Senior Director - Innovation and Operations Improvement; m​/f​/d

Adidas is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace. We welcome applications from people of all ages, genders (incl. gender identity), ethnic and social backgrounds, nationalities, sexual orientations, religions and beliefs, and those with apparent or non-apparent disabilities. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees.

* We actively encourage individuals with disabilities to apply and will provide reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process.

Global Business Services (GBS) designs, builds, and operates consistent end to end business solutions for adidas, delivering services across finance, non-trade procurement, and human resources. This contributes to improved operating efficiency, user experience, agility, and decision making, while ensuring a strong compliance and control environment. These outcomes are enabled through standardized processes, globally consistent governance, advanced technologies, and a strong focus on continuous improvement and innovation.

Within this context, the Senior Director GBS Innovation and Operations Improvement will shape, lead, and scale the innovation and AI agenda for adidas GBS. The role will lead the Innovation, Performance Management and Analytics, Process Management and CI Governance, and Automation teams. The role focuses on identifying and scaling opportunities that leverage emerging technologies, automation, and AI to enhance process performance and service delivery across GBS.

Working in close partnership with GBS leadership, Global Process Owners, functions, markets, and Tech, this role connects strategic priorities with practical implementation. It ensures that innovation efforts translate into tangible business outcomes by driving structured exploration, solution development, and scalable deployment across operations and process domains.

• Lead and continuously refine the GBS Innovation vision, strategy, and operating model, aligned with GBS and corporate strategy.
• Establish and manage methodologies, processes, governance, and tools to drive innovation from idea exploration to business transition.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year innovation roadmap, based on core user problems, market trends, and new technology opportunities.
• Define clear KPIs, success measures, and value frameworks to assess and prioritize innovation opportunities.
• Drive internal and external trend exploration to identify breakthrough ideas, best practices, and opportunities.
• Own the creation of strategic narratives, business cases, and leadership material to engage senior executives and drive decision-making.

• Lead the end-to-end lifecycle of innovation and intelligent automation initiatives - from discovery and problem framing to design, implementation, deployment, scaling, and seamless handover to GBS Operations.
• Ensure fast, high-quality delivery by applying an agile, pragmatic, and flexible approach that accelerates time to value while maintaining strong execution discipline.
• Define clear deliverables, timelines, resource models, critical paths, and risk plans for innovation programs, pilots, and proofs of concept.
• Apply consulting, business modelling, technology assessment, and analytical skills to diagnose challenges and design future state scenarios that improve efficiency, user experience, and process intelligence.
• Oversee the development of structured business process designs, service models, use cases, and technology recommendations, with a strong focus on automation, AI-enabled solutions, and scalable digital capabilities.
• Partner with Global Process Owners (GPOs) and GBS Operations leads to assess end-to-end (E2E) processes, identify root causes of friction and delays, and translate operational pain points into scalable improvement opportunities.
• Propose and prioritize the right mix of approaches (simplification, standardization, automation, AI, analytics) and enabling tools to improve cycle time, quality, and cost across E2E processes.
• Lead solution shaping and tool selection (in collaboration with adidas Tech) for AI-enabled workflows, intelligent automation, and process intelligence; own delivery from build/configuration and integration through go-live, adoption, and measurable value realization, ensuring solutions are designed for controls and reliable day-to-day operation post-handover.
• Build strong and data-driven business cases that demonstrate financial impact, user experience improvements, operational benefits and rollout readiness.
• Manage external contracting and partnerships for pilot delivery, ensuring compliance, sound governance, and effective risk mitigation.

• Build a strong external innovation ecosystem (startups, academia, incubators, accelerators, consulting firms, other GBS organizations).
• Maintain a close partnership with…