance (Escalation & Accountability)
- Provide strategic oversight and serve as the escalation point for operational execution across SMS PO management and ECN data integrity, ensuring the team maintains accuracy, compliance, and seamless cross-functional coordination.
- Ensure clear accountability boundaries between this function and Platform/PSE teams, proactively de-risking scope overlaps and maintaining governance clarity.
What we will be looking for in you:
- Expertise in footwear and/or equipment product development, recognized as a subject matter authority with the ability to translate technical knowledge into strategic capability frameworks.
- Demonstrated track record of shaping development practices and standards across teams, regions, or organizations, this is a requirement, not a nice-to-have.
- Strategic leadership, proven ability to connect operational detail to enterprise-level implications and communicate both with clarity to senior stakeholders.
- Organizational influence, skilled at building alignment across senior stakeholders with competing priorities, influencing without authority at the leadership level.
- Coaching leaders, not just individuals, experience developing people leaders into strategic thinkers, building ownership and accountability within your leadership team.
- Executive presence, capable of representing the function credibly in enterprise forums, senior leadership discussions, and cross-functional leadership settings.
- Systems thinking, ability to diagnose complex, cross-functional challenges and develop scalable solutions that balance short-term execution needs with long-term organizational capability.
- Business acumen, strong understanding of the competitive global business environment and awareness of industry, economic, and geopolitical trends that impact the organization's strategy.
- Change leadership, proven ability to lead organizations through transformation, embedding new ways of working and sustaining adoption over time.
Key Attributes:
- Embodies the highest level of personal and professional integrity and ethics.
- Passion for product excellence and a consumer-first mindset.
- Brings structured, strategic thinking — able to navigate ambiguity and translate complexity into clear direction for the team and the organization.
- Builds trust-based relationships across functions, regions, and levels — known for candor, reliability, and follow-through.
- Maintains a global perspective and is culturally sensitive and aware.
- Demonstrates intellectual curiosity and a growth mindset — role models learning and continuous improvement for the team and peers.
Desirable Qualifications & Competencies:
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, Business, or related field. MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
- Minimum 10+ years of experience in product development, process engineering, or manufacturing, with at least 5 years leading teams and driving cross-functional strategic initiatives.
- Proven experience building and leading multi-disciplinary teams across regions and cultures, with direct accountability for capability development and governance outcomes.
- Experience working with overseas factories and multi-cultural factory management teams.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, PLM systems, and production planning tools. Familiarity with data visualization and performance analytics tools is a plus.
- Fluent in English (written and verbal)
- Willingness and ability to travel within the region.
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