Manager, Process Excellence, Change & Communications

GENERAL PURPOSE

This role sits within the North America (NAM) eCommerce Business Operations - Strategy & Programs team and supports the development of scalable process, change management, communications, training, and business readiness practices across the digital portfolio.

The Manager, Process Excellence, Change & Communications establishes the templates, structures, and practical guidance that enable teams to document processes consistently, manage change effectively, and roll out new ways of working with clarity.

This role partners closely with NAM Digital leadership, project managers, business owners, and cross-functional stakeholders to support portfolio adoption, process maturity, and operational consistency. The role also provides project management support for specific initiatives as needed to help the team deliver priority work.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

ESTABLISH PROCESS EXCELLENCE & DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS

• Establish and maintain standardized process documentation frameworks, templates, and governance expectations to be used across the Digital portfolio.
• Define practical approaches and minimum documentation requirements for operational processes, project processes, and team ways of working.
• Create reusable process assets, including process mapping templates, SOP templates, playbook structures, roles and responsibilities templates, governance documentation, and repository standards.
• Partner with functional teams and project managers to enable consistent process documentation while allowing process owners to maintain their own content over time.
• Facilitate process design or improvement discussions when needed to clarify workflows, roles, handoffs, decision points, and documentation gaps.
• Support continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to simplify ways of working, reduce ambiguity, and improve process repeatability across teams.

ESTABLISH CHANGE MANAGEMENT & ADOPTION APPROACH

• Establish and maintain the change management approach, templates, and tools used across the portfolio of initiatives.
• Define scalable templates for stakeholder identification, change impact assessment, adoption planning, communications planning, readiness tracking, and success measurement.
• Provide guidance to project teams on how to apply change management practices in a practical and consistent way based on initiative size, complexity, and stakeholder impact.
• Partner with project managers and business stakeholders to integrate change management activities into project plans and rollout timelines.
• Support the identification of adoption risks, stakeholder concerns, behavior changes, and readiness needs that may impact successful implementation.
• Track adoption inputs and lessons learned to improve change management practices across future initiatives.

SUPPORT COMMUNICATIONS & ENAGEMENT

• Establish communication frameworks, templates, and best practices to support Digital initiatives, process changes, and broader department priorities.
• Develop clear, audience-appropriate messaging that helps stakeholders understand what is changing, why it matters, and what actions are required.
• Create leadership-ready presentations, communication drafts, FAQs, talking points, toolkits, and engagement materials.
• Support large-scale department events, leadership forums, and organizational communication moments through content planning, coordination, and messaging support.
• Maintain and continuously improve communication channels, collaboration sites, and information-sharing platforms that support transparency and consistency.
• Partner with stakeholders to ensure portfolio and initiative communications are coordinated, timely, and aligned to business objectives.

ESTABLISH TRAINING & BUSINESS READINESS APPROACH

• Establish and maintain training and business readiness templates, tools, and standards for use across the portfolio of initiatives.
• Define scalable approaches for training plans, readiness assessments, role-based enablement, launch checklists, and post-launch feedback loops.
• Develop reusable training and readiness assets that project teams can adapt based on initiative needs and audience impact.
• Partner with project managers and business owners to ensure readiness activities are built into project plans and rollout expectations.
• Support readiness assessments by helping teams identify impacted audiences, training needs, operational dependencies, and launch risks.
• Capture feedback and lessons learned to improve training and readiness approaches over time.

PROVIDE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUPPORT

• Lead small to medium-sized projects, workstreams, or operational initiatives as assigned based on team capacity and portfolio needs.
• Support project initiation activities, including project briefs, stakeholder alignment, operating models, roles and responsibilities, and governance routines.
• Develop project plans, coordinate execution, and manage cross-functional action items, dependencies, risks, issues, and decisions.
• Provide clear project status updates and stakeholder communications.
• Partner with other project managers to ensure project delivery plans include appropriate process, change management, communications, training, and readiness activities.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP SUPPORT

• Build trusted partnerships with Digital leadership, project managers, functional teams, Global Digital teams, Technology, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Translate process, change, and readiness information into clear, practical recommendations and leadership-ready materials.
• Support accountability for consistent use of portfolio templates, documentation standards, and change management practices.
• Influence without authority by helping teams understand the value of structured documentation, clear communications, and disciplined readiness planning.

REQUIREMENTS:

SOFT-SKILLS

• Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to create structure out of ambiguity and translate complex information into clear, practical guidance.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to process discipline, documentation quality, and follow-through.
• Ability to influence without authority and support adoption across cross-functional teams.
• Strong prioritization skills and ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Comfortable working with leadership stakeholders and preparing concise, leadership-ready materials.
• Continuous improvement mindset with a practical, team-focused approach to enabling new ways of working.

HARD-SKILLS

• Process mapping, process documentation, workflow design, and operating model development.
• Experience building and maintaining templates, playbooks, SOPs, job aids, governance materials, and knowledge repositories.
• Change impact assessment, stakeholder engagement, adoption planning, readiness planning, and communications planning.
• Training plan development, business readiness tracking, launch checklist development, and post-launch feedback collection.
• Project planning, issue/risk/dependency management, project reporting, and cross-functional coordination.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially PowerPoint and Excel.
• Experience with collaboration, project, and knowledge management tools such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Smartsheet, Microsoft Planner, Miro, Lucidchart, Visio, or similar platforms.
• Ability to travel, domestic or international, as required.
• Fluent English both verbally and written.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• 4-6 years of experience in process improvement, business operations, change management, communications, project management, PMO, or related fields.
• Experience creating or improving templates, processes, documentation standards, training materials, communication tools, or operating models in a matrix organization.
• Experience supporting change management, adoption, communications, or business readiness activities for cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong understanding of project management practices, including planning, status reporting, risk and dependency tracking, stakeholder coordination, and governance routines.
• Experience supporting process adoption, operational improvements, or transformation initiatives.
• Experience in digital, eCommerce, technology, retail, operations, or transformation environments preferred.

adidas celebrates diversity, supports inclusiveness and encourages individual expression in our workplace. We actively encourage individuals with disabilities to apply and will provide reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. We do not tolerate the harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

At adidas we offer a Hybrid work policy which requires attendance in the office Monday through Thursday, with the flexibility to work remotely on Friday each week. For work requiring a high degree of collaboration or an in-person presentation, in-office attendance is required even on Friday.