Lead, Footwear Costing Data & Operations

The ideal candidate is a data-driven, commercially minded professional who leverages analytics and cost intelligence, and procurement expertise to create business value, improve profitability, strengthen decision-making, and enable strategic outcomes across the footwear value chain.

They bring strong business acumen, experience in materials cost management, procurement or manufacturing finance, with good understanding of commodity market pricing, supplier behaviour, and sourcing and negotiation levers that influence materials costs. They can translate supplier cost structures, market benchmarks, and commercial terms into actionable insights to support sourcing decisions, and fact-based negotiations.

They are comfortable navigating ambiguity, building new processes and capabilities, and leading initiatives across global and regional teams, suppliers, and manufacturing partners. Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder-management skills are essential, along with a continuous-improvement mindset and a commitment to operational excellence. The candidate should also demonstrate an interest in using automation, advanced analytics, and AI to build a more connected, intelligent, and scalable costing operation.

• Bachelor's degree in chemical or materials science, engineering, business, finance, supply chain, or a related field.
• Minimum 7 years of relevant experience in one or more of these areas: footwear materials management, product cost management, materials manufacturing, materials or chemical engineering, supplier or materials vendor management, materials sourcing or procurement, manufacturing finance, supply chain operations, or a related discipline. Experience applying procurement insights to materials costing, supplier negotiations, or cost optimisation is particularly valuable.
• Understanding of materials- including Textiles, synthetics, foams, rubbers, leather, components- along with commodity markets, manufacturing processes, cost structures and their impact is an advantage.
• Knowledge of procurement practices, including supplier quotation analysis, cost benchmarking, negotiation preparation, commercial terms, and total cost of ownership, is an advantage.
• Experience establishing new operating processes, strengthening data governance, and driving continuous improvement.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel is required and experience developing dashboards, data models or analytical tools is desirable but not compulsory.

As an integral member of the Footwear Costing Data & Operations team, you will apply strong business acumen, procurement or materials cost management knowledge and operational discipline to footwear product cost management, with a focus on leading global materials costing operations across internal cross functional teams, manufacturing partners, and material suppliers.

Supporting the new materials integration strategy, you will help establish an operating model for materials cost management, using data, analytics, and market intelligence to improve cost visibility, strengthen business reporting, support margin expansion, and increase product value. This can include monitoring global commodity markets to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, while developing tools and capabilities that support sourcing decisions, assess supplier quotations, and strengthen fact-based materials cost negotiations.

Core responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Establish and execute a new operating model for materials cost management, incorporating procurement insights, supplier economics, and market benchmarks.
• Develop reliable data pipelines and intelligent analytics solutions to enable materials cost and commodity price monitoring, analysis, and business reporting, including visibility into supplier pricing trends and cost drivers.
• Manage seasonal deliverables and leadership-level reporting, providing accurate analysis and data-driven recommendations to improve profitability and achieve target margins.
• Develop a material supplier costing performance framework to drive business results and operational excellence.
• Lead engagement with regional and global Materials teams - including Costing, Supplier Management, and Manufacturing - and other cross-functional partners on strategic priorities.
• Lead supplier communications and resolve operational issues by bringing together the right partners to maintain progress.
• Support sustainability initiatives and the execution of selected seasonal and long-term projects.