Director, Visual Merchandising US & CA

L'Occitane en Provence, founded in 1976 in the Provence region of France, is a worldwide brand that offers premium, natural-based, personal care and wellbeing Provencal products and services. L'Occitane continues to grow, opening several new boutiques nationwide. L'Occitane seeks to revive the Provencal way of life and traditions through high quality, effective personal care products as a great answer for natural wellbeing.

L'Occitane Group’s mission is to “empower entrepreneurs and communities to cultivate natural beauty and well-being and regenerate nature”. L'Occitane is also committed to sustainability for business, people & the planet, as well as respect of human rights, ethics principles and labor protection. All employees at L'Occitane must therefore implement the company’s mission and integrate the social, environmental, economic, and legal effects of their actions in their day-to-day job. In practice, this means that any employee at L'Occitane shall contribute to growing sales, regenerating nature, caring for our consumers & partners and supporting our employees. Both job descriptions & performance objectives shall explicitly reflect the employee’s contribution & impact to the triple bottom-line (people, planet, profit).

JOB SUMMARY:

The Director of Visual Merchandising will lead the merchandising department, partner with Chief Marketing Officer, and collaborate with teams in Central, Creative, Marketing, Store Design, Retail Operations, Wholesale and PR Teams. The role involves implementing strong visual branding across all touchpoints using creative and innovative solutions. The ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced environment and is passionate about creating world-class customer experiences through exceptional visual merchandising.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

In-Boutique Core Merchandising:

• Develop strategy to define & implement creative ways to elevate the visual merchandising for an exceptional shopping experience for customers across all customer touchpoints – retail to wholesale channels.
• Conceptualize innovative programs in collaboration with cross functional teams to elevate the user experience for prospecting and acquiring new customers as well as improve the shopping experience for high valued/most loyal customers.
• Develop and maintain company standard guides to uphold and maintain brand standards.
• Create a consistent store VM look and feel across floor plans and schematics across different concepts and to account for new for new product launches and campaigns.
• Manage ongoing updates to existing boutiques to ensure they meet changing brand standards.
• Coordinate all project phases from ideation to in-store execution and post roll-out support, ensuring achievement of merchandising & strategic goals.
• Partner closely with regional directors & boutiques to ensure that merchandising developments reflect commercial needs.
• Partner with Central to help build a global and unified brand experience with one vision, goal and strategy
• Streamline communication process and make recommendations to improve efficiencies.
• Training support for field team to develop consistency in merchandising.
• Lead implementation for all New/Relocation/Remodel/Pop-Up boutique activities while partnering with Construction, supply chain and external print vendors and execution on site
• Develop and execute materials and processes that aid in the successful opening of stores.

Wholesale / Retail Partners

• Lead and collaborate with wholesale team to conceptualize and elevate merchandising across key retail partners.
• Lead development of strong branded concepts across partners with small real estate and niche assortments.

Team Management & Partnerships:

• Lead, manage, develop and inspire the visual merchandising team members at various levels of experience. Continually coach individuals for maximum potential.
• Motivate, coach and inspire direct reports, and peers to build a strong collaborative and team culture
• Collaborate with PR and design to create concepts for in-person PR and social events (e.g. Trade shows, CEW, Pop Up store, Mother’s Day, Holiday Events) in key locations
• Attend conferences/workshops/industry events to increase awareness of current trends and inspire greater creativity relative to the premium and luxury beauty industry.
• Create and manage the annual budget for the responsible areas.
• Participate in regular meetings/communicate with cross-functional teams and senior leadership

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Boutiques merchandised to company standards, project deadlines, budget

REQUIREMENTS:

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor's degree in Merchandising, interior design, Marketing, Art or related area preferred

EXPERIENCE:

• 10+ years of experience in developing, managing and executing visual merchandising strategies, high profile beauty/retail brands preferred.

SKILLS:

• Proficient in Adobe Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator), Sketch Up and Microsoft Office
• Must have a high level of design skills and ability to effectively communicate ideas through hand sketches, 2D drawings and 3D renderings
• Must have a strong understanding of the competitive landscape, and be able to interpret appropriate trends as they relate to the beauty business objectives
• Strong typography and artistic skills
• Excellent communication, in visual, written, and verbal formats, to share ideas and strategy
• Attention to detail, ability to execute flawlessly
• Ability to work well under pressure & handle multiple projects requiring frequent communication, organization and time management
• Proven leadership skills, including the ability to lead and inspire other talent to do great work and continually elevate the brand image.
• Proven track record of owning project from start to finish – self-starter and self-directed
• Proactive and flexible attitude; willingness to take an “all hands on deck” approach

PHYSICAL & TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be able to work in normal office conditions.
• Must be able to work 8 hours per day and be on his/her feet for extended periods of time.
• Must be able to travel via airplane within US and Canada up to 30% of time.

The compensation for this role ranges from $130,000 - $140,000 for the NYC region. Exact compensation will vary based on factors including but not limited to, experience, skills, and geographic location. In addition to annual salary, this position is eligible for participation in a highly competitive bonus program.

L’Occitane North America offers a competitive compensation package and a comprehensive benefit. L’OCCITANE is an equal opportunity employer. This means that, when making decisions about our employees’ careers with us, our main considerations are their ability to do their jobs and develop in their roles. One way we cultivate change is by creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace and organizational culture. As part of this, we are committed to building an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment where everyone feels respected and valued. We recruit positive-minded people who share our core values: entrepreneurship, team spirit, leading by example and authenticity – and our commitment to sustainability. Employment may be subject to verification of references and background check investigation.