Senior Manager – Footwear Business

Senior Manager – Footwear Business

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (B. A. or B.S.) from a four-year University preferred, preferably in Finance, Industrial or Manufacturing Engineering, Business Management, Finance/Accounting, or equivalent. M.B.A. preferred, but not required. Equivalent years of experience can be considered in lieu of degree(s).
• 10+ years of experience in strategic planning, business forecasting, market research, or an equivalent field.
• 10+ years of related experience in footwear development, engineering, manufacturing.
• 9+ years of experience in directing, managing, and developing high-performing teams.
• Proven leadership capabilities to supervise a team and lead strategic business objectives with a proven ability to prioritize workload and manage short-term and long-range projects.
• Demonstrated strong financial and business acumen; ability to form and make recommendations and forecasts for future business prospects.
• Demonstrated ability to develop highly productive relationships with individuals and teams that are made up of diverse disciplines and cultural backgrounds resulting in effective working relationships across the company.
• Curious and open-minded; always up for a challenge, inventive and creative. Ability to challenge the status quo- always looking at improving our people, products, and processes while also displaying a willingness to dive into the details.
• Detail oriented. Strong organizational and time management skills are a must.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to work in a fast-paced, changing environment, anticipating and resolving problems in a timely manner.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with an advanced ability to communicate a point of view concisely and functional expertise within project teams and to external stakeholders. Strong storytelling, presentation, and communication skills, including meeting facilitation.
• Expert in MS Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, and other relevant analytical tools
• Fluent in English (written and spoken); Mandarin is a plus.
• Embraces and lives the Brooks values!

Responsibilities

• Lead the business plan from 1–5-years out to set the footwear team up to successfully execute by developing a clear strategic path to meet the guidance and expectations.
• Act as a key voice and contributor to the broader company strategy and translate strategy into functional plans for Footwear; ensure on-time, on-budget execution.
• Responsible for business management across department functions and planning horizons from short-term to long-term.
• Anticipate factors that could influence strategies and Brooks’ position in the market and influence/react with risk mitigation plan.
• Work with the SVP and senior leadership to develop and communicate a year playbook for business execution across product strategy, operations, P&L, culture, and team skill development.
• Oversee the project portfolio of all proposed Footwear Innovation projects aligning with strategic functional initiatives.
• Partner with PLM and Merchandising in building regional 5-year forecast and aligning those forecasts and assumptions with key regional Sales leaders, S&OP and FP&A.
• Drive Seasonal Business kick-offs through the “Idea 2 Runner” Footwear Process to frame seasonal goals, including the footwear volume targets, following the 3-year P&L plan and 5-year Strategic Plan.
• Be a key stakeholder in overseeing long-term business planning and forecasting as it relates to assortment productivity, target style and article growth, and margin optimization.
• Create and maintain analytical tools for managing pricing strategy, product line evolution, SKU performance, revenue, and gross margin optimization on a global level.
• Provide Product Line Management and Merchandising functions with key data reporting, dashboards, and analyses including product sales and profitability by region/channel and SKU efficiency; propose recommendations based on analyses.
• Build reports to track key financial metrics and targets including Units, Revenue, and Margin on a weekly, monthly, and seasonal basis to inform decisions on the product roadmap.
• Lead improvement in Footwear teams’ intuition for business throughout the I2R process, promoting business thinking through input, guidance, and analytics.
• Create and maintain a functional resource tool to support yearly business growth and inform the annual business resource plan.
• Oversee the build and maintenance of the 3-year Footwear Category P&L, analyze key variance, and report on key drivers.
• Oversee the build and maintenance of financial model to calculate footwear margin for current and upcoming seasons. Publish seasonal reports at key milestones in the creation process.
• Building financial targets and metrics including FOB/Margins, vendor selection and allocation, contingency planning, and risk management.
• Ensure that the weighted average Go-In Margin for each season/year will hit corporate targets, as volume, and price assumptions change throughout I2R process.
• Lead Budget project and quarterly forecasts with input from Footwear Functional Leaders and FP&A to ensure that the Footwear Strategy execution is properly funded. Provide monthly reporting on footwear budget – identify key areas of under/overspend.
• Create a framework to analyze ROI and other key metrics for Footwear Initiatives, especially Automation and cost-saving projects.
• Develop budget tools to assist the SVP of Footwear for an adequate budget to support Footwear initiatives, projects, and personnel during semi-annual Business Review meetings.
• Partner with HRBP to enhance the Footwear Talent Assessment tool to enable Footwear leaders to invest in top performers and emerging talent.
• Champion and act as a key sponsor for enterprise cross-functional initiatives representing Footwear Business to influence stakeholders and drive team POV and a strong business case throughout the approval process.
• Create clarity around shared company goals through integrated department plans.
• Provide insight and expertise to executive leadership on critical business decisions impacting the brand and/or financial performance.
• Build partnerships and alignment with cross-divisional partners to implement functional strategies and achieve company targets.
• Demonstrate strong people leadership skills rooted in Brooks’ Connect Management principles.
• Promote Brooks’ Core Cultural Values: Responsible for team culture and keeping a pulse on morale to proactively address any concerns. Utilize findings from Cultural Strengths Surveys to build on successes and create a plan for opportunities.
• Demonstrate the ability to lead function(s) not in your area of expertise.
• Lead Footwear Business through changing business conditions and uncertainty.
• Prioritize people investment by building a collaborative, open, trusting environment for employees and creating a culture of authentic recognition and giving thanks.
• Regularly check-in and assess the morale, asking for feedback from Footwear employees and partnering with Footwear leadership and/or HR to address any concerns.
• Model leadership behavior across the organization and build leadership capability across the team.
• Challenge leaders on your team and employees to innovate and conceptualize better to find new ways of approaching their work by challenging assumptions and testing new ideas that have impact and potential.
• Encourage diverse thought and innovation by actively encouraging varying POV’s across varying levels on your team. Create platforms for employees to openly share ideas in a manner most comfortable for them, while challenging employees to step out of their comfort zones to contribute.
• Stay current with industry trends and innovation in the Business Process costing space and be a thought leader across the organization.
• Support development and management of the annual footwear department budget.
• Accountable for business management demonstrating extreme enterprise accountability.
• Accountable for department and cross-functional deadlines and deliverables; establish clear “by-whens” and guide navigation of any obstacles.
• Set high standards to deliver results for the brand and the business.

Preferred Qualifications

• M.B.A. preferred, but not required. Equivalent years of experience can be considered in lieu of degree(s).
• Fluent in Mandarin is a plus.