GM of Innovation

Industry:

Company: ASICS

At ASICS, our Sound Mind, Sound Body™ philosophy is more than a tagline, it’s our way of life. Over 75 years ago our founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, saw that sport and movement had the power to lift spirits, project positivity, and propel people and whole communities forward.

ASICS provides a diverse and inclusive culture that enables learning, growth, and opportunity at all levels. Our robust employee benefits allow for real work-life balance and a strong sense of community. We empower our employees to pursue their career goals. If this sounds like you, then we want you on our team.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The ASICS Creation Center, LLC is ASICS Corporation’s product creation office based in Boston, MA. This organization’s focus is on taking innovation and product creations to new heights. The team sits across the following areas: Innovation, Performance Running, Sportstyle and Core Performance Sports.

The GM of Innovation is a new role at the ASICS Creation Center. This role presents an incredible opportunity to come in and help shape the future direction of ASICS performance running footwear! This person will be responsible for building out an insight-led approach to guide our innovation direction. We are looking for someone who already has a deep understanding of the global running market but is curious and eager to learn more.

You will get the opportunity to partner with our global teams, especially our Institute of Sport Science (ISS) and Advanced Development Teams in Japan and Vietnam. Together, you will work to better understand the mind-led and body-led motivations of our target consumer, and how that will guide our innovation priorities.

We are looking for someone who is passionate about the consumer, loves research through design, is open-minded and constantly curious. You will get the opportunity to travel the world to understand markets, talk with runners, and test prototypes.

This person must be comfortable working in a global, highly matrixed organization. If you are self-motivated and energized to inspire others in the organization to come along on your journey, then this is the role for you!

This person will report directly into the CEO of the ASICS Creation Center. Together, they will help shape ASICS’ future running product direction.

ORGANZATIONAL RELATIONSHIP:

• Primary Internal: ASICS Global Executive Team, R&D, Category Heads, Product Creation Teams, and Global Brand Marketing.
• Primary External: Research Agencies, Factories, Consumers

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Directly manages: Boston-based Innovation Team (product management, design, development, testing)
• Responsible for coaching, providing direction, developing, and empowering direct reports
• Ensure workflow and processes are to maximum efficiencies for business necessity

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Build and own the insight-led strategy that will support both innovation and inline teams on the road to ASICS next major company milestone (MTP2030).

• Map out a 3-year innovation roadmap for ASICS. Collaborate with the Institute of Sport Science (ISS), ASICS’ Sports Research Institute) and ASICS’ Advance Development Team to align on innovation roadmap and ensure teams are working in the same direction.

• Partner with ISS and Advanced Development team to build innovation prototypes around the ASICS Design Philosophy: athlete testing, biomechanical research, and sustainable innovation.

• Support CEO with bi-annual executive meeting.
• Summarize insights and innovation strategy to key stakeholders (executive team, category leaders, digital) to ensure continued investment and support.

• Be the face of ASICS innovation. Champion the footwear direction to get buy-in with indirect stakeholders as well as help recruit in new external partners to help support the ASICS Creation Center efforts.

• Align with other category leaders in key global functions (Brand Marketing, Corporate & Category Strategy, Digital) to set yearly target consumer profiles and align on running ecosystem priorities to achieve OneASICS Vision, based on insight findings.

• Execute consumer insight studies each season to help ensure key product stories deliver impact for the target consumer and elevate the ASICS Design Philosophy.

• Manage product testing group. Build a testing strategy that helps validate innovation prototypes as well as support product testing needs of inline team for key stories.

• Other duties and responsibilities, as assigned by CEO, that support achieving the company KPIs.

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Collaboration & Mutual Respect
• Customer Orientation
• Innovation & Creativity
• Leadership
• Results Driven

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years’ experience gathering research and leading product concepts through the entire creation cycle.
• 7+ years of senior management experience leading teams and delegating project work appropriately. Management experience in innovation, consumer insights or a related area strongly preferred.
• BS in product development, engineering, design, or a similarly related field. PhD or MS not required, but a preference.
• Ability to independently find clarity and drive change through strong interpersonal skills and storytelling.
• Demonstrates a comfort working in a fast-paced environment, that at times will have ambiguity.
• Experience working with Japanese based or similar international parent company structures, cultures, and business processes. Demonstrates a competency of understanding how to get things done in a highly matrixed organization.
• High competency in written communication. Experience and patience when communicating with international partners who utilize English as a second language.
• Comfortable working outside a traditional work schedule. Will have frequent evening calls with key business partners in Asia.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally 20% of the year.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite for day-to-day work and communication.

ASICS CCPA Pre-Collection Notice for Job Applications: We collect personal information (PI) from you in connection with your application for employment with ASICS Creation Center LLC, including the following categories of PI: identifiers, personal records, professional or employment information, and inferences drawn from your PI. We collect your PI for our purposes, including performing services and operations related to your potential employment. For additional details or if you have questions, contact us at hrccpa@asics.com.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employee(s) assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employee(s) assigned to this job. ASICS Creation Center LLC reserves the right at any time, with or without notice, to alter or change job responsibilities, reassign or transfer job position or assign additional job responsibilities within your general skill set or capabilities. ASICS Creation Center LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.