Lead, Footwear Costing Data & Operations

Nike Inc; Singapore; On-site; SGD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Nike Inc in Singapore seeks a data-driven senior professional to lead materials costing operations, collaborating across Materials Buy/Sell, Sourcing, Supplier Management, and Manufacturing. You will translate supplier cost structures and market benchmarks into actionable insights to support procurement and negotiations.

Ideal candidates bring experience in materials cost management or procurement finance, with strong Excel skills and a continuous-improvement mindset.

Qualifications

• Strong background in materials cost management and procurement.
• Advanced Excel; dashboards or data models are a plus.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Ability to translate cost structures into actionable insights.

Responsibilities

• Lead global materials costing operations across cross-functional teams and partners.
• Develop data pipelines and analytics to monitor materials costs and price drivers.
• Provide leadership-level analysis and reporting to support margins and profitability.
• Establish supplier costing frameworks and drive continuous improvement.
• Engage with regional and global Materials teams on strategic priorities.
• Coordinate supplier communications and resolve operational issues.
• Support sustainability initiatives within costing programs.

Skills

Data analytics

Excel proficiency

Stakeholder management

Procurement / cost management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in chemical or materials science, engineering, business, finance, supply chain

Job description

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH

Based in Singapore and reporting to the Senior Manager, Footwear Costing Data & Operations, you will play a key role in footwear product cost management, with primary responsibility for leading materials costing operations and driving alignment across the end-to-end materials costing ecosystem. Working closely with the Materials Costing team, you will collaborate across Materials Buy/Sell, Sourcing, Supplier Management, Materials Development, and Chemicals teams, connecting costing insights with procurement strategies and supplier commercial discussions. You will also partner with Costing teams across Asia, factory partners, Margin Planning, Finance, and Product to strengthen costing capabilities, enable effective decision-making, and advance operational excellence.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The ideal candidate is a data-driven, commercially minded professional who leverages analytics and cost intelligence, and procurement expertise to create business value, improve profitability, strengthen decision-making, and enable strategic outcomes across the footwear value chain.

They bring strong business acumen, experience in materials cost management, procurement or manufacturing finance, with good understanding of commodity market pricing, supplier behaviour, and sourcing and negotiation levers that influence materials costs. They can translate supplier cost structures, market benchmarks, and commercial terms into actionable insights to support sourcing decisions, and fact-based negotiations.

They are comfortable navigating ambiguity, building new processes and capabilities, and leading initiatives across global and regional teams, suppliers, and manufacturing partners. Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder-management skills are essential, along with a continuous-improvement mindset and a commitment to operational excellence. The candidate should also demonstrate an interest in using automation, advanced analytics, and AI to build a more connected, intelligent, and scalable costing operation.

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical or materials science, engineering, business, finance, supply chain, or a related field.
• Minimum 7 years of relevant experience in one or more of these areas: footwear materials management, product cost management, materials manufacturing, materials or chemical engineering, supplier or materials vendor management, materials sourcing or procurement, manufacturing finance, supply chain operations, or a related discipline. Experience applying procurement insights to materials costing, supplier negotiations, or cost optimisation is particularly valuable.
• Understanding of materials- including Textiles, synthetics, foams, rubbers, leather, components- along with commodity markets, manufacturing processes, cost structures and their impact is an advantage.
• Knowledge of procurement practices, including supplier quotation analysis, cost benchmarking, negotiation preparation, commercial terms, and total cost of ownership, is an advantage.
• Experience establishing new operating processes, strengthening data governance, and driving continuous improvement.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel is required and experience developing dashboards, data models or analytical tools is desirable but not compulsory.

WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON

As an integral member of the Footwear Costing Data & Operations team, you will apply strong business acumen, procurement or materials cost management knowledge and operational discipline to footwear product cost management, with a focus on leading global materials costing operations across internal cross functional teams, manufacturing partners, and material suppliers.

Supporting the new materials integration strategy, you will help establish an operating model for materials cost management, using data, analytics, and market intelligence to improve cost visibility, strengthen business reporting, support margin expansion, and increase product value. This can include monitoring global commodity markets to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, while developing tools and capabilities that support sourcing decisions, assess supplier quotations, and strengthen fact-based materials cost negotiations.

Core responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Establish and execute a new operating model for materials cost management, incorporating procurement insights, supplier economics, and market benchmarks.
• Develop reliable data pipelines and intelligent analytics solutions to enable materials cost and commodity price monitoring, analysis, and business reporting, including visibility into supplier pricing trends and cost drivers.
• Manage seasonal deliverables and leadership-level reporting, providing accurate analysis and data-driven recommendations to improve profitability and achieve target margins.
• Develop a material supplier costing performance framework to drive business results and operational excellence.
• Lead engagement with regional and global Materials teams—including Costing, Supplier Management, and Manufacturing—and other cross-functional partners on strategic priorities.
• Lead supplier communications and resolve operational issues by bringing together the right partners to maintain progress.
• Support sustainability initiatives and the execution of selected seasonal and long-term projects.