Head of New Business Development

Kurt Geiger | About Us

We are an inclusive, creative footwear and accessories brand powered by kindness. We want to empower our talent to be confident and true to themselves, the London way. London is our home, our heartbeat, and we draw inspiration from the energy and spirit of the city; its diversity and creativity. For over fifty years our team of in-house shoe and accessory designers have been creating authentic, distinctive designs from our London headquarters. The rainbow is our signature. It represents the good energy and love we have for our community and the many ways we collectively express our individual style.

We Are One:For Love | For Diversity | For Change | For Equality | For Kindness For Freedom | For Unity Against Racism

Head of New Business Development – Franchise and Joint-Venture (Global)

This is a significant role opening for the Kurt Geiger team as we look for an enthusiastic team player to lead our franchise and joint-venture business portfolio growth, as Kurt Geiger’s global success gains yet more momentum.

• You will have previous experience in managing franchise partners and building strong relationships
• You will drive franchise growth through identifying, developing and executing strategy to acquire new franchise locations/partners
• This role is suitable for someone with solid experience in the franchise and joint-venture industry, business development principles, and sales strategies. The role is focused on building new business development in areas that we do not have a large market share in as yet, so there will be a lot of travel globally and sometimes this will be at short notice.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive plan to expand the franchise business including Identifying potential franchise owners and target market through market research
• Confidently present the Kurt Geiger business to franchise partners and negotiate agreements for smooth transaction
• Execute strategies from start to finish, regularly updating the CIO.
• Work with the head office team to become a business and product expert, representing the brand
• Confident travelling globally to meet with clients independently and ability to meet at short notice (long-haul inclusive)
• Monitor market trends, competitor activities, and customer needs to identify opportunities for franchise expansion.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with new franchisees while providing support and guidance to ensure their success.
• Manage department budget
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, meet deadlines, and deliver results

Experience

• The Ideal candidate will have gained their core skillset franchise and joint-venture strategy planning and development
• The role requires strong management of processes and control procedures and a key understanding in driving a commercial business
• Proven experience in establishing and managing relationships with key business decision-makers.
• Both support and challenge commercial managers and stakeholder partners
• Experience in managing complex business negotiations
• Principle contact for Franchise business
• Key point of contact for the ad-hoc questions that arise in an entrepreneurial environment
• Strong understanding of Kurt Geiger Business and their market share

Skills

• Strong organisation skills
• Comprehensive understanding of global retail market
• Strong written and verbal communication skills that can transcend up and down the business structure
• Able to build strong internal relationships at a senior level across a wide variety of business functions
• High attention to detail with a strong due diligence mindset
• Ability to comfortably work in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Advanced knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint

• Competitive basic salary
• Pension and life assurance
• Enviable discounts
• Gym Discounts
• Half Day, Pay Day Friday (once per month)
• RetailTrust support
• And so much more!

Our Culture  

We’re an energic fast-paced brand that embraces progress and strives for innovation. Hard work is rewarded with new opportunities at every level and kindness is celebrated in everything we do. Our summer working hours accommodate a healthy work life balance. Wellbeing is important to our working culture, which is why we nurture a friendly environment for talent to thrive in, alongside a vibrant social community.

Our Stores

The first Kurt Geiger store opened on London Bond street in 1963.  Today, our brand has global appeal and is distributed in hundreds of cities around the world. We operate over 70 stand-alone stores nationwide, including our new flagship store on London Oxford street, and in over 400 stores globally. Beyond stand-alone stores and retail pop ups, our retail partners include some of the world’s most famous department stores.

We Are One: For Love | For Diversity | For Change | For Equality | For Kindness |  For Freedom | For Unity Against Racism