Manager - Category Management Teamwear EM

Purpose & Overall Relevance For The Organization

Support the Senior Director BU Football & Motorsport, in the definition of Emerging Markets’ short and medium-term objectives for the Football Teamwear and Generic Apparel business.

Implement global Go-to-Market strategies in a regionally relevant way, working closely with each cluster’s Category Management teams, considering different consumer needs and distribution channels.

Assemble a product range for the dedicated Category that fulfils the needs of EM Hub and Clusters, which is complete and competitive in terms of structure, price and margin.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the creation and execution of a 3-5 year category plan for the assigned business segment, based on overall EM SBP and balanced with the needs of the adidas brand horizontally.
• Provide support to the Senior BU Director in aligning net sales objectives, margins, pricing, range architecture with each Cluster.
• Build a compelling, commercial, viable range/concept selection for the assigned business segment, to support the overall brand strategy, purpose and business direction for each Cluster within Emerging Markets.
• Oversee and coordinate the Teamwear customization ecosystem, connecting all functions involved (Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Sales, Sports Marketing, Marketing Ops), identifying solutions for the fulfilment of business opportunities, and steering the development of all platforms supporting growth in this space.
• Coordinate and drive SMU brief submissions from Clusters to the Global BU.
• Provide EM BU input to Global (consolidated from all Clusters) to include clear and substantive insight (future trends and incremental business opportunities) and input on key concepts and category activation plans.
• Maintain and deliver regular analyses on the category business performance, ensuring it meets the financial expectations set in the short and mid-term across all channels and EM Clusters.
  
  

KPIs

• Net Sales, Category growth, Key Franchise growth/share of NS and Go-in Margin
• Business segment market share vs plan in each Cluster within EM
• Direct business segment contribution vs strategic business plan
• Category range efficiency, costing and pricing targets
  
  

Key Relationships

• Cluster Category Management
• Global Football BU
• EM Marketing Operations
• Supply Chain and Demand Planning (at Global, Hub and Cluster level)
• EM Sales channels
  
  

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Passionate about sports, preferably Football with product-ranging specific knowledge.
• Consumer-focused with deep product and range understanding with an excellent ability to balance brand and commercial aspects and build channel-specific GTM solutions.
• Cross-functional marketing knowledge and market experience; preferably familiar with B2B environments and dynamics in the sporting goods/professional sports ecosystem.
• Ability to guide optimal range building in accordance to overarching strategies and specific local market contexts (product types, distribution landscapes, price points).
• Proactive mindset (engaging & impact-oriented), ability to think end-to-end.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with different international cultures.
• Good organizational and time management skills.
• Commercial acumen: numerical and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication (both written and verbal), presentation and facilitation skills.
• Ability and willingness to travel as required, domestically or internationally.
  
  

Requisite Education And Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• University degree in business, ideally with Marketing and Sales focus or equivalent professional experience.
• 5 years Merchandising experience including Sales and Retail exposure, ideally in sporting goods, fashion or other youth culture brands.
• Fluent English (verbal and written).
• Full proficiency with MS Office across key applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI).
  
  

adidas celebrates diversity, supports inclusiveness and encourages individual expression in our workplace. We do not tolerate the harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees. We are an equal opportunity employer.