Head of Wholesale - Central London (37.5 hours)

Location: London, UK

Position reports to: Director of Wholesale (CHO), Managing Director UK and Ireland (LHO)

Works closely with: Marketing, HQ, Trainers, Retail Managers

Summary: As the Head of Wholesale, you will focus on achieving commercial targets, strengthening activities, building relationships, and embedding our brand DNA in the UK/IRE market. You will lead a wholesale head office team and field-based roles. You will collaborate with our partners and work towards growth objectives in a dynamic retail environment, taking responsibility for implementing growth plans. You will act as both a strategist and a practical leader, aiming to inspire and motivate. You will select, guide, and support the development of our wholesale partners, maintaining the values and philosophy of Rituals.

Responsibilities:

• Achieve ambitious growth objectives within the UK/IRE market in collaboration with the Director of Wholesale.
• Coach, guide, and develop your wholesale team.
• Select Rituals' wholesalers, ensuring they embrace our propositions and identify with our brand values and customer-centric philosophy.
• Develop high-quality strategic account management plans and ensure their execution aligns with the distribution strategy.
• Manage cross-functional collaborations within Rituals and with external parties, maintaining close contact with key stakeholders, including the MD of the UK/IRE.
• Drive the growth of the business with an omni-channel mindset.
• Manage and develop the nationwide wholesale business to meet objectives, targets, team development, profitability, and sales growth.
• Be fully accountable for the allocated territory, develop and manage relationships with key partners, devise and implement the annual business plan, manage and coach the wholesale team, and liaise with other departments.
• Ensure all partners represent the Rituals brand in line with Visual Merchandising/Brand Guidelines.

Wholesale Strategy: As the Head of Wholesale, you will be responsible for developing and executing a comprehensive strategy to drive growth and achieve commercial targets. This involves carefully selecting and nurturing wholesale partners who align with our brand values and customer-centric philosophy. You will develop high-quality strategic account management plans that attract, develop, and retain key partners. Creativity is essential in this role, as you will need to continuously come up with innovative ideas to strengthen win-win relationships and amplify the impact of our Account Managers. You will be part of the UK/IRE Management Team and participate in both local and international leadership teams. This role requires managing cross-functional collaborations within Rituals and with external parties, maintaining close contact with key stakeholders, including the MD of the UK/IRE. The strategy for growing the business involves maximising the sales potential of our existing accounts and ensuring that Rituals is correctly positioned in the market as a Luxury Brand. This will be achieved through a mixture of self-service with key partners, online channels, and Shop in Shops environments.

Qualifications:

• A minimum of 8+ years of experience, preferably in the beauty industry.
• Proven experience in headquarters partner discussions at a strategic level.
• Pure player expertise and industry knowledge.
• Experience in 'prestige' wholesale and a passion for cosmetics.
• Expertise in shop-in-shop concepts and online partners/platforms.
• Proven experience in implementing and executing wholesale strategies.
• Direct access to beauty retail networks and buying groups.
• Strong strategic, analytical, and organisational skills.
• The ability to present with conviction and infectious enthusiasm, regardless of the audience.
• A customer-focused and results-driven approach.
• Experience in a matrix organisation is an advantage.

Competencies and Personal Attributes:

• Clear understanding and acceptance of brand attributes and place in the market.
• A growth mindset and a level of resilience in a dynamic environment.
• Excellent presentation skills at all levels, both written and verbal.
• Excellent Word, Excel, and Outlook skills.
• Enthusiastic, self-confident, and self-motivated.
• Flexible and adaptable.
• Commercial business acumen.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Innovative – a provider of solutions.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Excellent personal presentation.
• Empathetic.
• Proactive.
• Willing to adapt and take on new challenges and driven to continually improve.
• Open to sharing and developing new ideas and methodology.