Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization
Lead the development and implementation of a strategy on athlete interaction and product research and validation to drive innovation.
Provide leadership to a team that owns the definition of research-informed athlete problem statements, drives athlete engagement requirements to address these statements, and conducts research, non-standardized testing, and validation to solve against identified problems.
Act as a key driver of innovation for development teams in Innovation and the brand.
Key Responsibilities
* Lead programs and teams which deliver sports science insights to increase the understanding of the athlete and athlete-product interactions
* Identify relevant opportunities and trends, to enable team resources to be focused on evaluating and documenting relevant performance insights
* Align the team's research and development objectives with the brand and team innovation direction
* Lead and develop strategic partnerships, to constantly increase the team’s capabilities
* Lead new validation strategies, including both perception and performance testing, to efficiently evaluate and document the benefit of product and experience for athletes
* Develop and manage processes which enable the testing of prototypes and innovative product concepts, prior to commercialization, in close cooperation with other members of the Athlete Performance team
* Collaborate with the cross-functional Innovation team to bring new concepts to life, via sports science insights, which enable an increased performance
* Ensure appropriate leadership skills are present through creating a motivational and supportive work environment in which employees are coached, trained, and provided with career opportunities
* Set clear objectives for team members and provide deep or broad expertise in supervised area
Key Relationships
* Innovation teams
* Brand Strategy
* Athlete Servicing and Testing & Quality
* Corporate functions (e.g. Legal & Compliance, Human Resources, Finance, IT, Logistics)
* Business Units
* Research institutions and industrial and academic partners
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
* Curiosity for science and technology with a passion for making insights in the field of sport
* Ability to understand scientific and complex information, and communicate this to technical and non-technical audiences
* Educate and train colleagues by sharing knowledge on an on-going basis
* Demonstrate the ability to work independently and within a team atmosphere
* Fluent English (required), German (advantageous)
* Communicate and negotiate effectively
* Cooperate well, develop and maintain relationships
* Work independently as well as part of a team
* Plan working time efficiently, balancing short term tasks with long term goals
* Strong analytical skills, solution driven and result oriented
* Ability to travel domestically and internationally
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications
* PhD or Master's degree in Biomechanics, Bio based Science, or Engineering
* Minimum 10 years industry relevant experience in research, engineering, or similar position (PhD or relevant experiences will be considered)
* 5 years leadership of diverse and global teams in a matrix organization