Senior Specialist, Field Key Accounts (12-Month Contract)

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

In this role, you will drive profitable and sustainable growth across assigned Field Key Accounts by developing strong customer partnerships, managing account performance, supporting seasonal sell-in and sell-through activity, and executing commercial plans that align to adidas brand, sales and margin objectives. This role manages a portfolio of distributor and B2B customers across specialist sports categories including teamwear, hockey, swim and padel, identifying opportunities to grow the business while building strong partnerships across the sporting community.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as the primary adidas representative for assigned Field Key Accounts, building trusted relationships and acting as the key connection between the customer and internal adidas teams
• Develop a clear understanding of each assigned account, including customer profile, trading history, commercial opportunities, risks, competitor activity and growth potential
• Support the development and execution of seasonal account plans, ensuring they align to adidas commercial objectives, brand priorities and market opportunities
• Drive sell-in activity across assigned accounts and categories, presenting relevant product ranges, commercial opportunities and seasonal plans to customers
• Partner with Account Marketing, Range Management and Customer Service to support account execution, product availability, marketing activation and customer outcomes
• Monitor sell-through, order book status, delivery performance and stock availability, taking action where required to support reliable and cost-efficient supply to customers
• Support the negotiation and implementation of adidas trade terms, ensuring customer compliance with agreed commercial arrangements
• Maintain accurate account records, account plans, forecasts and customer information to support effective decision-making and reporting
• Identify account opportunities and risks, escalating key issues and proposing practical actions to improve performance
• Track progress against agreed KPIs, sales targets, margin expectations and account objectives
• Provide accurate and timely reporting on account performance, customer activity, order book status, risks and opportunities in line with adidas reporting requirements
• Monitor customer and competitor activity, providing relevant insights and recommendations to support commercial decision-making
• Prepare realistic account plans, forecasts and customer performance updates, ensuring data is accurate and commercially sound
• Follow up outstanding actions relating to orders, receivables, account commitments and customer compliance with agreed trading terms
• Work with internal stakeholders to resolve account issues quickly and professionally, ensuring customer commitments are managed effectively

KPIs:

• Achievement of net sales, margin and market share targets across assigned Field Key Accounts and/or categories
• Delivery of seasonal sell-in, sell-through and account plan objectives
• Accuracy and reliability of account forecasts, order book management and customer reporting
• Compliance with agreed budgets, trading terms, customer agreements and internal processes
• Effective management of receivables, including DSO performance for assigned accounts
• Quality of customer relationships, internal stakeholder feedback and execution of agreed account actions

Key Relationships:

• Assigned Field Key Accounts and customer contacts
• Regional Manager Field Sales and wider Field Sales team
• Account Marketing
• Range Management and Merchandising
• Customer Service
• Supply Chain and Order Fulfilment
• Finance and Credit
• Warehouse and external logistics partners where required

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong commercial and customer focus with the ability to identify growth opportunities and manage account priorities
• Experience in sales, field account management, key account support or a similar commercial role, ideally within sport, retail, apparel, footwear, fashion or FMCG
• Strong understanding of account planning, sell-in, sell-through, order book management, forecasting and customer relationship management
• Ability to analyse sales performance, customer activity and market trends to support practical commercial recommendations
• Excellent communication, influencing and relationship-building skills across internal and external stakeholders
• Strong planning, organisation and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines
• High attention to detail and accuracy when working with forecasts, account information, order books and reporting
• Confident user of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint. Experience with SAP or similar order management systems is desirable
• Collaborative working style with the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment
• Flexible, mature and solutions-focused approach to customer and business challenges

Requisite Education & Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in business, marketing, sales or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience
• Minimum 3 years’ experience in sales, field sales, key account support, wholesale account management or a similar commercial environment
• Experience within sport, retail, apparel, footwear, fashion or FMCG is preferred
• Experience working with internal cross-functional teams and external customer stakeholders
• Experience using sales reporting, forecasting, order management or CRM systems is desirable