Director HR Business Partner Retail

Leads and enables a people ecosystem for the Japan retail business, centred on moments that matter and delivering value at every touchpoint. It drives implementation of the People Strategy from a business partnering perspective and acts as a strategic HR partner to the organisation and its people. The role leads the local Retail HR Business Partner team and works with the Head of Retail, senior leadership, local HR teams, global Sales HR, Finance and external partners.

• Serve as the key HR Business Partner contact for the Head of Retail, a member of the Senior Leadership Team at adidas Japan.
• Act as a trusted HR advisor to all employees within the Retail function, including office and stores, coaching and mentoring team leaders to enable empowered decision-making on people, engagement and performance topics.
• Drive and execute the People and HR Strategy for the Retail business, with a strong focus on strategic priorities aligned with both Global Sales and Japan HR.
• Lead organisational design, change and transformation initiatives, redesigning structures to achieve strategic objectives while enhancing productivity and efficiency.
• Leverage data, analytics and dashboards to optimise organisational performance and functional effectiveness.
• Build a strong talent pipeline, including robust succession plans for senior leadership roles at MD-1 and MD-2 levels.
• Ensure consistent execution of core HR processes in full compliance with adidas Group policies, local labour laws and internal regulations, and respond swiftly to inquiries, issues and needs from team leaders and stakeholders across the Retail function.
• Communicate business priorities to local Rewards, Talent and Talent Acquisition teams, and collaborate with local Rewards and FP&A teams on effective headcount and personnel expense planning and management.
• Maintain a high level of communication with senior management, contribute to decision-making on organisational structure and team development, support business initiatives through impactful HR measures and foster positive employee relations.
• Promote and embed adidas's culture based on its six values, and lead, manage and develop team members to drive high levels of engagement and motivation while embracing diversity and acting as a role model within and beyond HR.

• University degree.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in a multinational company.
• Proven strategic HR partner who has supported business partners and contributed to the further development of standard global HR tools and programmes.
• Experience in handling complex matters and complicated employee relations issues, including discrimination claims and harassment investigations.
• Experience in leading an HR team on acquisition, divestiture and integration of a new organisation.
• International experience and mindset.
• Ability to work effectively in a global matrix organisation.
• Fluency in Japanese and English.
• HR capabilities including employee relations, HR subject matter expertise, use of HR metrics, change delivery, organisational design delivery, maintaining an external perspective, anticipating people trends and workforce planning.
• Business capabilities including commercial awareness, business acumen, retail business and retail talent market knowledge and expertise, customer focus, aligning business and People/HR strategy, and knowledge of the value chain and key processes to impact people outcomes and strategy.
• Consulting capabilities including brokering solutions to meet business needs, ability to customise and sell HR solutions in creative ways, trusted advisor, impact and influence, facilitation and coaching, project delivery and leadership development.
• Innovative thinking.
• Team leader with excellent people management skills.
• Coaching and mediation skills.
• Excellent communicator verbally, in writing and when presenting.

• Degree focus preferably in Business Administration, Human Resources Management or related fields.
• Experience ideally in HR Business Partner, Rewards or Talent within an HR function.

Adidas states that embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into its culture and talent processes gives employees a sense of belonging and the brand a competitive advantage.