Retail & Education Manager, Middle East

Position

POSITION SUMMARY

Looking for beauty addicts with strategic, global mindsets - if you love beauty and are passionate to lead and develop the retail and education strategies across the region for Kendo Middle East, this job is for you!

The Retail & Education Manager - Middle East will support the Retail and Education Director in driving the education strategy and ongoing creation, implementation, and customization of education tools to drive training and client conversion for ME Kendo Brands and E-com. This role will conceptualize and develop global training tools (including but not limited to: videos, digital learning, client activation assets and training programs) for consistent presentation. Working closely with various cross-functional teams including Brand Management, Creative Services, Marketing, Digital, International Kendo Education teams and Retail Education partners to drive alignment and execution on all Education initiatives on a global basis.

Job responsibilities

• Manage development of comprehensive, disruptive education and client service plans to drive conversion across all training levers, including digital/e-learning, interactive, experiential, and social learning.
• Responsible for driving sales through training, and education for all brands within the KENDO portfolio in retailers. They will ensure assigned stores exceed sales targets through store and advisor trainings, cluster trainings, and events. This position requires building strong relationships with retail partners and providing excellent client service.
• Responsible for the full life cycle of global education content development for Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, Fenty Fragrance and KVD: conducting training needs analyses, leading ideation sessions with global Kendo and retail partners, designing and editing training programs and materials, and researching training methods, technologies, and theories of adult learning on an ongoing basis.
• Partner with Field team to relay client journey and product marketing insights to internal teams to help keep consumers at the center of cross-functional decision-making and to enhance Kendo Middle East clients’ omnichannel shopping experience.
• Initiate, collaborate on, and project manage instructional design and creation of compelling brand and product training materials, digital tools, technology-based trainings, and videos focused on skincare artistry/application, product knowledge and client service that translate brand insights into meaningful, on-brand education initiatives.
• Analyze existing skincare and Beauty training programs and determine the needs to keep content current and innovative, helping to guide the future of the programs.
• Give feedback on the ongoing creation, design, and analysis of Kendo Brand training programs for retail partners, international channels, virtual education, and client service initiatives.
• Train KENDO and SEPHORA Field Sales Team on product knowledge, advanced skincare application techniques, and selling behaviors, functioning as a resource and leader, providing product and sales expertise.
• Partner with Events team to create impactful client facing experiences that reflect brand priorities via Education/training/client service.
• Maintain creative and active problem solving to drive on time and quality delivery for all projects.
• Visit stores regularly to stay connected to project and programming execution and how they live in store.
• Stay connected to other industry skincare and Beauty trends/philosophies within the retail and beauty space.
• Achieve/exceed sales targets by utilizing selling techniques and trainings in-store.
• Provide competitive feedback and client insight.
• Develop and implement cluster trainings and store-level events.
• Conduct business meetings and elevate inventory issues.
• Lead in-store training and education on product launches and core SKUs
• Drive client sales and conversion in all retail partners
• Operate within travel and expense budget.
• Execute virtual consultations and provide content creation for brands.

Profile

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; 5-7 years of related business experience, Beauty, or Retail industry preferred.
• Beauty and Skincare expertise and passion for conducting trainings/public speaking.
• Fluent in English and Arabic (preferred)
• Initiative-taking to meet and exceed goals; drive efficiency and innovation in process to improve overall team function.
• Excellent collaborator & collaborator with agility to collaborate with cross functional teams, also with proven ability to motivate and inspire direct reports and influence across groups at the global, regional, and local level.
• Client-centric, omnichannel mindset
• Creative, solution driven; likes to have fun with beauty.
• Ability to collect and leverage key performance metrics and data to provide insights and make strategic business decisions.
• Strong Project Management skill set with managing multiple workstreams simultaneously with remarkable success; able to prioritize, lead and manage projects in a demanding environment.
• Expertise in Microsoft Office, familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite/InDesign/Canva, experience with a Learning Management System (LMS) is preferred.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally.