For Lacoste, Life is a Beautiful Sport!

With a vision to be the leading player in the premium casual wear market, the Crocodile brand is today present in 120 countries through a selective distribution network. Two Lacoste items are sold every second in the world.

As an international group gathering 10,000 women and men, Lacoste offers a complete range of products: apparel, leather goods, fragrances, footwear, eyewear, home wear, watches and underwear, all of them being elaborated in the most qualitative, responsible and ethical way.

For more information: www.lacoste.com

ROLE OVERVIEW: 

This regional leadership position provides strategic and functional leadership for Quality, Product Compliance, Responsible Sourcing Compliance, Sustainability and Footwear Sourcing across the Americas Platform. The role leads multidisciplinary and multicultural functions within a Global matrix organization and operates through direct leadership, functional influence and cross-functional governance.

Purpose: 

To safeguard product and supplier integrity, consumer safety, regulatory compliance, market access and brand reputation while strengthening supplier performance, resilience and business continuity across the Americas apparel and footwear supplier network.  

Main activities:

• Provide strategic and functional leadership for Quality, Product Compliance, Responsible Sourcing Compliance, Sustainability and Footwear Sourcing across the Americas Platform, ensuring alignment with enterprise priorities and Global strategies.
• Establish integrated regional governance across apparel and footwear to safeguard product integrity, consumer safety, regulatory compliance, market access and brand reputation.
• Define the regional Supplier Quality and Product Compliance strategy, strengthening supplier capability, product-release governance, regulatory readiness and continuous improvement.
• Lead the Responsible Sourcing and Sustainability agenda, ensuring risk-based supplier eligibility, management of critical social and environmental risks, traceability, responsible materials and supplier transformation.
• Define and lead the regional Footwear Sourcing strategy in alignment with Global Footwear, ensuring a resilient supplier portfolio, competitive costing, capacity readiness, commercialization execution and sustainable supplier performance.
• Own the integrated supplier risk and performance framework and build the organization required to deliver it, ensuring executive visibility, timely escalation, business continuity, clear accountability and succession readiness.

Governance & Decision Authority:

• Establish integrated regional governance, performance reviews and escalation protocols across the functions within scope.
• Provide regional decisions and formal recommendations on product and supplier readiness, supplier eligibility, remediation, critical-risk escalation and business continuity within applicable Global governance.
• Serve as the senior regional escalation point and recommend supplier onboarding, restriction, suspension or phase-out based on quality, compliance, sustainability, capacity and business risk; final approval thresholds.

Team Management: 

• Lead, coach and develop the Quality, CSR, Sustainability and Footwear managers and their teams.
• Set functional accountabilities, decision rights, performance expectations and succession plans, creating an inclusive and collaborative culture across countries and Global matrix relationships.

 

Professional background:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Textile Science, Chemistry, Supply Chain, Sustainability, Business or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive experience across quality, product integrity and compliance, responsible sourcing, sustainability, sourcing or manufacturing within apparel, footwear or comparable consumer-product supply networks.
• Significant experience leading managers and geographically dispersed, multicultural teams in a complex Global matrix organization.
• Demonstrated record of setting functional strategy, establishing governance, managing critical risk, influencing executive and supplier decisions, and allocating functional resources and budgets.

Skills & Competences:

• Enterprise & Strategic Thinking
• Executive Judgment & Complex Decision-Making
• Influence & Stakeholder Leadership across a Global Matrix
• Organizational Leadership & Talent Development
• Risk, Change & Execution Leadership
• Change Management

Technical Expertise:

• Enterprise Supplier Quality & Product Integrity
• Product Safety, Testing, Chemical & Regulatory Compliance
• Responsible Sourcing, Human Rights & Environmental Due Diligence
• Sustainability Strategy, Traceability & Responsible Materials
• Supplier Risk, Performance, Footwear Sourcing & Business Continuity

Specific requirements:

• Fluent in English and Spanish; French is a plus.
• Ability to operate effectively across a Global matrix and multicultural supplier environment.
• Availability for regular international travel across supplier countries and Global business locations.

 

At Lacoste, we are committed to making equal opportunity a reality. Rooted in our unique vision of fashion and sport, we believe diversity drives performance and innovation. Our recruitment approach focuses on skills and potential, embracing all forms of talent. We foster a diverse and inclusive environment where elegance goes beyond style and where every individual is empowered to reach their full potential.

Understand and embody brand values: Joie de vivre, Authenticity, Elegance

Understand and embody company values: Play as One Team, Play by Daring, Play with Tenacity and Play with Elegance.