SSENSE (pronounced [es-uhns]) is a global technology platform operating at the intersection of culture, community, and commerce. Headquartered in Montreal, it features a mix of established and emerging luxury brands across womenswear, menswear, kidswear, and Everything Else.

SSENSE has garnered critical acclaim as both an e-commerce engine and a producer of cultural content, generating an average of 100 million monthly page views. Approximately 80% of its audience is between the ages of 18 to 40. It is privately held and has achieved high double digit annual growth and profitability since its inception.

Reporting to the VP, Customer Experience, the Director, Retail is responsible for leading the Retail team, with full responsibility for the strategy, direction, and P&L of the function. They will define and scale our retail business model through expansion and omnichannel innovation. The ideal candidate is a results-driven, strategic operator with experience managing distributed teams. They will partner closely with executives and key leaders in Operations, Technology, Marketing, Sales, Buying, Real Estate and Human Resources to ensure SSENSE Retail delivers a world-class customer experience and, by extension, long term value for the business.

Strategy & Innovation - 30%

• Establish direction for the Retail business at SSENSE considering the organization’s growth objectives

• Develop and implement the Retail strategy, managing resources (capex/opex, resources, capabilities, technology) to realize the long-term vision

• Mobilize resources and build capabilities to achieve defined financial and operational goals, collaborating closely with various stakeholders.

• Continuously identify, create stakeholder alignment on, build business cases for, and implement initiatives to elevate our retail customer experience, financial position, and/or scalability, to ensure Retail performance scales with the overall growth of the business

• Advise on industry trends and benchmarks, and partner solutions to execute opportunities in the customer value proposition within Retail

Operations - 40%

• Analyze, evaluate and manage financial performance, keeping the General Manager accountable for achieving performance targets and KPIs, with accountability for the aggregate Retail P&L

• Define Retail client acquisition and retention initiatives through establishing standards of service and selling culture, while also collaborating with the Sales & Retention teams to ensure sales and loyalty initiatives are relevant, executable, and accretive

• Drive continuous optimization and deploy processes and operational playbooks

• Prepare and gain executive approval on annual / quarterly budgets and operational readiness strategy

• Ensure staffing model, processes, space / real estate, and technology is consistently keeping pace with growth of the business

People Leadership & Organizational Capability - 30%

• Attract, develop and retain a high-performing team, managing the complexity of a distributed workforce

• Build a clear pipeline of succession and bench strength

• Design, champion, and implement the optimal organizational structure to ensure the team can scale with the needs of the business

• Provide leadership, mentoring, training, development and performance management to direct reports

• Empower leaders to take ownership of team engagement and alignment to ensure on-going retention and employee satisfaction

• Enforce the department's mission and vision throughout the teams, and establish objectives to achieve it

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field

• Minimum 10 years expertise in retail operations, including omni-channel capability design and implementation, allocation and replenishment strategy, network and fulfillment strategy and performance management

• Minimum 7 years proven industry experience in multi-location retail leadership, including management of high volume, global experience is an asset

• Previous P&L ownership / accountability and demonstrated impact on profitability

• Frequent travel to Montreal is required

• Ability to work full-time including variable hours: early mornings, evenings, weekends and/or holidays

• This role is primarily remote, with travel to store locations, fulfillment centers, and corporate HQ required approximately 25% of the time (% of time may vary in store development and opening periods)

• Proficient in Google Sheets and Google Slides

• Experience in a high growth organization is an asset

• Marketing experience including CRM, lifecycle marketing & customer retention strategy, an asset

• Strong interest and knowledge of the luxury fashion industry (brands, designers, customers)

SKILLS

• Entrepreneurial attitude and willingness to build and improve existing processes

• Strong ability to synthesize key insights from a multitude of data sources and tell a story

• Proven ability to influence and collaborate with different levels of stakeholders (e.g., peers, subordinates, executives, etc) to deliver timely results

• Team player with solid leadership and interpersonal skills

• Proven ability to work in a dynamic, continuous improvement environment