VP – Ecommerce - Dermstore

Life at THG Beauty 

We know that beauty isn’t one-size-fits-all. Our portfolio of leading retailers and iconic beauty brands caters to everyone, everywhere, empowering customers all over the world to look and feel fantastic.

By combining our portfolio of owned brands with a marketplace for over 1,300 third-party beauty brands through online retail sites LOOKFANTASTIC, Cult Beauty, and Dermstore, THG Beauty's ambition is to be the global digital partner of choice across the beauty industry, supporting the channel shift to online.

THG Beauty’s breadth of relationships is unique to the beauty market; it engages with brands as a retailer, a brand owner, and a product developer and manufacturer, making it the industry’s digital strategic leader. 

Why be a VP, Ecommerce at THG Beauty?

Dermstore is the premier destination for professional-grade skincare and clinical beauty, curated by experts and trusted by enthusiasts. Since its founding by a dermatologist, Dermstore has been a pioneer in the digital beauty space, offering a highly curated selection of the world’s most efficacious brands across skincare, hair care, and cosmetics. As a leader in prestige beauty e-commerce, we bridge the gap between clinical expertise and a premium shopping experience.

As the VP, Ecommerce, you’ll own Dermstore’s online commercial performance, delivering annual sales and profit budgets aligned with our growth strategy and brand identity. Reporting directly to the Managing Director, you will set and execute the ecommerce strategy across trading, site experience and customer growth, and lead our customer lifetime value (LTV) agenda through Dermstore’s product subscriptions, loyalty program and app. Candidates should be commercially minded, data-led and comfortable balancing day-to-day trading with building long-term customer value. This role requires an influential, people-focused leader who gives teams clarity and direction, collaborates across every function, and turns customer insight into sustained, profitable growth.

As VP, Ecommerce, you’ll: 

Ecommerce Strategy & P&L Ownership (25%)

• Partner with the senior leadership team to plan, build and execute the ecommerce growth strategy, and identify opportunities for acquisition and retention.
• Drive P&L growth in collaboration with Finance, reviewing all lines of the P&L across sales, gross profit, distribution costs and fulfilment efficiencies to improve EBITDA. Lead target setting and phasing in collaboration with the senior leadership team.
• Lead bottoms up forecasting and monitoring of sales levers to ensure budgets opportunities and risks are identified and proactively seek further opportunities within top line sales figure.
• Collaborate with Buying leads to build and deliver brand JBPs, and commercialize campaigns and activity to drive brand investment and new income streams.
• Monitor competitors and evaluate their strategies to understand strengths and weaknesses relative to our own, translating learnings into action.

Customer Lifetime Value Programs (30%)

• Own Dermstore’s customer lifetime value strategy, setting a clear roadmap and targets for retention, purchase frequency and customer value across subscriptions, loyalty and app.
• Grow and optimize the subscription program, driving subscriber acquisition, eligible assortment with Buying, pricing and incentive structures, and reducing churn through a best-in-class subscriber experience.
• Lead the strategy, economics and evolution of the loyalty program, including tiers, earn and redemption mechanics, member benefits and brand-funded rewards, ensuring it drives incremental, profitable spend.
• Own app growth and engagement in partnership with Product and Tech, driving downloads, active users, app-exclusive features and content, push and in-app messaging, and app share of sales.
• Partner with CRM to build personalized lifecycle journeys (onboarding, replenishment, win-back and VIP) that connect subscriptions, loyalty and app into one seamless customer experience.
• Run a structured test-and-learn program, using cohort analysis and incrementality testing to prove the value of each LTV lever and prioritize investment.

Trading & Site Experience (25%)

• Ensure all key trading moments are planned and executed with a 360 activation plan and clearly phased targets by day, channel and brand, built collaboratively with Buying, Marketing and Merchandising and informed by last year’s activity.
• Work cross-functionally to drive continual improvements in AOV, conversion and bounce rate, partnering with Tech to solve UX issues and introduce new features that reduce barriers to buying online. Serve as stakeholder for 3^rd party integrations that further enhance customer journey.
• Partner with Marketing leads to identify new and innovative ways to drive traffic to site and app, while developing and improving traffic from existing channels.
• Work with Buying and Planning to ensure availability, visibility and distribution of products on site.
• Support Dermstore’s brand identity as a Skin Health destination working cross-functionally; ensuring we stay at the forefront of innovation in the industry as it pertains to website aesthetic and functionality. Serve as stakeholder for 3^rd party integrations that further enhance our brand identity; including but not limited to clienteling services and expert text messaging leading the esthetician teams that service these site tools.

Reporting, Insights & Team Leadership (20%)

• Deliver regular reporting on trading and LTV performance, actively driving improvements in any underperforming areas.
• Use our in-house data and technology platform to share insights on customer behavior and trends, and partner with the Data team to build new reporting that drives growth.
• Lead, motivate and develop the ecommerce team, setting clear quarterly objectives, providing frequent feedback and recognition, and building training and induction programs.
• Promote and embody the company DNA, establishing a strong work ethic and a collaborative team culture that drives performance and job satisfaction.

What skills and experience do I need for this role?

• 10+ years of experience in ecommerce, digital trading or online retail, including 4+ years in a senior leadership role, ideally within beauty, retail, fashion or consumer lifestyle.
• LTV & Retention Expertise: Proven track record of growing subscription, loyalty and/or app programs with measurable impact on retention, order frequency and customer lifetime value.
• Commercial & Financial Acumen: Strong P&L ownership experience with the ability to budget, review risks and opportunities, and make sound commercial trade-offs.
• Analytical Mindset: Data-led decision maker, comfortable with cohort analysis, CLV modelling, A/B testing and communicating results in clear business terms.
• Leadership & Influence: Excellent communicator who gives clarity, sets direction and brings others along on a shared mission, with experience developing high-performing teams.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to work across all functions and levels, from Buying, Marketing, CRM and Tech to Finance and senior executives, while prioritizing and structuring work in an organized way.

Nice To Have

• Deep knowledge of prestige skincare, hair care and beauty trends.
• Hands-on experience with subscription commerce, loyalty and app analytics platforms.
• Experience launching or relaunching a loyalty program, membership or paid tier.
• A pro-active, positive ‘can do’ attitude and a passion for never being ordinary.

How Success Is Measured

• Gross sales, gross profit and net profit delivered vs target and vs last year.
• Conversion, AOV, bounce rate and traffic performing vs target and vs last year.
• Growth in CLV, order frequency, retention rate and a healthy new vs returning customer mix.
• Active subscribers, subscription share of revenue and reduced subscriber churn.
• Member share of sales, active member rate, member vs non-member spend and frequency, and program ROI.
• App downloads, monthly active users, app share of sales and app conversion and retention.
• An engaged, high-performing team with clear objectives, strong retention and a pipeline of future leaders.

What’s in it for me?

• Salary: $150,000 to $200,000 based on experience
• Hybrid Work Model - NYC, 3 days office/2 days home
• Medical, Dental, Vision plans
  
• 401K matched up to 5%
• Generous PTO (Paid Time Off)
• Short and long-term disability
• Exclusive employee discounts off THG Brands