Director, Kids Footwear Design

Lead and establish a team and help create the seasonal creative direction of the respective category together with the category head. Maintain and nurture the design, material and color direction with the Design team.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop the seasonal direction of the Kids Footwear category according to market trends and overall Design Direction, ensuring consistency across products and ranges.
• Stay at the global forefront of design trends and innovation and their application.
• Steer and drive the conceptualization process within the category.
• Manage a team toward category objectives and implement process changes.
• Steer and coach team members and their creative processes, and drive the development of direct reports.
• Inspire and motivate teams to pursue innovative and original ideas by researching functional criteria for products and concepts and outlining areas of innovation.
• Ensure correct execution of Corporate Identity guidelines and compliance with legal restrictions within the category.
• Present category strategies verbally with clarity and expertise.
• Disseminate Design Strategy into category and cross-functional teams.
• Create professional presentations of ideas, from loose sketches to detailed renderings and digital presentations.
• Ensure efficient processes and communication between external and internal teams.

Key Relationships

• Marketing
• Development
• Global design head
• Team members
• External partners

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Profound knowledge of fashion product and fashion design, industrial product, or industrial design.
• Innovative and collaborative leader and coach.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Strong influencing skills.
• High level of initiative and maturity.
• Ability to inspire, think creatively and strategically, and act tactically.
• Problem-solving attitude and can-do personality.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.
• Advanced IT skills in Photoshop, Illustrator, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university in a relevant design subject, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of 10 years of practical experience in footwear design, with kids' footwear experience required.
• Minimum of 5 years of management experience, including team leadership.

Culture

At adidas, employees are encouraged to demonstrate courage, ownership, innovation, teamwork, integrity and respect. The company emphasizes diversity, equity and inclusion as part of its culture and talent processes.