As a Director Project & Programs in adidas Digital Brand Commerce (DBC) your task is to manage and deliver digital programs and large scale digital projects (>1m €). The program scope may comprise multiple countries and on a global level multiple brands and functions. Your objective is to conduct the projects within the boundaries of time, cost & quality while focusing on consumers’ expectations and requirements. Planning, executing and tracking projects & programs in cooperation with the respective functions and project team members are a few examples of what is expected from this role. Additionally, you will be focusing on resource management, vendor management and coordination activities, acting as the central interface to key stakeholders.
1. Key Responsibilities
Scope: Manage and deliver global digital programs and large-scale digital projects (>1m €)
1. Project/ Program Delivery
* Deliver projects & programs end-to-end successfully, ideally through effective application of PMI/Agile methodology.
* Develop detailed plans that allow providing transparency on progress and identifying risks on time.
* Identify interdependencies with other projects & programs and solve issues proactively.
* Identify economically beneficial opportunities for products, processes and systems within the project & program scope and drive their implementation.
1. Resource Planning
* Form, lead, manage and monitor multi-functional team resources (internals and externals) to deliver and support projects & programs.
* Partner with Supplier Management/ Procurement department in order to manage suppliers for the projects & programs in scope, e.g. interviews, staffing, supplier costs.
1. Communication
* Act as the key contact person for strategic stakeholders.
* Apply appropriate and effective communication methods to senior management and important stakeholders (incl. vendor) throughout the project lifecycle.
* As conflicts and escalations arise within projects, identify solutions and manage the resolution in a timely and appropriate manner.
* Drive change management activities for respective projects & programs and ensure changes are smoothly and successfully implemented to achieve lasting benefits.
1. Project Controlling
* Manage project controlling as an independent element to ensure that actual project costs are in line the committed budget.
* Lead or conduct engagement reviews. Verify implementation of quality assurance procedures. Ensure project & program delivery against program KPIs.
* Monitor project & program variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against plan in order to implement corrective or preventive actions.
1. „If required“ Responsibilities
1. Agile Transformation
* Drive the transformation to full agile working mode and facilitate agile adoption.
* Develop and orchestrate the demand & delivery process within DBC.
* Facilitate initial demand discussions at domain lead level.
1. Market Development
* Create business cases per market with support from the Analytics team to evaluate growth opportunities.
* Moderate and agree on prioritization of market rollouts based on business potential and market specific needs.
* Develop the base platform capabilities required to fulfill business cases, together with IT.
1. People Management
* Ensure appropriate leadership skills are present at every level by creating a motivational and supportive work environment in which employees are coached, trained and provided with career opportunities through development.
* Continuously monitor and evaluate team workload and organizational efficiency with the support of IT systems, data and analysis and team feedback and make appropriate changes in order to meet business needs.
* Provide team members/direct reports with clear direction and targets that are aligned with business needs and DBC objectives.
1. Key Relationships:
* Project and Program Teams
* Major Global Stakeholders
* Global IT
* Respective business function (GOPS, Finance, HR, Brand Marketing, Wholesale/Retail)
* HR Management
* Controlling
1. Requirements
1. Education & Experience
* Ideally Master degree with focus on Business Administration, Communication or IT or related areas, or equivalent combination of education and experience
* 10+ years of in-depth experience related to project management or similar topics
* 6-8 years of professional experience in the digital ecosystem environment
* Experience in Finance is a plus
* Experience working with stakeholders at various seniority levels as well as subject matter experts across various functions (Developers, business stakeholders, product and marketing teams, etc.)
* 2+ years of experience in leading a team
1. Soft-Skills
* Very good communication skills, especially when interacting with different levels of business
* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with different international cultures
* Ability to handle ambiguity and untangle complex situations into actionable activities
* Distinctive strategic mindset and ability to prioritize and delegate high numbers of tasks with varying workload and importance
* Solutions-oriented approach and entrepreneurial mindset
* Good numerical and analytical skills
* Highly developed leadership skills are required
1. Hard-Skills
* Strong MS-Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
* Ability to travel, domestic or international, as required
* In-depth understanding of IT
* Excellent knowledge of Agile working methods e.g. Scrum/Kanban
* Excellent knowledge of PMI methods ideally with certification
* Fluent English both verbally and written