Title: Head of Commercial Partnerships
Department: Commercial Partnerships
Reports to: Chief Commercial Officer
Direct reports: Commercial Partnerships Account Managers
Our Values:
- Every day the energy, creativity and passion of Manolo permeates through our business.
- We believe in the artist and the artisan; we are innovative while still protecting our heritage.
- We strive for timeless beauty and quality craftmanship.
- We celebrate curiosity and believe in working proactively and being solution focused.
- We believe in upholding family values; we treat everyone with honesty, respect and kindness while nurturing our teams to deliver excellence.
- We believe in making people smile.
Purpose:
To provide first line support to the Chief Commercial Officer; responsible for developing and managing all aspects of the Company's domestic and international commercial partnerships for EMEA and APAC; may they be Direct setups with a local operational partner, Joint Ventures, or classic distributors' agreements. To build and implement a compelling strategic business development plan for the commercial partnerships department through strong client partnerships and identifying new opportunities for growth in key global markets.
Responsibilities:
Strategy and analysis:
- Assume responsibility for the commercial partnerships department and its administrative aspects.
- Build and own a strategic business development plan for the wholesale sales channel in EMEA and APAC markets, working in close collaboration with the Chief Commercial Officer.
- Oversee, nurture and develop the Men's wholesale business globally.
- Build detailed seasonal sales plans for existing client base and prospective accounts.
- Oversee and manage the showroom set up and the buying appointments for each new collection, including pre-collections, with the Company's Authorised Franchisees and Distributors in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and in such other geographical areas as the Company may from time to time require, including sales on the world wide web (collectively called 'Clients').
- Oversee and manage the placing and confirming of orders and reorders of the products of the Company by the network of approved Clients.
- Liaise with production department with regard to delivery windows, production issues and general product queries relating to the products sold by the Company.
- Ensure that ordered stock is delivered on time and accurately as per the original order.
- Liaise with Accounts Department where necessary in order management.
- Gain a comprehensive understanding of Client locations and points of sale; regularly review by visiting Clients and Clients' points of sale; offer detailed follow-up action plans per Client.
- Analyse and report on the performances of the Company's Clients; including sell-throughs, budgets and other data; consolidate client feedback and present the findings back to the business identifying growth opportunities and providing a springboard for future business development.
- Identify and develop business and growth strategies for potential future market activation and/or with prospective Clients.
- Develop a strong sense of market needs from each seasonal collection and input this information into the planning process as required: sales trend analysis; collection edits; merchandising and colour/material selections for new collections and offer market-specific guidance in communicating geographically specific product requests.
- Liaise with Communication department to determine trends and build brand and product development strategies for each of the nominated Clients/Markets.
Client experience and relationship building:
- Oversee and manage customer relations with the Company's Clients including customer liaison and building trusting and collaborative relationships with partners, creating action plans with existing and new clients.
- Oversee and manage resolution of Client issues such as repairs, quality control problems and any other Client issues.
Operational excellence:
- Oversee and manage wholesale administrative systems.
- Oversee and manage client-specific commercial projects: pop-up shops; personal appearances; limited edition products; special in-store events etc.
- Review Client requirements and ensure seasonal product training is completed as required.
- Plan and manage the annual wholesale department expense budgets.
Skills and Experience Required:
- Substantial experience in a similar role, ideally within the luxury industry.
- Experience of developing a luxury brand on a global scale within the fashion and/or accessories sector.
- Demonstrate evidence of successful development of an extensive network of international retail (and online) contacts and an understanding of the global marketplace.
- Demonstrable global relationship management experience at a senior level.
- Intellect: Excellent analytical, report-writing skills, accuracy and attention to detail. Strong problem-solving skills with a strong, solution-based mindset. Ability to prioritise tasks and ensure delivery of results within tight deadlines.
- Leadership: High level of accountability required with the ability to direct, motivate and inspire people internally and externally. Experience of motivating and leading successful teams; coaching and mentoring.Strong and motivational team-building skillset to drive excellence in results and all aspects of client experience.
- Solution-focused, self-structured and with the ability to work independently to drive excellence in line with Company guidelines and timelines.
- Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
- Communication: Strong and effective presentation skills and ability to converse with a diverse range of people at all levels.Proficient in MS Office.
- Fluency in English, native or bilingual proficiency, and ideally with a good working knowledge of at least one other language, preferably Italian.
- Ambassador: Representing Manolo Blahnik products and values with passion.
- Excellence: High level of finesse and excellence required in delivery of all tasks.
- Accuracy: High level of accuracy required in all tasks.
Our Benefits:
- 5 pairs of Ambassador Shoes per year.
- 50% Friends and Family Discount.
- 25 days holiday with an additional day off for your birthday, plus bank holidays.
- Option to buy an additional 5 days holiday.
- Hybrid working model
- Pension Contribution.
- Private Medical Insurance.
- 2 Executive Coaching Sessions per year.
- Enhanced Family Friendly Policy.
- Workplace Nursery - salary sacrifice based childcare scheme.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Bippit - financial wellbeing platform
- Employment Engagement Calendar.
