Job description

The Head of Brand Acquisition and Concessions - Luxury Retail at Al Tayer Insignia is a strategically critical leadership role responsible for driving brand acquisition and franchise partnership strategies across Fashion, Jewellery, and Home categories, while managing concession partnerships in department stores including Harvey Nichols Dubai, Bloomingdale’s Dubai, Bloomingdale’s Kuwait, and ecommerce channels. The role oversees sourcing and executing new franchise partnerships in line with strategic growth commitments, managing concession brands’ sales performance and KPIs, and leading the creation of tailored brand development plans aligned with GCC opportunities and customer demand. The position requires managing brand principal visits including CEOs and Vice Presidents, conducting mall and store floor walks, working with Finance on business plan delivery, collaborating with Legal on complex franchise agreement negotiations, and overseeing end-to-end onboarding of new franchise brands. Additional responsibilities include consistent performance reporting, risk management of existing partnerships, forecasting market trends, aligning concession business strategies with wider company objectives, ensuring customer-centric alignment with own bought product strategies, executing trading activities with marketing-led 360 exposure plans, customer activations, window takeovers, in-store experiences, and maintaining premium service standards. The role demands stakeholder management across functions such as commercial, personal shopping, marketing, CRM, legal, joint ventures, projects, finance, and operations, while negotiating favorable contract terms, driving strategic concession projects, aligning brand strategies with commercial KPIs, and maximizing sales opportunities. Required capabilities include a minimum of 12 years’ experience in premium/luxury retail in brand management or retail buying, proven leadership in managing cross functional teams, financial acumen with strong P&L understanding, confident negotiation and legal documentation skills, strategic and analytical thinking, strong organizational skills for multi-project management, high-level networking skills, professional communication and presentation abilities, multilingual proficiency (English required, Italian, French, or Arabic advantageous), integrity in handling sensitive information, and a results-driven approach. The role also requires strong awareness of global and regional fashion/retail trends, customer shopping behaviors, and the ability to build collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders in order to enhance the Al Tayer luxury retail portfolio.