Head of Retail

Relevant, masculine and British. Since 1893, Alfred Dunhill has been engineering unique and stylish luxuries for men. We seek people who have commitment and drive with a strong commercial focus, and will thrive in a creative environment that encourages innovative thinking.

MAIN PURPOSE

The Director is responsible for developing, executing, and optimizing the overall Retail Long Range Business Planning & Strategy across the Japan Region, ensuring alignment with the company’s global vision and objectives. Reporting directly to the Commercial General Manager, Japan, this role oversees all aspects of the retail, Gaisho and MTM business, including strategic execution, daily operations, and full Profit & Loss (P&L) accountability. The Director drives growth, profitability, and operational excellence while delivering a seamless customer experience and maintaining the brand’s positioning in the market.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Business Strategy leadership and Commercial KPIs ownership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive retail strategy aligned with global and regional objectives, focusing on growth, profitability, and brand equity.

• Design and implement scalable operating procedures, standards, and systems to support business growth.

• Contribute to the ongoing development of the global retail playbook, reporting structures, and processes—ensuring consistency while adapting for regional nuance.

• Serve as the central hub for field communications, streamlining store messaging, performance reporting, task management, project delivery, and feedback loops.

• Proactively identify risks and obstacles, adapting strategies in real time to ensure seamless store operations and sustained business performance.

• Partner cross-functionally to drive continuous improvement and innovation across Retail and Gaisho initiatives.

• Partner with Business intelligence team to analyze store KPIs and financial targets, implementing corrective actions to address deviations.

• Partner with FP&A to build bottoms-up budget targets based on historical data and anticipated expenses, managing personnel costs, labor standards, and compliance.

• Partner with retail operational team to ensure audits and compliance.

• Oversee full P&L responsibility for the Japan retail business, ensuring revenue growth, profitability, and cost optimization (SG&A).

• Manage store sales plans, including individual store budgets for bonus payouts.

2. Trend analysis and Consumer sensing

• Investigate the market & consumer trends (e.g. competitor’s offering, market expectation, consumer’s behaviour) to identify where the opportunities and threats are in the competitive environment for short- & long-term growth.

• Reflect the findings into forecasting and other relevant actionable plans.

• Provide strategic POV to Global partners in the planning process to best reflect local needs.

3. Team Leadership and Talent Development

• Build, lead, and mentor high-performing teams, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and collaboration.

• Define and communicate clear goals, roles, and responsibilities to ensure alignment and execution excellence.

• Partner with HR to recruit, retain, and develop top talent to support the company’s growth objectives.

• Look for opportunities to provide cross-functional experiences to identified high potential talents from both, in and outside of the team.

4. Customer Experience and Brand Alignment (Training)

• Ensure retail teams deliver a world-class customer experience that reflects the brand’s values and positioning through training function.

• Implement customer feedback loops and collaborate with CRM team leveraging data analysis to continuously improve customer journey.

• Partner with marketing, product, VMD and CRM teams to ensure consistent messaging and product alignment across channels.

5. Cross-functional relationship management

• Collaborate with key stakeholders, influence and drive to consensus all short- and long-range retail business strategies and objectives for all categories by season and by channels (Full price stores and Outlet stores)

• Be present in key business meetings.

• Project leader role coordination with all other departments (Marketing, MD, CRM, VMD, ECOM and back-office function) and make sure information properly relayed.

• Support the Sales analysis process, develop performance tracking dashboards together with intelligence team and share update with all internal stakeholders: follow-up of business activities and recommended action plan.

6. Budget planning, allocation, and tracking

• Manage allocated category OPEX & T&E to fulfil business priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:

Experience:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in international retail& Fashion, with at least 5 years in a multi-store or regional leadership role.

• 5+ years’ experience managing a team of 5 or more people.

• Proven track record of managing P&L, driving profitability, and scaling retail operations in a high-growth environment.

• Exceptional project management and organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize and execute multiple initiatives simultaneously.

• Strong analytical and financial acumen; adept at leveraging data and reporting platforms to inform business decisions.

• Deep knowledge of the current retail landscape, including omni-channel and DTC trends in Luxury fashion, lifestyle, and performance categories preferred.

• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and skilled in driving operational excellence through clear processes and standards.

• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with a collaborative leadership style and global perspective.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

Skills: 

• English - business level preferred/ Japanese - native

RESOURCEFULNESS/CREATIVITY:

• Consumer obsessed. Have an exceptional curiosity about consumer today

• Own strong business acumen with a sense of urgency  

• Strategic thinker who recognizes opportunities and can influence decision makers to move to execution Detail oriented with excellent organizational skills as a self-starter

• Strong oral and written communication skills; experience crafting strategic recommendations and persuasive presentations to the leadership

• Able to manage a variety of viewpoints, expectations, and stakeholder goals that may conflict, to a compromised solution 

• Have a positive aura with high energy and passion for the growth

• Strong problem solving, interpersonal and organizational skills

• High level of analytical skills and conceptual creative ability

• Track record of strong cross-functional relationship management

• Ability and willingness to travel when necessary