Senior Category Manager Running

About the Role
The role is responsible for executing fully localised go-to-market processes across all seasonal milestones and for assortment recommendations for local WHS. It sits within the Go To Market team, which works with the European Business Units to drive and steer the respective category from a brand and commercial point of view. The team acts as the category expert in the marketplace from an adidas perspective and maintains a complete view of the competitive landscape. The role owns holistic category plans in close collaboration with Activation and Sales.

Key Responsibilities
- Contribute to the creation of the Zone GTM plan for the respective category in alignment with the line manager.
- Act as the category expert in the Zone, using trends, competition, distribution, marketplace and market share (Circana) to provide inputs to EU and Global to improve the range and cover Zone needs.
- Download and prepare EU and Global BU material for the respective category during milestones, and provide input on forecasting topics such as quantitative or qualitative data, segmentation and allocation.
- Maintain regular analytics on sell‑in and sell‑through performance of the category to ensure sustainable growth.
- Ensure operational excellence in the Zone for all GTM relevant topics.
- Explore and drive business opportunities with local sales teams, acting as key contact on range‑specific topics and concepts.
- Act as key contact to Brand activation teams on the category GTM process and topics, and act as Zone lead/expert providing input into EU business opportunities for the category.
- Manage the sample order process in alignment with EU and following MOPS targets, and support the local allocation split process if not defined by EU by channel, accounts and doors.
- Support local Brand teams in creating and presenting specific promo ranges and product offers in alignment with EU BU (e.g. Spoma, Key City, EIM), and provide input into SMU of local key accounts and WHS while driving the process with European/Global teams.
- Tailor and prepare local sell‑in tools to ensure consistency across EU and support the sales team.
- Drive strong category presentations across the different milestones, with special focus on SMM presentation.
- Partner/liaise with the rest of the Category GTM Teams across zones, especially in South Europe. Required Experience & Qualifications
- 5-8 years of merchandising experience, cross‑functional marketing and/or sales experience.
- Fluent in English (writing and verbal).
- IT

skills:
Outlook and Word: Basic; Excel and PowerPoint: advanced.
- Pro‑active (engaging and impact‑oriented) mindset, with ability to think end‑to‑end.
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to influence both internal and external stakeholders.
- Ability to work in a fast‑paced environment with different international cultures.
- Business mindset with very good numerical and analytical skills.
- Good experience managing projects on a cross‑functional level.
- Good communication (written and verbal) and facilitation skills (small and large groups), especially when interacting with different levels of business.
- Ability to travel, domestic or international, as required.
- Advanced cross‑functional marketing knowledge and market experience.
- Consumer‑focused with deep product and range understanding and an excellent understanding of balancing brand and commercial aspects to build channel‑specific GTM solutions.
- Strong organisational skills.
- Passionate about sports.
- Team player, very collaborative and able to work with virtual/remote teams. Preferred Skills
- Ideally minimum 2 years of managerial experience.
- Ideally experience in the specific category.
- Knowledge of the category, preferably BU specific. Salary
- Starting from 52k
- Annual bonus of 15% Benefits & Perks
- Meal vouchers
- Employee discounts online and in-store
- Employee Assistance Plan (EAP)
- Welfare and corporate benefits programme
- Learning and Development Opportunities
- Exposure to international brand

About the Company
The company believes that embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into its culture and talent processes gives employees a sense of belonging and the brand a competitive advantage.