Senior Retail Manager

HOURGLASS COSMETICS - Senior Retail Manager, EU

Connected by creativity and driven by purpose. Hourglass Cosmetics is a vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand, redefining luxury cosmetics with high-performance products, innovative formulas, and award-winning franchises. Recognized by Forbes, Fast Company and Time Magazine as one of the most inventive beauty companies, Hourglass leads the industry with its breakthrough products and its commitment to animal welfare. Founded in 2004, Hourglass is globally available in 32 markets and over 4,600 doors including Sephora, Ulta, Neiman Marcus, Selfridges, Space NK and more. Hourglass became part of the Unilever Prestige division in 2017. Discover more about the Hourglass brand story and mission on our website

This role is responsible for driving retail sales growth, managing the team, enhancing customer experience and ensuring seamless execution of retail initiatives across all stores in European markets. The successful candidate will report to the EU Director and work closely with Operations, Visual Merchandising and Human Resources team to implement the strategy and strengthen brand presence and profitability. You must have previous experience in retail management with a deep understanding of European retail markets and retailers, and be passionate about working in the beauty industry with multi-cultural teams.

ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES 

SALES PERFORMANCE & PLANNING

• Define and align on retail targets to achieve topline budget and sales objectives set out by the EU Director and ensure P&L delivery at store level.
• Develop staffing plan aligned to productivity objectives, with commercial mindset to maximize profitability, whilst enhancing retention.
• Support EU Director in distribution and staffing negotiations.
• Review staffing levels vs productivity on a regular basis with both EU Director and retail partner stakeholders, making recommendations and negotiating support to achieve regional brand objectives.
• Conduct regular salary reviews with EU Director, monitoring staffing costs vs. budget and carrying out benchmarking reviews against market.
• Partner with Sales, Education and Marketing, agreeing people plan to support new launches or brand activations, monitoring and evolving plans as required.
• Oversee the incentivisation of the retail team effectively managing commission structure and any additional incentive programmes to maximise engagement, productivity and retention.
• Manage relationships with staffing agency partners, negotiating favorable rates and the best talent to cover any vacant roles or additional support required across the region.
• Review sales and expenditure in line with budgets; coach the Retail Team to deliver within their area.
• Collate weekly and monthly sales reports, presenting findings and actions to EU Director and key stakeholders at weekly sales meeting.
• Maintain a developed, comprehensive understanding of business performance in all areas of retail and provide targeted support where necessary, ensuring local opportunity is leveraged and retail sales targets are achieved.

PEOPLE

• Motivate and inspire Retail Team to lead and develop their teams to deliver consumer-centric service and achieve agreed targets.
• Lead monthly performance reviews of Retail Teams to monitor performance and set out objectives or performance plans where necessary.
• Work closely with the Area Managers, Education and HR stakeholders to identify training needs for the Retail Teams and implement programmes to enhance retail performance and skillset development.
• Partner with Education to support Retail Team with brand specific product knowledge and skills to support sales and customer experience.
• Partner with Human Resources to review people statistics, such as employee engagement, turnover and absence rates, aligning on strategies and support for improvement and managing areas of underperformance.
• Point of contact for escalation of HR matters from the retail team, including disciplinary procedures.
• Hold weekly 121s with Area Managers to review performance, recruitment opportunities/risks and agree action plans for retail teams.
• Partner with Area Managers to define, develop and lead quarterly Business Manager meetings, collaborating with Sales, Education and Operations to engage the team in the objectives, strategy and provide the tools to succeed in an inspiring way.
• Regular travel to visit the Retail Teams in their regions.

RETAIL PROJECTS, EVENTS AND SERVICE OFFER

• Support Area Managers in leading and overseeing all retail projects, events and activations across EU retail doors to drive sales whilst elevating customer experience and engagement. Evaluate success and ROI of each activation to improve the effectiveness of future projects, trade and retail events.
• Develop excellence in local eventing and activations, implementing innovative and impactful experience for customers that drive sales and brand loyalty, within the framework provided by the Brand Marketing team.
• Review and monitor the budget of all in-store activations, samples, testers (in collaboration with Commercial and Operations teams) to drive superior service standards within given budgets.
• Support the delivery of impactful larger-scale brand events with solid people plan and rotas, in partnership with EU Director.
• In collaboration with Education, identify and evaluate commercial viability of existing and new service offerings, enhancing client service menu, improving client engagement and relationship.

OTHER

• Manage time effectively between regular visits to all stores across EU, ensuring you are recognized by both our teams and retailers in stores as an integral part of the region.
• Build and maintain excellent professional business relationships with retail partners, as key point of contact for internal and external staffing needs and focus on flagship store stakeholders.
• Monitor competitor activity and be aware of trade and market developments, to feedback weekly to the EU Director and internal stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with all HO stakeholders to achieve the company's goals and objectives.
• Maintain detailed knowledge of the company's products and pricing.
• Partner with the VM and Store Design Manager to ensure VM guidelines are implemented and adhered to across all retail environments, reporting any required maintenance in a timely manner.

YOU'LL LOVE THIS JOB IF

• You are highly STRATEGIC: You see the big picture and can translate brand ambition into impactful retail strategies across Europe.
• You are DRIVEN BY PERFORMANCE: You are passionate about achieving ambitious sales while ensuring operational excellence.  
• You are extremely ORGANIZED: You are not overwhelmed by the thought of tackling multiple tasks at a time while traveling across the region.
• You are a strong COMMUNICATOR: You are a people person at heart, a natural leader who inspires and energizes retail teams across multiple markets. 
• You are DETAIL ORIENTED: You appreciate the importance of having detailed and precise information.
• You are AGILE: You adapt well to changing needs and priorities and are able to pivot easily to achieve goals and deadlines.
• You are PASSIONATE about beauty: You are eager to learn and absorb all things related to beauty, artistry and creating unforgettable in-store experience.

SKILLS REQUIRED

• Previous experience in Retail leadership in the beauty industry, or luxury sector, including multi country management
• Proven track record of developing and executing regional strategies that drive sales growth, elevate customer experience and strengthen brand presence
• Proven leadership skills with demonstrated success in leading, inspiring and developing high-performing teams across multiple countries
• Excellent analytical mindset, skilled in leveraging data, identify opportunities and measure performance
• Strong communication and negotiation skills, both verbal and written
• Structured and organized but comfortable working in a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment
• Impeccable attention to detail and level of accuracy
• Proactive and action orientated
• Fluency in English, additional European languages are a plus
• Willingness to travel extensively across Europe