Sephora
Retail People Leader
- Permanent
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Experience 2 - 5 yrs
Job expiry date: 19/11/2025
Job overview
Date posted
05/10/2025
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Salary
Undisclosed
Compensation
Comprehensive package
Experience
2 - 5 yrs
Seniority
Senior & Lead
Qualification
Bachelors degree
Expiration date
19/11/2025
Job description
Sephora Middle East seeks a Retail People Leader to drive the people strategy across 50+ stores in 5 countries, acting as an operational leader close to stores and teams to inspire, coach, and develop talent while embedding consistent people practices and Sephora’s culture. The role partners with Retail leaders, People Centers of Excellence, and Sephora University to align people priorities with business goals; shapes organizational design, rewards, HR operations, and learning initiatives; attracts, develops, and retains top retail talent; identifies and grows high-potential talent to build succession pipelines; leads performance management with clarity, accountability, and fairness; and leverages people analytics and KPIs to generate insights, action plans, and decisions. Scope includes overseeing the full employee lifecycle from onboarding to offboarding; partnering with HR operations for seamless execution; providing guidance on performance, development, and change management; participating in business and People reviews to track progress, share best practices, and resolve challenges; ensuring compliance with policies, standards, and retail procedures; fostering trusted relationships at all levels; championing diversity, equity, and inclusion at every lifecycle stage; acting as a visible culture ambassador; creating an engaging environment to motivate and empower teams; using employee feedback to shape actions; handling employee relations matters with fairness and discretion, including investigations and disciplinary processes; and ensuring consistent policy application to sustain trust, fairness, and engagement.
Required skills
Key responsibilities
- Partner with Retail leaders, People CoEs, and Sephora University to align people priorities with strategic business goals
- Shape organizational design, rewards, HR operations, and learning initiatives that accelerate commercial outcomes
- Attract, develop, and retain retail talent across 50+ stores, building strong and engaged teams at all levels
- Identify high-potential talent and create development paths and succession pipelines in partnership with Sephora University
- Lead performance management with clear standards, accountability, and fairness across the retail network
- Leverage people analytics and KPIs to provide insights, build action plans, and influence leadership decisions
- Develop and lead a high-performing People team that is trusted and business-savvy
- Oversee the full employee lifecycle to ensure a consistent and engaging experience from onboarding to offboarding
- Partner with HR operations to ensure seamless execution of people processes and programs
- Coach leaders on performance, development planning, and change management to drive capability uplift
- Participate in business and People reviews to track progress, share best practices, and resolve operational challenges
- Ensure compliance with policies, standards, and retail procedures across all stores and countries
- Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion across every stage of the employee lifecycle
- Act as a visible culture ambassador to ensure Sephora’s values are lived daily across the retail network
- Create an engaging environment that motivates and empowers teams to deliver excellence
- Leverage employee feedback to craft and deliver action plans that drive meaningful change
- Handle employee relations matters with discretion, including investigations and disciplinary processes
- Ensure consistent application of policies to sustain trust, fairness, and engagement across markets
Experience & skills
- Demonstrated experience as an HR leader in senior HR roles, preferably within retail or other fast-paced, multi-country environments
- Proven ability to manage large retail networks and align people strategies with commercial priorities
- Inclusive leadership mindset with a passion for building diverse, high-performing teams
- Hands-on operational leadership capable of balancing strategy with execution in stores-focused contexts
- Skilled communicator and influencer with credibility across all organizational levels
- Proactive, analytical, and solutions-oriented approach with strong change management experience
- Resilience and adaptability to thrive in dynamic, multicultural environments
