Director, BU - Football & SPSP, Brand adidas

Acts as General Manager of Football Korea, leading the transformation of adidas Football into the number one football brand in Korea through category leadership, market share expansion, consumer-centric innovation and cultural relevance. It owns the end-to-end football business agenda spanning product, distribution, activation and marketplace excellence, delivering both short-term commercial success and long-term brand leadership. Based within the Merchandising & Planning team, the role drives sustainable growth across football footwear, licensed apparel, team sports and football culture, building authentic connections with the Korean football ecosystem, athletes, clubs, communities and key partners.

• Own the Football & SPSP ambition roadmap and annual business planning.
• Establish quarterly market share targets and lead cross-functional execution plans to achieve category leadership, including action plans to close the market share gap against key competitors.
• Drive profitable growth while balancing sell-in and sell-out performance.
• Develop adidas into the most culturally relevant football brand in Korea through local football storytelling and consumer engagement initiatives.
• Build strategic partnerships across football communities, grassroots football, academies, amateur leagues and creators, and drive trial, seeding and community activation programmes.
• Identify emerging cultural trends and convert them into scalable business opportunities.
• Define and lead the channel growth strategy, expanding leadership within key specialty and football/SPSP-focused accounts and partnering with Sales to secure category visibility, premium execution and SKU productivity.
• Drive a premium distribution strategy balancing heat, scarcity and commercial productivity.
• Lead franchise strategies across key FTW franchises and future innovation platforms, driving launch excellence and commercial success of all key product concepts.
• Influence the Global BU to secure priority allocations and Korea-specific opportunities, ensuring Korean consumer insights are reflected in future product creation.
• Identify local product, collaboration and creation opportunities and partner with Global BU and Creation teams to deliver Korea-first initiatives such as player packs, club-related concepts and culturewear.
• Track category KPIs including market P&L, sell-out across all channels, inventory health, market share and delivery of the 3-5 year category plan.
• Collaborate with Global BU, Brand Activation AP, MOPS, PMO, Sales across all channels, Demand Planning, SCM and Finance on marketing ROI.

• 10+ years of experience in merchandising/product, marketing, or sales/retail.
• Previous experience managing a global matrix organisation.
• Fluent in English.
• Willingness to travel upwards of 20% of the time.
• Ability to develop and implement strategy.
• Proven leadership and management abilities, especially in managing a diverse team, including remote management.
• Strong presentation, communication, negotiation and influencing skills, especially with senior stakeholders within a global matrix organisation.
• Broad marketing experience with a distinct track record of success and expert merchandising knowledge.
• Strong cross-functional and stakeholder management experience across commercial functions (e.g. marketing, sales) and support functions, as well as across different organisational levels (Global, Market).
• Strong industry knowledge across divisions — footwear, apparel and accessories — and across all BUs.
• Expert understanding of Korean local consumers, accounts, economic environment and commercial needs.
• Deep passion and proven expertise in the football and SPSP industry and culture.
• Strong understanding of consumer behaviour, specialty landscape and marketplace dynamics.
• Experience leading category transformation and market share growth initiatives.

• Regional experience.
• Fluent in the local language.
• Experience working with finance as a support function.
• University degree in Business or equivalent professional experience, ideally in Sales and/or Marketing.

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