BALENCIAGA City Manager | Zurich m/f/d

Job description

About us Cristóbal Balenciaga founded the House in 1917 in his home of Spain. In 1937, he established the brand in Paris, designing its collections there until 1968. Cristóbal Balenciaga had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was referred to as "the master of us all" by Christian Dior and as “The Couturier of the Couturiers” by Gabrielle Chanel. The ultra-modern shapes were trademarks of the house. While the brand’s identity is firmly rooted in its highly conceptual prêt-à-porter collections, its leather goods, footwear, and accessories experience worldwide success as well. Among the archetypal products of the House are its handbag collections. A new focus on the development of Balenciaga ready-to-wear collections for men was quickly established as highly successful. Since October 2015, Demna has designed both men’s and women’s collections as the artistic director. The Balenciaga House, part of the Kering group since 2001, is one of the most influential names in fashion.

BALENCIAGA City Manager, Zurich

We are currently seeking a City Manager who will report to the Retail Manager for our stores in Zurich.

Your opportunity

City Manager is a professional in the fashion industry who is responsible for promoting brand engagement and loyalty to clients, in particular, VICs and VVICs, in order to guarantee store business goals. They are accountable for sustaining the brand image, achieving sales and KPIs goals, managing the store teams, recruiting, retaining and developing clients, and guarantees compliance with all processes and guidelines set by the HQ/HO in order to bring the store to its full potential.

How you will contribute

Business development:

·  Develop and maintain strong business relationships with all relevant internal and external stakeholders to maximise business opportunities and working efficiencies
·  Define, execute and monitor the store action plan to achieve sales targets and KPIs
·  Build a culture withing the store that is based on story-telling and acute analysis of KPIs
·  Understand and monitor the local business environment including market trends and competition, and ensure this is communicated to the team and integrated to the store action plan
·  Proactively define opportunities for growth and execute actions accordingly
·  Communicate high quality relevant feedback to HQs/HO and/or store team

Talent leadership and development:

·  Create and maintain a positive work environment, consistent with Balenciaga Behaviours
·  Build trust and rapport so the team respect you as a strong, fair, reliable leader
·  Provide a clear vision of the goals for the overall team and for the individuals
·  Identify, attract, recruit, develop and retain talent
·  Create and monitor development plans for store management and store teams, driving professional growth through ongoing training and coaching
·  Proactively motivate and challenge the store teams to drive maximum potential
·  Oversee the effective completion of the annual performance appraisal cycle and associated touch point throughout the year

Brand promotion:

·  Behave as a Balenciaga Ambassador, sustain and promote the culture of the brand internally and externally
·  Ensure Balenciaga Signature and Client experience are executed and consistent over time
·  Lead by example conveying Balenciaga behaviours towards clients
·  Know the clients and prospects (quantitative and qualitative) to define action plans
·  Attract and recruit new clients from personal network and external partners
·  Develop clienteling mindset and client's loyalty and retention from beginners to VICs, with the ability to engage with high profile individuals

Process management:

·  Ensure that all the processes are compliant with legal, safety, security, internal requirements, sustainability, HR guidelines
·  Align oneself with ‘best practice’ and coach the team to respect this way of working
·  Ensure execution of Retail Excellence guidelines in the store
·  Supervise inventory activities and warehouse stock
·  Challenge and improve current processes sustaining the growth and ensure efficiency and effectiveness

KPIs (including bit not limited to)

·  Business: sales density, conversation rate, UPT, cross selling rate, transactions
·  Team: sales productivity, training completion rate, turnover rate, staff satisfaction
·  Client: local retention rate, CEE
·  Process: CRM, Omnichannel, back of house

Who you are

·  Sustained successful experience in a managerial position in luxury Retail industry
·  Inclusive leadership style and entrepreneurship
·  High sensitivity to client experience and loyalty
·  Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to influence and inspire
·  Precise, innovative, highly organised, adaptable, dynamic
·  Highly available and responsive with a natural curiosity and proactiveness to redefine
·  Product and Fashion sensitivity
·  Fluent in English and German

Why work with us?

This is a fabulous opportunity to join the Balenciaga adventure and to actively contribute to the development of the business by becoming part of a thriving Atelier in a global Luxury Group that offers endless possibilities to learn and grow.

Balenciaga is committed to supporting your professional development within the House or in the Kering group. We empower leaders to create, build and sustain high performing teams that excel in execution. We guide every employee to reach their full potential in a stimulating and fulfilling workplace environment.

Diversity Commitment

Balenciaga is committed to fostering a diverse workforce. We believe that diversity in all its forms - gender, age, nationality, culture, disability, sexual orientation… - enriches the workplace and our client experience. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we welcome all applications and select our talents based on competencies and in alignment with our brand behaviors. Setting people for success is what we live for. It is part of our interview process to discuss with you how to excel in our company.

·  Full time
·  Europe
·  Switzerland