Purpose
A key player in Product Development & Sourcing in driving to be the Most Agile, Most Competitive, Most Digitalized & Cleanest Supply Base in the industry. Drive engineering & manufacturing innovations on both process and product level from concept validation to full deployment to create overall industrial competitiveness. Take priority action as a consultant pool of technical experts guiding to a world-class supply of foams, rubber, plastics, adhesives, ink/paint, coloration, textiles and other polymer compounds and their manufacturing processes.
Key Responsibilities
- Understand IP (Intellectual Property) landscape.
- Run individual project team-based collaboration for engineering & manufacturing innovation product concepts and ingredients from validation to full deployment via technical expertise and action throughout the readiness levels, gate 1 & 2 meetings, and scalability for assigned projects and phases.
- Identify challenges and opportunities during innovation readiness level stages and follow up on needed workstreams while maintaining emphasis on performance, efficiency, cost and sustainability benefits.
- Receive seasonal compound requests from product creation teams and guide supply partner counterparts to experiment, formulate, test and effectively transition from development to production.
- Maintain the Material Lifecycle Management system for bottom material creation and management.
- Provide technical consultant feedback to Operations and Materials teams for new supplier onboarding, costing and quality.
- Ensure sourcing operations and practices comply with adidas’ Responsible Sourcing & Purchasing Policy, adidas standards and legal requirements.
- Role model adidas values and behaviours and foster a culture of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Key Relationships
Global Sourcing, Headquarter innovation, innovation management, Product Development teams, and external sourcing suppliers at T1 and T2.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Advanced knowledge of polymer chemistry and chemical products, including formulations, processing, machinery and physical testing.
- Expertise in solid, liquid and/or gas specialties, including rubber, injected plastic components, textiles, ink/paint, textile coloration dyes and finishing chemicals, adhesives, primers, and chemical or physical foams.
- Strong analytical skills for problem solving and project planning and delivery.
- Ability to explain highly technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
- Basic understanding of costing principles.
- Good influencing, interpersonal, presentation and communication skills.
- Fluent in English and Chinese, written and spoken.
- Strong Microsoft Office and AI skills.
Education and Experience
- University degree in Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science, Materials Science, Textile Engineering or a related engineering area.
- Minimum 3+ years of relevant experience.
Company Culture
adidas fosters an athlete’s mindset through courage, ownership, innovation, teamplay, integrity and respect. The company is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and aims to build an inclusive workplace.