Retail Design Group Manager MEAI Travel Retail Middle East Africa India

Job Summary

In this exciting role, you will lead the development and coordination of impactful shop fitting, event, and animation projects for a diverse portfolio of 30+ LOréal Group brands within the Travel Retail MEAI region. Collaborating closely with the Head of Retail & Marketing MEAI (based in Dubai) and the Retail Design Director TRWE (based in Paris), you will play a pivotal role in shaping the consumer experience and driving brand visibility in this dynamic market.

Your Role & Responsibilities

Retail Strategy & Execution:

• Lead the design and implementation of impactful shop fitting strategies across Travel Retail airports in the MEAI zone, aligning with brand identities and guidelines and regional market dynamics.
• Deliver flawless stores openings, achieving the highest standards of excellence and maximizing impact and visibility.
• Oversee product launches and in-store animations, ensuring flawless execution and brand excellence, consistently with the global retail plan and specific regional calendar.
• Strategically cluster projects according to store typologies and investment levels, ensuring optimal resource utilization and alignment with overall business objectives.
• Support regional business development with expert retail guidance.
  
  

• Drive innovative and sustainable retail design solutions that enhance the consumer experience and brand visibility.
• Lead technical design, material selection, and quality control (including in supplier factory before implementation), minimizing environmental impact and maintenance costs and targeting Retail excellence.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive shop database for long-term strategic planning and store guidelines.
  
  

• Manage budgets for shop fitting and animation projects, optimizing resource allocation and ROI and in alignment with retail segmentation and launch strategy.
• Oversee flagship store briefs and implement rigorous quality control measures to ensure retail excellence.
• Lead Semestrial business reviews with key local suppliers.
• Recruit, animate and develop a team of 4 Retail Design Project Managers and 1 Project Coordinator.
• Foster collaborative partnerships between design, marketing, and sales teams to maximize project success.
• Inspire and motivate local sales forces to achieve exceptional in-store performance and elevate the customer experience.
• Deliver data-driven insights and best practice recommendations to the central hub, facilitating knowledge sharing and continuous optimization.
  
  

• Agility and entrepreneurial spirit
• Ability to manage complexity
• Strong cross-cultural communication skills and international experience
• Retail expertise
  
  

• Architecture Execution: Applying the architectural guidelines to a retail environment and supervising the construction or renovation of retail spaces while ensuring that eco-design principles are followed, as well as upholding after-sales services .
• Scenography: Designing relevant and inspiring O+O space, atmosphere and mood which supports the brand narrative and strengthens the emotional bond between the brand and the customers.
• Brand local adaptation: Meeting local customer expectations while respecting each brand identity and sense of purpose whilst creating the biggest environmental or social value in the markets.
• Project planning management: Planning the correct short-term and long-term actions and continuously updating and prioritizing them in order to achieve strategic objectives while meeting strategic deadlines.
• Budget management: Creating and managing a budget to control the costs and profitability of a department or project.
• Stakeholder management: Identifying, assessing and prioritizing stakeholders by analyzing their influence/power and interest/buy-in in a decision or project before uniting and motivating them around a project, a vision or a common interest.
• People Development: Assessing and understanding employees (their aspirations, motivations, strengths, skills) to create the conditions for their best performance and growth by providing feedback, creating learning on the job and exploring career and development opportunities.
  
  

• Creative/innovative & technical vision (incl. materials knowledge to grow durability and limit maintenance)
• Strong leadership, autonomy & organization, comfortable in complex environments
• Ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholders (Local retailers and Suppliers, Marketing/Commercial teams)
• Local cultural sensitivity and airport environment knowledge
• Expertise Sketch up Pro, Pack Adobe (Illustrator, Photoshop), Autocad recommended
• A minimum of 1 successful team management experience
• English Mandatory