Sr Specialist Credit

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

At adidas, we have a very clear mission: “ to be the best sports brand in the world¨; and a very passionate purpose: “Through sport, we have the power to change lives.” This guiding principles shapes how we operate as a company, how we collaborate with our partners, how we create our products, and how we connect with our consumers. Our values represent essential behaviors, reflecting a winning mindset we strive to see in every team member. 

This same purpose and mindset are at the heart of Global Business Services (GBS) the team that delivers consistent, end-to-end business solutions across adidas. By driving process excellence and operational efficiency, GBS enables our partners to focus on what matters most: creating impact.

Here you should include a brief description of the area and the role. Please follow the example “Within GBS, the Order to Cash (O2C) process plays a key role in ensuring a smooth customer journey from order placement to payment collection. The Credit Team Lead ensures the effective execution of credit and collection activities within the Order to Cash (O2C) process. This role is responsible for supervising a team of credit analysts/collectors, driving adherence to global credit policies, and supporting the achievement of key performance indicators such as Gross Overdue, DSO, and Bad Debt. Acting as the operational link between the team and senior O2C leadership, the Credit Team Lead balances customer relationship management with risk mitigation, ensuring reliable cash flow and compliance with corporate standards

Key Responsibilities:

• Enforce global credit and collection standards, mitigating risk, and ensuring alignment with corporate governance.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, implementing new tools and processes, and supporting transformation projects.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to internal teams and external customers, resolving escalations, and strengthening relationships.
• Oversee credit assessments, approvals, and monitoring to minimize financial exposure.
• Monitor and control overdue receivables, ensuring timely follow-up and resolution of outstanding balances.
• Implement proactive collection strategies to reduce overdue accounts and improve cash flow.
• Drive reduction of Gross Overdue by implementing proactive collection strategies and monitoring performance.
• Establish and maintain credit limits in line with global policies.
• Drive timely collection of receivables, ensuring adherence to KPIs and cash flow targets.
• Act as escalation point for customer disputes, coordinating resolution with sales, finance, and operations.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with customers to encourage timely payments and resolve disputes constructively.
• Negotiate payment plans or settlements with customers when necessary, protecting both the relationship and the company’s financial interests.
• Influence stakeholders to adopt best practices in order-to-cash processes, driving consistency and compliance.
• Deliver accurate reporting and analysis of credit and collection performance.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to streamline order-to-cash processes, minimizing delays in invoicing and payment.
• Drive initiatives to reduce DSO by improving collection efficiency and accelerating cash application.
• Minimize Bad Debt exposure through effective credit risk management, early identification of doubtful accounts, and recovery actions.

Key Relationships:

• Finance Teams
• Local Credit Management
• Cash Application Teams
• Customer Service Teams
• Record to Report Teams
• Sales Teams
• Supply chain, DCs & transportation teams.
• Tech

Leadership capabilities for Team Leads:

This job description outlines a Team Lead role and should incorporate the leadership framework behaviours as described below.

EXCEL • Live your passion for the brand: Acts as a proud brand ambassador, shares updates, connects with others, and inspires enthusiasm for adidas.• Act like it ’ s your own company: Balances global and local views, sets goals, seeks solutions, and drives growth and efficiency.• Think Bigger and Beyond: Anticipates change, embraces ambiguity, and fosters innovation through creative thinking and continuous learning.

EMPOWER • Build a diverse team & foster inclusion: Builds inclusive teams, promotes open communication, and ensures fairness to unlock team potential.• Engage and inspire: Leads with purpose, creates emotional connection, and promotes well-being through communication and support.• Develop talent: Recognizes potential, encourages learning, gives feedback, and supports career growth inside and outside the team.

ELEVATE • Deliver results: Sets clear goals, delegates effectively, and ensures resources are in place to deliver practical, value-driven outcomes.• Promote accountability: Acts with transparency, sets clear expectations, addresses conflicts early, and owns decisions with integrity.• Continue to grow yourself: Seeks feedback, reflects regularly, challenges assumptions, and actively pursues personal and professional growth.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Education / minimum qualifications:

• BA degree in Accounting, Finance or Economics
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in End-to-End processes specifically for O2C activities
• Advanced English (B2/C1)
• Experience with process improvement and root cause analysis.
• Experience in an O2C Management role.
• Proven work experience in people management/ demonstrated ability to manage a medium-sized team.
• Experience in project management.
• Experience in Shared Service environment is considered a plus
• Solid experience with SAP.