General Manager Fashion – KSA

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over six decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. The Group, in its endeavor to excel as a hybrid retailer, has reinforced its distribution and marketing services with a portfolio of eight owned brands and over 300 international brands in the luxury, beauty, fashion, and art de vivre categories. More recently, the Group expanded its expertise into new categories of luxury watches, jewelry, and eyewear.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken with the customer at heart. Be it constantly reinventing itself or focusing on innovation to provide luxury experiences at over 750+ experiential retail stores, online and through mobile apps, each touch point leads to delighting the customer.

Today, Chalhoub Group stands for 14,000 skilled and talented professionals across seven countries, whose cohesive efforts have resulted in the Group being ranked third in the Middle East and first in Saudi Arabia as a Great Place to Work®.

To keep the innovation journey going, the Group has set up “The Greenhouse”, which is not just an innovation hub, but also an incubator space and accelerator for start-ups and small businesses in the region and internationally. This is just one of the several initiatives taken by the Group to reinvent itself, catalyzed by forward thinking and future-proofing. The Group has also been embedding sustainability at the core of its business strategy with a clear commitment towards people, partners and the planet, and by being a member of the United Nations Global Compact Community and signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles.

What you’ll be doing  

As a General Manager (GM) fashion, you will be responsible for designing and implementing the strategy, goals and objectives. Setting budgets and commercial targets of your respective brand(s) in alignment with the Vice President (s), and Senior Vice President’s strategic short and long term direction. 

You will also be responsible for driving the development of your brand(s), predominately in its growth through new projects, whilst also reviewing and supporting the management of the current operational growth of retail/wholesale, commercially and financially.

You  will enable the business under your operation to achieve results through driving the capability of its human capital, promoting knowledge and information sharing and ensuring compliance. 

Your main responsibilities will involve:

• Developing the business plan of the brands under your operation in line with the strategic direction of the vertical while seeking the buy-in of the VPs and SVP where applicable 
• Agreeing on portfolio’s commercial KPIs for the year and cascading to team accordingly; continuously monitoring progress and development towards strategic objectives
• Participating in strategic meetings with suppliers, marketing, merchandising and regional teams to negotiate commercial conditions (margin, animations, exclusivity…)
• Partnering with Group leadership teams, running projects that enhance efficiencies (i.e. any transformation or automation projects)
• Setting the yearly fiscal and manpower budgets of the brand(s)
• Ensuring People KPIs (i.e. nationalization, turnover rates) are agreed upon and cascaded accordingly

• Reacting with agility to initiatives
• Developing an evolving hybrid customer journey allowing to build, grow and sustain a community of loyal customers
• Managing store network investments (openings, renovations and closings)
• Managing digital investments (e.g. eCommerce, apps, digital in store, etc…) while creating a strong digital revenue channel for the brand(s)
• Managing contracts and agreements with Brand(s) 
• Aligning operationally with Brand(s) for implementation of contractual agreement
• Developing categories and brand acquisition strategies
• Preparing a compass, identifying gaps in portfolio to match customer’s aspirations and scouting for new brands
• Managing portfolio of brands under country of operation
• Reviewing stores performances and planning accordingly
• Ensuring all OPEX and CAPEX commitments remain within allotted budgets
• Overseeing and monitoring the preparations of financial statements. 
• Delivering business KPIs as agreed with VP (budget, P&L, People Metrics)
• Mentoring and coaching the team whilst leading them to achieve brands’ vision and business plans milestones
• Actively participating in Recruitment, succession planning and performance management for the team under your operation 

What you’ll need to succeed   

• You would have at least 10 years of experience in Retail Operations plus at least 5 years of experience leading a similar role in a similar organization in the past 
• You would hold a BA degree, as a minimum educational requirement 
• You would be fluent in both the English and Arabic languages 
• You would have a regional (GCC / MEA) experience and an exposure to the KSA market specifically. Being currently a resident in Saudi would be a great plus
• Previous experience in Retail is a must. A fashion (and/or) luxury fashion background would be a great plus 
• You would be an excellent communicator who possesses a servant leadership attitude, strong business acumen and a collaborative approach to succeed in this role 

What we can offer you  

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality.  We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.  

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.  

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.