Job Description

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

• Develop and drive industry leading creative solutions for concepts across Sportswear & Performance (Training, Running, Football), to create a highly relevant, desirable and clear adidas brand image, with primary focus on the Japanese consumer.
• Lead and manage the internal creative teams across all categories for Apparel, Footwear & Accessories.

Key Responsibilities:

• Demonstrates strong leadership in driving the end-to-end product design function, ensuring commercially successful product creation that elevates brand competitiveness and contributes to sustainable market share growth.
• Steer and coach the apparel and accessories design team and their creative processes, driving development of direct reports and inspiring and motivating the team to pursue cutting edge ideas that are innovative and original.
• Accelerate the development and launch of footwear products to drive and establish a new footwear business in the Japan market.
• Develop concepts and creative strategies that fulfil objectives of category, concept, brief
• Collaborate with cross-functional brand & creation partners to ensure consumer- and brand focus, as well as impactful & memorable storytelling
• Define category Creative Direction for CCT and lead the execution of creative strategies to ensure end to end creative excellence, from sell-in to sellout (consumer-facing)
• Proactively identifies and interprets consumer and customer needs to drive locally relevant product creation and ensure market driven design decisions.
• Direct variety of creative resources (agencies, freelancers, writers, videographers, photographers, etc) on creative execution to ensure holistic creative excellence
• Participate in creation of annual and long-term Creative Direction strategies
• Present and communicate creative solutions with clarity, effectively selling in ideas to variety of stakeholders
• Identify opportunities of improvement and change, and initiate own proposals/projects
• Seek out new Design resources & processes that can deliver world class results

Key Relationships:

• Senior Director Product & Design
• Design Directors, Designers
• CCT Product Marketing
• Japan Business Units & Brand Activation
• Channel teams (Wholesale, Retail, Ecom)
• Global product & design team (CCH)
• External Agencies and Creative Resources

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• IT skills: Excel, Word, PowerPoint: advanced /Outlook
• Design apps: expert
• Strong visual and verbal skills with the ability to create impactful/exciting visuals
• Language: English (excellent) & Japanese

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• Under-graduate level Design education or combination thereof
• Solid education and advanced experience in the creative development of successful design concepts
• At least 10-15 years experience in Sporting Goods/Fashion Industry or Design on managerial level
• 7 years personnel management experience
• Passion for adidas and its mission
• Passion for sports, culture, design