Senior Director Product Ownership Connectivity in Herzogenaurach bei Adidas

Tech Team: Tech Enablement - Tech Core

Product Area: Connectivity

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
Our Senior Director Connectivity will leverage deep technology expertise bringing our internal network to the next level. In this role you will be leading a global team of +25 people across our IT locations and take responsibility for the foundation delivery and operation of our sophisticated and cutting-edge IT Connectivity Infrastructure. This includes Network LAN, WAN, Wireless and Network Security related topic for over 2000 Retail and 1000 office locations. This person will act as a sparring partner and technology counterpart to all related IT and business areas within adidas on global level.

Key Responsibilities:

Innovation

• Manages the innovation pipeline and executes innovation processes.
• Develops, evolves, and adapts innovation tools, processes, and infrastructures to drive the process of innovation.
• Identifies resources and capabilities needed to support innovation.
• Encourages and motivates innovation communities, teams, and individuals to share creative ideas and learn from failures.
• Manages and facilitates the communication and open flow of creative ideas between interested parties and the set-up of innovation networks and communities.

Research

• Builds on and refines appropriate outline ideas for the evaluation, development, demonstration, and implementation of research.
• Contributes to research goals and funding proposals.
• Collects and analyses qualitative and quantitative data as required.
• Creates research reports to communicate research methodology, findings, and conclusions.
• Presents papers at conferences, contribute significant sections of material of publication quality, and presents reports to clients.
• Contributes to research plans and identifies appropriate opportunities for publication and dissemination of research findings.
• Makes an active contribution to research communities.

Portfolio, program, and project support

• Takes responsibility for the provision of portfolio, program, and project support.
• Advises on the available standards, procedures, methods, tools, and techniques.
• Evaluates project and/or program performance and recommends changes where necessary.
• Contributes to reviews and audits of project and program management to ensure conformance to standards.

Business analysis

• Takes responsibility for investigative work to determine business requirements and specify effective business processes, through improvements in information systems, information management, practices, procedures, and organization change.
• Selects, adopts, and adapts appropriate business analysis methods, tools, and techniques, selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.
• Collaborates with stakeholders at all levels, in the conduct of investigations for strategy studies, business requirements specifications and feasibility studies.
• Prepares business cases which define potential benefits, options for achieving these benefits through development of new or changed processes, and associated business risks.

Requirements definition and management

• Plans and drives scoping, requirements definition and prioritization activities for large, complex initiatives.
• Selects, adopts, and adapts appropriate requirements definition and management methods, tools and techniques selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.
• Obtains input from, and formal agreement to, requirements from a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Negotiates with stakeholders to manage competing priorities and conflicts.
• Establishes requirements baselines.
• Ensures changes to requirements are investigated and managed.
• Contributes to the development of organizational methods and standards.

Release and deployment

• Leads the assessment, analysis, planning and design of release packages, including assessment of risk.
• Liaises with business and IT partners on release scheduling and communication of progress.
• Conducts post release reviews.
• Ensures release processes and procedures are applied and that releases can be rolled back as needed.
• Identifies, evaluates, and manages the adoption of appropriate release and deployment tools, techniques, and processes (including automation).

Relationship management

• Identifies the communicati