Senior Lead - Retail Deign Program Manager (9 month-Maternity Cover)

The expanding retail fleet has big ambitions, and this maternity-cover role acts as the bridge between visionary design and operational reality. The role oversees the holistic retail design programme, including overall budget management, strategic planning, ways of working, and senior leadership guidance, while directly managing high-stakes projects such as temporary pop-ups, B2B activations, and Shop-in-Shop formats. The position sits within the Global Retail Design team, which is responsible for cross-functional projects spanning market analysis, retail strategy, concepts, temporary brand experiences, and regional execution.

• Oversee the strategic workflow, timelines, and decision-making framework for the retail design portfolio, ensuring operational stability across all active tracks.
• Manage and optimise the overall Global Retail Design programme budget while supporting Lead Project Managers with their individual project budgets.
• Act as functional programme lead for Lead Project Managers, ensuring seamless timeline integration and shared ways of working while direct HR reporting flows to the Head of Retail Design.
• Partner with senior leadership to provide programme clarity, strategic guidance, and executive-level status reporting.
• Oversee decision-making regarding vendor contracts, commercial negotiations, and internal and external ways of working.
• Lead and deliver high-visibility special projects from inception to completion, including temporary pop-ups in close collaboration with Retail Marketing, Real Estate & Development, and external agencies.
• Drive operational excellence and physical execution of B2B activations and Shop-in-Shop department store layouts, aligned with premium brand standards.
• Coordinate diverse internal teams, including Retail Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Retail Ops, Legal, Procurement, and Tech, and external suppliers to ensure seamless delivery and last-mile operational readiness.
• Bridge high-level creative briefs and physical building constraints, managing administrative nuts and bolts including PO creation, contract liaison, and vendor onboarding.

• 8+ years of experience in retail project management, retail design, or physical brand operations in a rapidly scaling environment.
• A balanced skillset combining high-level strategic thinking, including governance, overall budget management, and leadership reporting, with a hands-on, no-task-is-too-small execution mindset.
• Proven track record of managing fast-paced, temporary retail activations, pop-ups, and department store shop-in-shops.
• Outstanding communication skills with a demonstrated ability to align and negotiate with diverse departments, including Marketing, Legal, Procurement, Development, and Real Estate, without direct authority.
• Strong experience managing high-value budgets, with the operational discipline to personally execute administrative processes such as POs, MSAs, and vendor onboarding.
• An entrepreneurial spirit that thrives in creative chaos, comfortable building the framework while moving forward and not waiting for a perfect roadmap to take action.
• Highly proficient in modern project management tools such as Jira and Smartsheet, with a focus on automation and workflow optimisation.

• A fair and balanced internal recruiting process with an opportunity to learn about other teams, roles and challenges.