Manager, Store Design & Merchandising Operations

Company Description

Born/Co-founded in 2009, Maison Francis Kurkdjian is a luxury fragrance house that carries the name of one of the most celebrated perfumers of our time. Based in Paris, Maison Francis Kurkdjian is a Maison housed under LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group.

The Maison is known for its creativity, know-how, product quality, global upscale distribution, and customer experience. Designed out of the tradition of a luxury perfumery, the fragrance nevertheless advocates a contemporary vision of the art, of creating and wearing perfume. Maison Francis Kurkdjian has a very selective distribution network in more than 45 countries over the world within the ultra-premium segment of the market. In the US and North America, products are sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and select Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Holt Renfrew and Nordstrom stores as well as the Maison Francis Kurkdjian boutique in the Miami Design District.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian is part of the LVMH Group.

Job Description

The Manager, Store Design & Visual Merchandising Operations will support the orchestration, seamless execution, and logistics for all Store Design and Visual Merchandising initiatives across the Americas.  This position will work closely together with Retail Partners, Production Vendors, Installation teams, General Contractors, and Paris Headquarters, in order to ensure perfect consistency in planning, as well as alignment to all visual standards of Maison Francis Kurkdjian. The Manager, Store Design & Visual Merchandising Operations, reports to the Director of Store Design and Visual Merchandising based within the NYC metropolitan.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Operations:

• Build and lead all operational foundations to assist in consistent delivery for the in store environment
• Act as Communication lead for Visual Merchandising and Store Design teams – brief VM department on all incoming projects, brief field on outgoing VM project initiatives, guidelines, directives, new store opening cadence, and the like
• Facilitate orders for North America VM deployment – write POs, shipping logistics
• Manage in-store resource allocation and utilization for North America, while working with Visual Merchandising team on specifics of high-profile installation needs
• Broker all aspects of the project life cycle; including creating and managing project schedules for the various project types
• Track project progress, ensuring milestone compliance across department.
• Anticipate issues impacting deliverables, schedules, and budgets while maintaining thorough documentation of communication in/out
• Maintains project review KPIs, owns compiled field photo reports, punch lists, postmortem learnings, HQ debriefings
• Assist in preparation of RFQ (Request for Proposal) in conjunction with Purchasing team
• Indirect oversight of maintenance and repairs with assistance from Visual Merchandising Coordinators for all Maison Francis Kurkdjian North America installations (validate incoming repair requests, act as primary point of contact for field associates, primary point of contact for construction approvals).  Alignment of ongoing monthly maintenance spend to yearly budgets set aside
• Assist with movement of invoices for consultants, vendors, including coding of invoices
• Contribute to the defining and refining Visual Merchandising and Store Design department methods and processes

Business:

• Responsible for clear installation logistics and adherence to agreements.
• identify and mitigate any risks to the project, while looping in leadership.
• Manage budgets alongside Visual Merchandising/ Store Design leads.
• Proactively communicating schedule and scope changes is imperative.
• Contribute in the defining and refining Visual Merchandising and Store Design department methods and processes

Qualifications

• Exceptional visual standards and ability to execute the Maison Francis Kurkdjian visual direction
• 5-7 years project management and/or operational management experience
• Candidates are expected to demonstrate a successful process, track record, and evidence of experience managing complex, multi-location and multi-discipline projects
• Excellent understanding of product design, millwork design, visual merchandising, marketing services, and alignment to larger brand strategy.
• Exceptional communication skills (oral and written) at all levels of organization, both within internal teams, brand headquarters, retail partners, vendors partners.
• Excellent organization skills including time management, exceptional follow-up, and tracking progress
• Solution-oriented and high sense of ownership.
• Abilit