Senior Group Director, Watches & Fine Jewelry Retail, East Coast

Senior Group Director, Watches and Fine Jewelry Retail, East Coast

At CHANEL, we are focused on creating an inclusive culture that nurtures personal growth, contributing to collective progress. We believe the uniqueness of each individual increases the diversity, complementarity, and effectiveness of our teams. We strongly encourage your application, as we value the perspective, experience, and potential you could bring to CHANEL.

About The Role :

CHANEL is looking for a Senior Group Director of Retail for its Watches and Fine Jewelry (WFJ) activities on the East Coast. The role will be based in New York and report to the Head of Sales and Distribution for Watches and Fine Jewelry.

In a context of high growth ambition for the WFJ Division in the US market, our must have and priority is to "Drive Scale", while maintaining an exceptional level of image and service, through a brand and client-centric approach in all points of distribution.

The core mission of this newly created role will be to lead the development of our WFJ business and teams in the region : the Head of Boutique (HOB) of our WFJ NY Flagship boutique will report directly to him / her. WFJ Associate Directors and Category Managers in the region will also function with a dotted line. Additionally, the Regional's direct team will include a Group Director, East Coast to oversee all Strategic Account Management & Partnerships including Fashion, Multi Brand Business (MBB) and Multi Brand Select (MBS) across total distribution except for Specialty Retailers. The other essential mission will be to partner closely with Fashion Leadership to grow the business penetration through WFJ focus and expertise across the Fashion network, including Fashion boutiques, Fashion MBB and WFJ MBS Point of Sale (POS) while ensuring an exceptional and seamless client journey.

The role will also work in close partnership with the Senior Manager in charge of the Specialty Retailer distribution in the Region (MBR).

This exceptional leader will partner closely with their peer, the Senior Group Director, WFJ Retail West Coast, to drive consistency in strategy, leadership as well as network development and harmonization as we strive to responsibly grow & expand WFJ penetration.

This role requires an ability to be agile with a strong aptitude for elevating the internal and external Client experience. The retail environment is filled with interesting challenges, and we seek a transformational leader to help continuously evolve CHANEL's WFJ retail organization.

Our ideal candidate will have minimum 12 years of retail leadership and / or account development experience, ideally with expertise in the East Coast Region, have a passion for people leadership and business development across all channels and products categories, be comfortable with collaboration and cross-divisional partnership, as well as have an excellent client service mindset.

What Impact You Can Create :

• Drive scale and grow WFJ business across all segments (Watches / Fine Jewelry / High Jewelry (HJ), through direct leadership of WFJ network and leveraging engagement of Fashion and WFJ partners, to reach short- and long-term growth ambition. Facilitate dialogue between WFJ Heads of Boutiques and Merchandising & Planning Teams to define and follow up sales goals, as well as other KPIs (recruitment / retention / conversion, data capture, ...) for the East Coast region.
• Act as the voice of WFJ on the East Coast, making recommendations to best support all aspects of the retail business while working with the Head of Sales and Distribution to set strategic objectives and vision for WFJ in the region to drive focus on Client and commercial KPIs
• Liaise with People & Organization (P&O) partners on recruitment and development of the retail teams.
• Strong collaboration with counterparts from Fashion and Fragrance & Beauty, as well as WFJ MBR to ensure seamless and consistent client experience across all touch points.
• Partner with key stakeholders from WFJ and Fashion to continue network optimization, including WFJ addition to Fashion MBB locations. Evaluate best WFJ business model and assortment for all department store locations.
• Champion a client-centric and service focused mindset across all levels of our WFJ Boutique organization and beyond, striving for a harmonized and symbiotic distribution network with a seamless client journey.
• Galvanize your WFJ Boutique and Fashion leaders around our vision and ensure a clear understanding of CHANEL's priorities and strategic focuses to enable and empower them at the Boutique level.
• Work in partnership with the local High Business Development Team to define an implement a strategic High End Business Development plan and elevated client journey, supporting all distribution channels.
• Identify local industry and market trends, maintaining keen awareness of industry partner and competitor movements and activities on the East Coast
• Encourage individual empowerment and employee development by being a hands-on visible leader fostering both a learner's mindset and a culture of inclusion and continuous improvement.
• Provide consistent vision on talent evaluation and performance management across all boutiques to ensure consistency with CHANEL brand values, driving leadership development and succession planning.
• Champion and drive D&I initiatives in partnership with D&I leadership and HRBPs
• Focus on aligning and reinforcing policies and best practices for WFJ Boutiques through coordination and creating consistency and supporting HOBs to drive their business. Instill an operational mind-set, and show visible support for operational efficiency, strengthening partnerships across all Boutique functions. Partner with stakeholders to identify opportunities to improve process efficiency that will enhance client experience and / or profitability. Support a permanent improvement of our policies and procedures in partnership with the Retail Operations teams, at Boutique and Corporate level.
• Ensure compliance with all internal and external constituents on areas such as : loss prevention, anti-diversion, employment laws, privacy laws, inventory counts, etc.
• Identify educational needs and partner with the Group Director of Education to map out the annual education plan for the East Coast region.
• Support any Boutique opening or renovation in the region. Support repair and maintenance follow up, as well as the implementation of new tools and systems, to help HOBs and Boutique teams focus on clients and sales.
• Reinforce VM compliance and accountability for all POS within the East Coast region. Coordinate training and support if necessary.
• Support Events and key Brand moments.
• Regular in boutique presence.
• Partner with Head of Sales and Distribution in the relationship management of corporate executives for Department Stores (Saks Fifth Ave., Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales)

You Are Energized By :

Position Logistics :

Additional Information :

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $175,000 - $225,000. Base salary is one component of the total compensation for this position. Other components will include additional compensation, benefits and perks.

Chanel is a private company whose values are grounded in creating the conditions for people to perform at their best and feel fulfilled and confident in their work. We offer a unique work environment where individuals are encouraged to better understand the brand, the business, and motivations, so that together we can unlock the possibilities of growth. This is reflected in :

Diversity and Inclusion :

Chanel Community :