Senior Director, Government Relations

Purpose & Overall Relevance For The Organization

• The Senior Director Commercial Government Relations will lead the Commercial Government Relations team to structure and manage Shanghai and key cities' various level of government relations in both strategic and tactic ways to support adidas GCA's business strategy and drive sustainable growth in China for the long run.
• The purpose of this role is to represent adidas in the most effective way before the government officials, policy makers and industry associations, to minimize adidas' risk to operate in China as a business due to the complex political and regulatory environment, to ensure adidas' profile and reputation are protected and optimized through a coordinated way of communication before the key government bodies as well as the appropriate key industry associations. Meanwhile, this role should be able to bridge the business and government bodies to address the key concerns from both and figure out the ways to achieve mutually beneficial solutions on daily basis.
• The individual in this role will report to the Senior Vice President Legal & Compliance, GCA & Japan, Korea, and Government Relations GCA, while at the same time, act as an expert to bridge adidas HQ and GCA to ensure a positive and sustainable relation with government stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities
Policy Interpretation and Response

• Policy Tracking: Closely monitor relevant policies and regulations concerning the sporting goods & retail industry issued by national and local governments, such as major macro-economic developments, market access rules, trending foreign investment policies and incentives, sport initiatives and promotions by both the Central Government and local government and keep abreast of policy trends and changes in a timely manner.
• Impact Analysis: Thoroughly study the impact of policies and regulations on the company's business, assessing both the opportunities and challenges they present.
• Suggestion Provision: Based on the results of policy analysis, provide both strategic and tactic decision-making suggestions to the Senior Leadership Team.

Government Communication and Coordination

• Relationship Building: Establish and maintain good communication relationships with government stakeholders, including MOFCOM, MFA, National Administration of Market Regulation, National Cyberspace Administration of China, CNIPA, and CCPIT at the Chinese Central Government level, and particularly their local agencies at the local government level, as well as the German Embassy and its General Consulates in major cities of China, to create a favourable policy environment for the company.
• Daily Communication: Regularly communicate with government officials, introduce the company's development and business plans, and provide feedback on the problems and difficulties encountered by the company in its operations in a timely manner.
• Affairs Coordination: When the company encounters policy implementation issues or needs guidance for policy compliance, coordinate with government departments to promote the resolution of problems and proactively defuse potential compliance risks.

Crisis Management

• Public Opinion Monitoring: Pay attention to government supervision dynamics and social evaluations of the company, and promptly identify problems and crisis events that may attract government attention or supervision.
• Strategy Formulation: When the company faces government investigations, penalties, or other crisis events, quickly formulate response strategies.
• Crisis Resolution: Through active communication and coordination with government departments, and together with relevant functions within adidas, strive to resolve crisis events in the most favorable way.

Industry Association and Chambers of Commerce Affairs

• Participation in Industry Activities: Represent the company in participating in activities organized by German and European Chambers of Commerce, Federation of German Industries as well as other industry associations.
• Seeking Industry Support: Cooperate with Chambers of Commerce and industry associations to jointly reflect industry demands to government departments.

Build-up of Corporate Image through GR Projects and Supports

• CIIE: Coordinate with the business teams and Shanghai government to participate in CIIE and engage relevant stakeholders in both decision making process and execution process.
• IBLAC: Cooperate with HQ and GCA teams as well as external stakeholders to ensure adidas global CEO to participate in annual IBLAC in the most efficient way.
• Response to business request when GR support is needed to land business targets: Upon request when GR support is essential to ensure good execution of a specific business plan, this role should be able to understand how to better allocate the resources among the team to provide timely GR guidance and support.
• Donation and Impact management: Study the Company's policies to ensure global donation process and impact report KPIs are well followed. Build efficient dialogue with both global team and GCA team to address practical concerns and/ or issues when implementing global policies and propose solutions whenever necessary in order to drive a both practically effective and compliant way of working.

Key Relationships

• MD Office GCA
• Government Relations GCA – Corporate Government Affairs
• Legal & Compliance GCA
• Global Government & Community Affairs
• Legal – IP, Social & Environmental Affairs
• Corporate Communications & Sustainability GCA
• Creation Center Shanghai
• Marketing GCA – Brand Marketing & Sport Marketing
• Digital GCA – CRM and eCom CSD
• CSD GCA
• Retail GCA

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Exceptional understanding of political decision-making and governmental organizations' operation in China.
• Strategic mindset in Government Relations, to represent adidas China to foster a long-term and sustainable business and growth.
• Demonstrable ability to comprehend and manage public policy issues, navigate government bureaucracy, and effectively advocate before government officials.
• Already possessing a strong network in related circles and sensitive insights into new leadership circles and policies.
• Excellent and proficient in both Chinese and English. Listening, oral, written communication skills.
• Ability to work well under pressure and act in utmost confidentiality with sensitive leadership information.
• Strong social and communication skills: diplomacy, poise, maturity, and empathy.

Requisite Education And Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• University degree in Social Science, Economics, Business Administration, or related fields.
• Over 15 years of working experience, at least five years working for an international premium company in a government affairs or related function, ideally with a background of working within the Chinese governmental institutions.
• Willingness to travel approx. 40 percent of time. The role involves frequent travel to various locations in China and to HQ in Herzogenaurach Germany.

adidas celebrates diversity, supports inclusiveness and encourages individual expression in our workplace. We do not tolerate the harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees. We are an equal opportunity employer.