Head of Retail, APAC, Strategy and Excellence - Maternity Cover of 7 Months

Key Responsibilities:

1. Retail Strategy & Experience Excellence

• Define and execute a cohesive retail strategy tailored to the diverse APAC markets, ensuring alignment with global brand vision and regional business priorities.

• Lead the development of innovative and locally relevant consumer journey frameworks that enhance service standards, customer engagement, and brand storytelling.

• Champion IT and Digital integration within the retail environment to enrich in-store experience and facilitate store operations

• Continuously monitor consumer trends, market best practices, and competitive benchmarks to evolve the retail model accordingly.

2. Retail Design & Visual Merchandising

• Oversee all aspects of retail design and visual merchandising in collaboration with global and local teams.

• Ensure retail spaces reflect brand identity & consumer-centricity while optimizing functionality and flow.

• Drive consistency and excellence across all touchpoints and optimize the cost and resources

3. Education & Retail Excellence Culture

• Lead the regional retail education strategy to ensure frontline teams are equipped with brand knowledge, selling techniques, service protocols, and leadership competencies.

• Drive the implementation of an elevated service culture across the region by defining standards, KPIs, and mystery shopper programs.

• Partner with markets to adopt the selling-ceremony and service programs to be more local- relevant while maintaining consistency in brand DNA

4. Cross-functional & Global Collaboration

• Act as the retail expert and key business partner to cross-functional teams (Marketing, Digital, HR, Merchandising) and market teams in APAC.

• Collaborate with IT and other internal stakeholders to optimize retail tools and systems that support store teams.

• Define best practices to ensure consistent retail execution and service delivery across the region.

• Lead seamless communication and alignment with global retail, education, and store design counterparts to translate global strategies into actionable local plans.

• Represent APAC retail voice in global forums and ensure regional insights and needs are communicated upstream.

Qualifications & Requirements:

• Minimum 15 years of experience in retail leadership roles within beauty, luxury, or lifestyle industries, preferably with multi-market APAC exposure.

• Proven track record of leading retail strategy, team development, and consumer experience innovation.

• Strong understanding of APAC market dynamics, consumer behaviors, and cultural nuances.

• Inspirational leader with excellent communication and influencing skills across senior stakeholders.

• Willingness to travel regionally as needed.