Director of Retail Stores, Canada

JOB DESCRIPTION

Purpose

Manages the Retail District Management and Franchise Specialist teams to drive the strategic imperative, growth and expansion of Retail O&O stores (Mainline and Outlet) and Franchise Partners' Stores in Canada, delivering AFP and commercial KPI targets. Lead with a consumer-centric approach, finding ways to increase productivity ($/sf) of existing retail locations, expand through new store openings and relocations, and continually focus on brand elevation. Prioritize people; capabilities, engagement, and development. Advocate for DE&I and establish a clear approach to talent management.

Become a strong cross-functional partner to advocate, develop and implement programs and initiatives for stores and field leadership which support our DTC Priorities. Be a visible and inspiring leader for all Canada store teams and retail field teams (Brand Environment) as well as the go-to for functional partners (HR, Marketing, Finance, eCommerce etc.) Canada and wider Cluster leadership.

Establish Real Estate priorities in line with expansion strategy. Be in-market point person for brokers and landlords, driving a strong network across the market. Assess locations, drive recommendations into action by working closely with Cluster Real Estate team in execution. Drive operational excellence by partnering with the Retail Operations teams, leading with agility and executional excellence.

Key Results

• Align vision and strategy for profitable growth of O&O stores and franchise partners in Canada. Engaging and positioning all stakeholders and overseeing all elements through to execution.
• Delivery of Financial and KPI targets, with continuous focus on increasing productivity.
• Improvement in employee engagement throughout all stores and field teams. Drive engagement initiatives storewide. Make Levi's retail stores a great place to work.
• Development and execution of strong talent management and retention program. Strong advocacy for DE&I.
• Retail store expansion: In-market Real Estate lead and point person for our broker and landlords. Know the market, scout locations and drive for timely new store openings with frictionless operational set up. Ensure teams are hired and ready from doors opening.
• Development and execution of operational plans for all retail store initiatives, including process improvements, policy & governance, product flow, peak season planning, labor management, workflow management, and other health and safety contingencies.
• Drive 4W operating expense efficiency targets in line with AFP.
• Mobilization of our retail stores to support and execute the activation of omnichannel programs including CRM (customer relationship management) and loyalty programs, BOPIS, Click & Collect, gift cards, ship-from-store, associate-order-in-store, buy-online-pick-up-in-store, hassle-free returns to achieve sales target in 2023 AFP and over Strategic Business Plan (SBP) horizon.
• Fostering and modelling a culture of consumer centricity, inclusion, high performance, brand elevation, and operational excellence.
• Leads through LS&Co. Values Originality, Integrity, Empathy, Courage, and Performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Define Canada DTC stores strategy & execution. Deliver AFP, KPI's, and qualitative targets.
• Franchise partner management, growth plan in line with DTC strategy. Lead Franchise channel to success supporting the wider Canada commercial priorities.
• Real Estate in-market point person for brokers and landlords.
• Strong, visible, values-driven leadership for Retail in Canada.
• Talent management and engagement across Retail corporate and store teams.
• Define and elevate capabilities across the retail store and field teams.
• Work closely with finance partners to devise and define staff incentives which drive towards delivering AFP and are in line with Canada priorities.
• Monitor trends, consumer needs/behavior to identify gaps in assortment needs and work closely with Canada Merchant and Planning teams to fill gaps.
• Develop retail communications approach to ensure all retail teams and cross-functional partners are informed and inspired around our strategic plans for Canada retail stores.
• Collaborate closely with Merchant team to ensure appropriate assortment is developed, allocated, and distributed to Canada stores.
• Labor management (forecasting, reporting), workload management, and workforce scheduling.
• Own development and execution of diverse portfolio of Retail Operations initiatives, including defining scope, managing timelines, leading the coordination of cross-functional efforts, and ensuring leadership alignment.
• Ensure successful execution of all omnichannel initiatives in O&O stores.
• Successful delivery of systems implementations including Xstore upgrades, RFID and replenishment app updates, SAP updates, and all in-store apps, tools, and systems.
• Collaborate with Retail Operations to optimize process improvements across product flow, supply management, and budgeting and inventory control/RFID.
• Oversee back-of-house processes, logistics, deliveries, transportation, and allocation.
• Responsible for budget control, ensure execution of all invoice processing of operation opex line items.
• Ensure proper control of company assets and merchandise through Inventory reconciliation, effective administration of loss prevention, safety, and security programs.
• Collaborate effectively with Canada team and San Francisco-based support departments in merchandising, planning, distribution/allocation for Canada stores.
• Collaborate with brand environment to ensure brand standards are understood and well executed.
• Collaborate with Global DTC and cluster teams to develop Training content and effective communication platform with stores.
• Partner with global DTC teams to provide thought leadership on key strategic projects including Next Gen/store of the future, Tailor Shop experience, and flagship store concepts.

Direct Reports (5)

• District Manager Team (3 FTE)
• Area Manager (1 FTE)
• Specialist, Franchise Management (1 FTE)
• Brand Environment Manager (Local dotted line)
• Retail Operations Manager (Local dotted line)

Skills / Qualifications

Years and Type of Experience Required: Eight to ten years in retail/direct-to-consumer experience, ideally within the Canada market, with focus on people leadership, consumer-centricity & in-store operations in a multi-store environment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:

• Strong and inspiring people leader, with experience of elevating capabilities, improving engagement, and establishing a clear approach to talent management.
• Motivated self-starter with bias to action; understanding of and experience with delivering objectives in fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Experience managing diverse and complex teams in matrixed environment; ability to partner internally and externally influence, collaborate, align, and execute on projects and deliver business benefits.
• Strong connection to marketplace and consumer dynamics, and able to translate that into commercial opportunities.
• Customer focus - on the pulse of the consumer, with strong understanding of internal and external customers.
• Solid knowledge of Real Estate in Canada - landlord and broker network, ways of working, NSO requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to achieve business deliverables including commercial KPIs, customer satisfaction metrics, staffing models, incentive plans, marketing plans.
• Ability to partner with others. Director of Omnichannel Operations is a critical partnership where relationship must be in lock step.
• Ability to coach and develop a team of high performers.
• Strong skills and attention to details.
• Ability to manage complex operations and analytics, and drive end-to-end process.
• Solid knowledge of financial drivers.
• Self-motivated and inspiring to others, with collaborative working style.
• Comfort around higher management, gaining steerco alignment on key initiatives.
• Ability to work well with a variety of levels and functions within the organization.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Additional Information:

• Ability to travel for market visits domestically and internationally.
• Ability to make and implement decisions quickly and under pressure is a daily event.
• Ability to quickly call risk to projects and bring together the key stakeholders for solutions and drive outcomes.
• Based in Canada, ideally within GTA, with strong market knowledge base.
• Travel: 40% in stores.

FULL TIME/PART TIME

Full time