Senior Manager Footwear Development - Basketball Performance

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
We’ll never launch a product unless we consider it perfect. Our product development teams create every shirt, every shoe and every piece of equipment for thousands of athletes and fashion lovers as if it was one of a kind. And it truly is, as they weave their passion into every single product. But translating designs, drawings and renderings into real products requires a lot of decision making.

As Senior Manager Development Footwear, you will lead and manage a team of product developers to complete the footwear product creation process for the assigned business unit (BU). You will actively monitor development calendars to ensure deadlines, costing KPI and quality standards are met. You will act as an advocate for footwear product integrity by working closely with business units, designers, suppliers, and liaison offices (LO) to uphold quality standards and achieve business unit strategy and targets.

Key Responsibilities:

Support the Director Development Footwear in executing the BU strategy, ensuring strong cross‑functional alignment across Creation teams while contributing a forward‑thinking, innovation‑driven product perspective.

Partner with Design and Marketing to deliver best‑in‑class Basketball products, challenging briefs where needed to elevate performance, craftsmanship, and consumer relevance.

Identify and drive product and process innovations, translating emerging technologies, athlete insights, and performance data into scalable, commercialised solutions.

Lead performance‑focused development with an emphasis on:

Category‑leading technical execution

Continuous product and process improvement

Competitive benchmarking

Collaborate closely with Innovation, T1, QA, and Sourcing to ensure new constructions and technologies are validated, manufacturable, and delivered at Buy Ready standard.

Take full ownership of end‑to‑end development for assigned projects, ensuring highest product integrity, clear risk management, and on‑time execution aligned to the product creation calendar.

Drive signature athlete product development, embedding athlete feedback into differentiated, performance‑led solutions that elevate the franchise.

Key Relationships:

Product Management

Product Design

Pattern, Tooling, Color & Materials, Costing, Planning, Testing & Quality

Sourcing

Factories

Digital Creation

Legal

Athlete Services

PMO

Head Office

Innovation

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Expert knowledge of the footwear creation process from concept brief to shelf, including last, pattern, construction, tooling, testing, knowledge of sport‑specific movement and biomechanics.

Strong communication and influencing skills, ability to convey complex content to a large, diverse audience.

English language proficiency required.

International and domestic travel as required (approx. 5‑10%).

Growth mindset and continuous learning.

Strategic thinking.

Business acumen.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

University degree in Manufacturing, Engineering, Biomechanics, Sports Science, or a technical degree as a footwear technician.

Alternatively, a combination of relevant education, experience, and training.

Minimum 4 years of relevant work experience in footwear product development across multiple business units.

First experience in managing a team is an advantage.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at adidas:

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at adidas means championing individual uniqueness and cultivating a culture of belonging in which everyone can create at their best. We embrace diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives and seek to create a workforce that reflects our consumers and communities.

Benefits (anticipated pay range $126,000 – $151,000):

Robust and progressive medical coverage including HSA (Health Savings Account) with employer funding or FSA (Flexible Spending Account) options, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, adoption, with surrogate and fertility support, short and long‑term disability, and basic life and AD&D insurance.

Employees are able to enroll in adidas’ 401(k) plan and Stock Purchase Plan with employer match.

Full‑time employees are eligible for education assistance and generous leave policies, including 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

Employees are eligible to earn an annual bonus based on both company and personal performance.

Employees accrue prorated flexible time off in the amount 0.4388 hours per day that increases with years of service, twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year and Service Time Off during milestone years.

Hybrid work policy requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in‑person presentation, in‑office attendance is required even on Friday. Working location: Los Angeles, California.

Though teammates hail from all corners of the world, working language is English.

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