Vice President, Omnichannel Technology

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over six decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. The Group, in its endeavour to excel as a hybrid retailer, has reinforced its distribution and marketing services with a portfolio of eight owned brands and over 300 international brands in the luxury, beauty, fashion, and art de vivre categories. More recently, the Group expanded its expertise into new categories of luxury watches, jewellery, and eyewear.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken with the customer at heart. Be it constantly reinventing itself or focusing on innovation to provide luxury experiences at over 750+ experiential retail stores, online and through mobile apps, each touch point leads to delighting the customer.

Today, Chalhoub Group stands for 16,000 skilled and talented professionals across seven countries, whose cohesive efforts have resulted in the Group being ranked third in the Middle East and first in Saudi Arabia as a Great Place to Work®.

To keep the innovation journey going, the Group has set up "The Greenhouse", which is not just an innovation hub, but also an incubator space and accelerator for start-ups and small businesses in the region and internationally. This is just one of the several initiatives taken by the Group to reinvent itself, catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. The Group has also been embedding sustainability at the core of its business strategy with a clear commitment towards people, partners and the planet, and by being a member of the United Nations Global Compact Community and signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles.

Role Summary

As the VP of Omnichannel Technology, the successful candidate will be responsible for the technology strategy & delivery of retail, supply chain and digital solutions and will collaborate with Business Technology Partners and key stakeholders to support cross-functional transformation programmes and key technology projects across the Group.

Key responsibilities include product evaluation, technology impact assessments, project blueprints, high-level design oversight, and ensuring adherence to standards across projects. Reporting to the Chief Data & Technology Officer, the ideal candidate will also have a proven track record in e-commerce web and mobile development, particularly with Salesforce Commerce Cloud and marketing technology platforms, along with strong leadership skills to manage large teams and collaborate with C-level executives.

Additionally, engage with stakeholders across commercial, joint venture, retail, supply chain, and digital technology areas, as well as with external partners. Validate and develop solution designs for enterprise systems, participate in delivery projects, and ensure compliance and product quality. Previous experience in software and hardware implementation projects, along with a successful track record in the retail and supply chain and digital technology sector, is essential, as is experience managing senior stakeholders.

What you'll be doing

- To undertake high level technical architecture & design oversight of the Retail & Supply Chain & Digital Tech products working with product development teams both onshore/offshore and 3 rd parties.
- Responsible for the design, development, execution, and delivery of retail & supply chain & digital technology strategies and products, utilizing Agile methodologies and product teams to drive business growth and enhance customer experience.
- Act as the focal point and ultimately the Technology leader for all Retail and Supply Chain Technology & Digital solutions, advising your stakeholders on the Technology roadmap as well as the wider Group Technology roadmap across the Technology Leadership Team
- Work with the CDTO to shape the future technology and solution roadmap for Operations, ensuring a thorough understanding of Operations strategies, expected outcomes, deliverables, and the value that needs to be generated from technology, while identifying potential enhancements to products and platforms that will drive business value.
- Chair and present the progress of the Retail & Supply Chain & Digital Technology roadmaps to the Executive Board.
- Ensures that Operations / Retail and Supply Chain / Digital Tech solution requirements are defined, groomed and planned effectively for DevSecOps delivery management
- Actively manages the operational activity of external vendors and delivery partners supporting solution design/build activity
- Pro-actively manages and mitigates delivery risks, ensuring prompt escalation and resolution
- Ensures the successful management of the service transition process from project to business-as-usual
- Work in close partnership with services colleagues to ensure that product issues are within the agreed Service Level Agreements, running costs are within plan, and work collaboratively to continually enhance the product quality and avoid 'technical debt' (outdated technical components)
- Oversee the development and maintenance of digital and retail & supply chain systems for example systems such, CRM, Loyalty, Ecommerce, POS, Planning, Merchandising and Warehouse Management, ensuring optimal performance and usability.
- Collaborate with the Chief Omnichannel Officer and Chief Operation Officer, VP of Products and various directors within the business, as well as cross-functional teams, to drive omnichannel initiatives and define strategies that create seamless customer experiences across all touchpoints while delivering technology elements.
- Enhance our Agile and SAFe Agile methodologies to increase speed to market and adaptability to changing business requirements.
- Extensive knowledge of managing budgets. Manages the on-budget delivery of solution delivery efforts through close tracking of budget and forecast spend, pro-actively recommending opportunities to maximise the ROI of project budgets.
- The ability to construct detailed TCOs and business cases.
- Managing a team of 100+ employees.

What you'll need to succeed

- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Business or a related field; Master's degree is preferred.
- 15+ years of experience in digital technology leadership roles, with a focus on e-commerce and mobile website development, along with extensive post-graduate experience in Supply Chain and Retail-related solutions, ideally in business-facing IT and digital roles.
- A solid background and experience in the Retail, Supply Chain, Delivery and Digital Technology domains experience delivering and managing complex solutions (multi-platform, multitechnology, 3rd parties).
- Indepth experience in the application of technology to business processes and have a good understanding of Retail and Supply Chain and Digital Technology platforms.
- Proven experience managing multi-million budgets and full P&L.
- Experience of Agile and Waterfall software development lifecycles.
- Previous experience of software development / coding during their career.
- Demonstrated ability to build consensus and lead amongst diverse stakeholders.
- Demonstrated experience in digital, retail, and supply chain systems, including CRM, Loyalty, E-commerce, POS, Planning, Merchandising, and Warehouse Management, as well as SAP retail systems like ERP, WMS, and other digital and supply chain solutions.
- Proven experience working with Salesforce Commerce Cloud and other ecommerce platforms.
- Strong understanding of customer KPIs and metrics, with the ability to analyze data and drive insights.
- Experience managing large teams of 50+ resources, including both onshore and offshore teams.
- Strategic thinker with a demonstrated ability to solve complex problems and drive business results.
- Experience in developing and mentoring talent, with a focus on building high-performing teams.
- Deep understanding of how digital and retail organisations manage their end-to-end product flow, from buying and assortment through to ultimate customer fulfilment
- Possess a good working knowledge of the digital, retail and supply chain business landscapes as well as a familiarisation of processes across the retail, supply chain and digital domains cross industries.

What we can offer you

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.

Department TECH