Senior Manager - Continuous Improvement

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

Global Business Services (GBS) designs, builds, and operates consistent end to end business solutions for adidas, It delivers high quality services in the areas of Order to Cash (O2C), Source To Pay (S2P), Record to Report (R2R) and HR Services for adidas companies and subsidiaries located in Europe, North America, Emerging Markets and Latin America. These outcomes are enabled through standardized processes, globally consistent governance, advanced technologies, and a strong focus on continuous improvement (CI) and innovation.

Within this context, the Senior Manager Process Management and Continuous Improvement plays a key role in strengthening process governance, standardization, and continuous improvement across GBS. The role is accountable for building governance frameworks, driving adoption of process excellence tools, and ensuring structured and measurable delivery of process mining and CI governance

This role operates as a central governance and strategy function, leading process management excellence and CI governance through standardization, enhanced process visibility, and robust governance frameworks

Working in close partnership with the CI leads in our Operations, Global Process Owners, and Tech, this role supports the translation of process insights into measurable improvements. It ensures that governance frameworks, tools, and methodologies are consistently applied, contributing to improved efficiency, transparency, and scalability across GBS operations.

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Key Responsibilities:

Process Management Governance & Standards

• Establish and govern end-to-end process management frameworks across GBS.
• Drive standardization of process documentation and taxonomy using Signavio.
• Ensure consistent adoption of process mapping standards, repositories, and governance models.
• Leverage Celonis insights to guide business teams on improvement opportunities.
• Partner with GPOs to ensure global process alignment and standardization.

Continuous Improvement (CI) Governance & Enablement

• Design and implement a CI governance framework to manage the end-to-end CI lifecycle.
• Establish and drive a CI capability program to build Lean awareness and structure problem-solving skills across GBS value streams.
• Enable operations and business teams to own and execute CI initiatives, while providing standards and governance support.

CI Platforms & Digital Enablement

• Govern enterprise-wide CI and process management platforms (e.g., Signavio, Celonis, and other CI tools).
• Drive adoption, utilization, and value realization of these platforms across functions.
• Define platform governance, data standards, and usage guidelines.

Business Continuity Planning Governance

• Govern BCP frameworks, policies, and risk management requirements, ensuring alignment with global BCP standards.
• Coordinate with BCP SPOCs across GBS hubs, ensuring consistent adoption of governance standards, controls, and reporting.

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as a central governance partner to Operations, GPOs, and SLTs for process management initiatives.
• Develop and execute a roadmap for process excellence, governance maturity, and digital enablement.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead and develop the team focused on process governance and CI enablement.
• Foster a culture of governance excellence, thought leadership, and continuous improvement advocacy.

Key Relationships:

• Global process owner
• Platform engineering & Global IT
• Operations Leadership
• External Partners / Suppliers

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong experience in process management and continuous improvement within Global Business Services or comparable global operations environments
• Proven experience with governance frameworks for process management and continuous improvement
• Hands on experience with process mapping tools such as Signavio and process mining tools such as Celonis
• Solid understanding of end to end processes across Global Business Services domains
• Experience with enterprise platforms supporting process management and continuous improvement
• Strong analytical and structured problem solving capabilities
• Good people management and team leadership skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with Global Process Owners, Operations leadership, and cross functional stakeholders
• Strong communication skills with the ability to support alignment and adoption across stakeholders
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree or equivalent experience, preferably in business administration, finance, operations, or a related field
• 10 to 12 years of relevant professional experience in process management, continuous improvement, or transformation roles within a global organization
• Proven experience in Global Business Services, shared services, or comparable global operations environments
• Experience in establishing or supporting governance frameworks for process management and continuous improvement across functions or geographies
• Experience in implementing and rolling out process management or continuous improvement methodologies and tools across operations
• Experience working with Global Process Owners, operations leadership, and cross functional teams in a matrix organization
• Certification in Lean, Six Sigma, or similar continuous improvement methodologies is considered an advantage