Executive Vice President - Commercial

Position Summary: The EVP- Commercial is a strategic role that serves as a partner across the organization to enable and deliver product and program solutions to wholesale, stores, and customers, globally. This leader will develop, improve, and maintain the structure, reporting, processes, and technologies that drive efficiency, and guide the dedicated team members who directly support multiple retail and wholesale outlets within the Assouline portfolio.

We are seeking a dynamic leader with a broad set of experiences, including global sales and process leadership, strategic planning, change management and people development. You will be responsible for empowering the business to succeed by driving operational efficiencies for existing stores, wholesale partners, and online shopping sites and working with organizational partners to launch new stores globally.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Key Responsibilities

• Leading and scaling the Sales, Business Development and Customer Success teams
• Creating accountability within the company by developing appropriate metrics and coordinating compensation and promotions with these metrics
• Defining sales objectives and driving the team to achieve targets
• Generating and qualifying new leads and using different approaches to penetrate prospective accounts
• Building a high-performing sales team to execute end-to-end sales including outreach, pitching, getting alignment, negotiation, closing deals and implementation
• Ensuring a robust after-sales process to deliver strong customer engagement
• Building strong and collaborative relationships with other internal stakeholders
• Monitoring market trends and providing regular competitor analysis

New Store Launches

• Facilitate successful implementation of new stores by ensuring a well-defined plan and efficient process is in place for every store launch.
• Drive best in class execution of retail fundamentals with performance management mindset
• Work with the executive team to determine annual new store opening cadence, management, and marketing activities
• Provide strategic direction and oversight of the new store renovations and openings
• Lead the development and implementation of programs, which guide store managers to adopt best practices with a goal of achieving consistent discipline and execution
• Actively participate in new store opportunities; working in collaboration with the CEO to communicate key differentiators of the business/product.
• Ensure Assouline and individual branding is on-point and conforms to company standards

Operational Excellence:

• Develop and deliver strategic plans for corporate and license stores, working collaboratively with store managers and executive leaders to improve the customer experience
• Design, implement, and manage store sales processes, establishing a high level of quality, accuracy, and process consistency
• Work closely with the Assouline leadership team to establish retail and wholesale imperatives, high priority initiatives, and measures of success
• Analyze complex information and data, translating these findings into actionable deliverables, strategies, targets, messages, and presentations
• Proactively identify opportunities for process improvements; work closely with store managers and operations team to review process quality and prioritize opportunities for improvement
• Translate consumer insights and work with corporate leaders to create actionable strategies and initiatives as part of business and product development plans
• Evaluate store flow based on quantifiable data and observation and adjust to meet the needs of the customers and drive sales
• Evaluate and manage controllable expenses to aid in hitting profitability targets
• Uphold positive working relationships with License and wholesale partners, and third-party vendors

High Performing Teams:

• Spearhead the recruitment, motivation, development, and retention of store managers who can deliver sustained (profitable) revenue growth
• Instill a culture of accountability and empowerment, performance-based management, teamwork, and other best practices to achieve the goals of the organization
• Build and maintain feedback loops to ensure continuous learning for optimizing collaboration, growth, and engagement
• Maintain close working relationships with partner groups in functional areas, including Sales, Human Resources, Finance, Marketing and Supply Chain.

Knowledge and Experience:

• 10 years’ VP management, responsible for all aspects of the business
• 10 years’ experience staffing and leading a high performing, customer focused retail sales team
• 5 years’ corporate experience supporting multiple retail outlets within the business
• 5 years’ experience launching new retail stores
• 5 years’ online sales experience
• Demonstrated knowledge of best practices in managing physical and wholesale retail commerce shopping experiences
• Broad range of product knowledge including luxury goods and publishing a plus
• Promotional products experience a plus

Core Competencies:

• Strong business planning skills to execute strategic projects with implications for business areas with rapidly evolving business processes
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with a wide range of audiences including customers, front line managers and C-level leaders.
• Proven ability to manage numerous projects, as well as resources, remotely in a highly dispersed organization.
• Proven ability to select top talent and create a productive environment that promotes initiative, innovation, continual learning, and development of key personnel for future advancement.
• Willingness to adjust in a fast-paced and ever-changing work environment
• Consultative customer service through active listening and interpersonal communication
• Detail oriented with proven organizational skills
• Ability to work independently and collectively with the team and across multiple entities and organizational divisions (vendors, partners, corporate teams)
• Strong self-motivation toward the achievement of strategic and tactical goals
• High sense of urgency and willingness to take initiative
• Positive and professional demeanor with the ability to remain calm in high pressure situations
• Ability to travel globally up to 30% of the time