Senior Design Director, Visual Merchandising – Store Design

Role Overview

• Lead the Global 3D VM/SD Design team with multiple direct reports across Global HQ and regional offices.
• Work closely with SVP Global Brand Image, VM & SD on global design evolution and strategic visual merchandising initiatives. 3D render concepts for review and approval.
• Oversee conceptual design development and ensure seamless and holistic integration of visual merchandising initiatives within architectural concepts.
• Help define future design and merchandising initiatives to support evolving needs of the brand.
• Create 3D renderings of architectural design and visual merchandising proposals for review and approval. Iterate design options as required to meet project objectives and planned budgets.
• Own the review and approval process for projects designed locally by regions and external partners. Responsible for communication and project management to ensure concepts are approved by SVP and are consistent with brand standards from preliminary submission to final shop drawings and execution.
• Present and clarify complex aspects of designs to regional partners with the goal of shared understanding and solid alignment. Communicate concisely to review issues and design solutions with regional teams and external vendors.
• Evaluate success of store designs and new merchandising displays.
• Drive the development of scalable design guidelines and help to establish and enforce global brand standards.
• Review project briefs to ensure retailer guidelines, budgets, and commercial objectives are clear.
• Lead weekly reporting on status of projects. Actively communicate project risk.
• Have a clear understanding of global project budgets and ensure designs fit within cost parameters. Work closely with regional partners and vendors to value engineer designs when needed.
• Review vendor technical drawings, construction documents and manage the prototype approval process for final production sign-off. Must be familiar with and capable of redlining technical drawings and DD sets from a variety of internal and external global teams.
• Work collaboratively with global VM/SD colleagues to drive process improvement, achieve best practices and standardization across regions. Identify opportunities to improve communication and project workflow.
• Collaborate with the 2D Director VM/SD to optimize the visual selection and final asset delivery process for new SIS doors, identifying opportunities to streamline workflows and improve efficiency in the selection and approval stages.
• Ensure design team is clearly communicating product display requirements for new store openings and secondary projects to support timely execution. Drive process improvement between design and operations team to enhance efficiency and accelerate speed to market.
• Continuously assess internal design team capacity in relation to workload and available external support. Proactively build and maintain a network of external design partners to ensure project demands are met efficiently and effectively when additional resources are required.
• Collaborate with the Director of Brand Event Design to identify synergies between global event experiences and permanent retail environments, ensuring a cohesive and impactful brand expression across all touchpoints.

Requirements

• Minimum 12 years experience in architectural Store Design and Visual Merchandising-related field (Beauty Industry a plus)
• Proven experience leading the design development, review, approval and execution process with internal and external stakeholders and industry trades.
• Must be familiar with and capable of redlining vendor technical drawings, DD sets, fixture contractor millwork drawings and construction document sets.
• Proven experience designing within planned budgets and developing value engineered solutions.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft, Sketchup, Photoshop, Powerpoint, Excel and Smartsheet.
• Must be proficient in 3D rendering program (3D Studio Max, Rhino or other).
• Must be highly organized and have strong attention to detail.
• Adaptable, resourceful and forward thinking.
• Thrive on solving problems and looking at implementing creative solutions.
• Creative, positive and high-energy individual with an ability to execute.
• Strong Verbal and Written communication abilities.
• Prestige/luxury brand experience a plus.
• Must be able to work from Corporate Office at least 60% of the time.

Benefits

• Company discretionary bonus plan based on personal performance and company results.