Lead Footwear Sourcing

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Converse is a place to explore potential, break barriers and push out the edges of what can be. The company looks for people who can grow, think, dream and create. Its culture thrives by embracing diversity and rewarding imagination. The brand seeks achievers, leaders and visionaries. At Converse, it’s about each person bringing skills and passion to a challenging and constantly evolving world to make things better as a team.

Lead, Footwear Sourcing

Boston, MA

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH

The Lead Seasonal Footwear Sourcing position works in partnership with strategic sourcing within the Converse Global Sourcing organization and reports directly to the Director of Global Sourcing. This role is integral to advancing our global sourcing capabilities within the seasonal sourcing zone. The Lead Sourcing position will engage collaboratively and requires effective cross functional collaboration with supply and inventory planning, product development as well a product and consumer merchandising teams.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for someone who can operate effectively within a dynamic, fast-paced environment, with a consistent focus on meeting deadlines and achieving key milestones. The role entails managing ambiguity and establishing robust processes and decision-making frameworks to support seasonal sourcing activities. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong analytical and problem-solving skills to optimize allocation procedures, evaluate capacity trends each season, and develop practical solutions for routine operational issues.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, engineering or related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience and training.
• 5+ years of procurement, sourcing, costing, or relevant experience in supply chain
• Strong material expertise in the Footwear or Apparel industry preferred
• Great knowledge of suppliers landscape
• Strong problem-solving skills and willingness to go the extra mile to find solutions
• Must be comfortable with navigating ambiguity, and have the ability to navigate through a complicated stakeholder matrix to achieve results and drive strategic decision-making

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WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON

You will act as the primary point of contact for all cross-functional teams regarding in-season sourcing timelines, leading and executing the forecast allocation and capacity management processes for each seasonal milestone in collaboration with the Converse Liaison office and manufacturing partners. Your key responsibilities will include overseeing seasonal model allocations by considering cost, capacity, and delivery objectives across the manufacturing network to ensure cost efficiency and on-time delivery.

Forecast Allocation

• Drive the seasonal allocation process to align the buy to source strategy while optimizing for cost, E2E lead times, and supplier performance.

Capacity Management

• Establish centralized capacity data source & capacity decision framework that spans across all time horizons that will enable timely and efficient capacity decision making

Utilization/Loading

• Utilize forecast optimization methodologies to align source strategy with proper loading and utilization rate targets for factory partners across seasonal time horizons

Model Optimization:

• Seasonal model planning activities related to model source assignment + optimized model shifts and new allocations based on costing RFQs.

Reporting

• Present reports & serve as sourcing main point of contact for cross functional teams for in season supplier performance (Model allocation, capacity, loading, seasonal strategy, capabilities, costing)

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Converse is more than a company; it’s a worldwide advocate for self-expression. This belief motivates our employees, permeates our working environment and inspires our products. No two of us look or think exactly alike. We are each one-of-a-kind. Individually and as a culture, we have the freedom to create and grow professionally. Generous benefits packages only sweeten the experience. From Boston to Shanghai, from Brand Design to Finance, Converse is a brand that celebrates the unique and creative people of the world. Together, we’re different.