Director, Global Retail Development Portfolio & Programmes

This is a rare opportunity for a senior leader to shape, prioritise, and drive the global retail development (RD) transformation agenda at scale. You will own and orchestrate the full portfolio of complex, cross‑functional programmes that power our physical retail growth across global branded channels. From local market footprint strategies to globally scaled concepts, you will lead and support RD functional teams to turn ambition into executable, governed, and prioritised programmes. Sitting on the Global Retail Development Leadership Team, you will define what truly matters, bringing precise prioritisation, strategic clarity, and structured governance to a portfolio that spans new markets, new store formats, design evolution, real estate strategy, and global rollouts. You will balance forward‑looking portfolio planning and resource optimisation with senior stakeholder alignment, acting as the single point of visibility for programme health, risks, capacity, and outcomes. This is a fully empowered role for a strategic doer, someone who can shape the roadmap, challenge priorities, optimise global resources, and then relentlessly drive delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex global programmes – Drive end‑to‑end delivery of large‑scale, multi‑year retail programmes spanning expansion, real estate, operations, and store development, ensuring projects are delivered on time, on budget, and to the highest quality.
• Programme governance & risk management – Establish and enforce robust governance frameworks, including stage‑gate management, escalation protocols, and interdependency oversight across regions.
• Strategic planning & portfolio management – Translate RD priorities into a clear, actionable multi‑year programme roadmap, making data‑driven decisions on resource allocation, investment trade‑offs, and CapEx/OpEx optimisation.
• Executive stakeholder leadership – Act as a trusted advisor to senior directors, VPs and other senior stakeholders, influencing decisions and providing clear, compelling updates on programme status, risks and value delivery.
• Cross‑functional collaboration – Operate independently across geographies and time zones, coordinating multiple priorities, aligning global, regional and market teams, and ensuring seamless execution across the retail portfolio.
• People leadership & capability building – Lead, develop and performance‑manage a high‑performing team, building strategic programme management capability to scale global RD initiatives.
• Retail expertise – Experience at a leadership level in retail organisations with a strong track record of leading complex, multi‑year programmes across expansion, real estate, operations and store development.
• End‑to‑end programme ownership – Proven ability to own large‑scale global programme portfolios from concept through execution, ensuring delivery on time, on budget, and to quality standards.
• Commercial acumen & data‑driven decision making – Experience managing significant CapEx/OpEx budgets, evaluating business cases and making investment trade‑offs to optimise return.
• Senior stakeholder management & influence – Trusted advisor to senior leaders, with exceptional executive communication, presentation and relationship management skills.
• Global fast‑paced delivery & people leadership – Comfortable working independently across geographies and time zones, managing multiple priorities while leading, developing and performance‑managing teams.

Qualifications

• Fluency in English – written and verbal.
• Proven experience in a senior leadership role within a retail or comparable organisation, with a demonstrable track record of managing complex, multi‑year global programmes and driving organisational change.

Benefits

• Family Care Leave – Enhanced paid leave options for important personal times.
• Insurances – Life and disability insurance cover for all colleagues.
• Wellbeing – Resources and benefits to nurture physical and mental wellbeing, community building and creative inspiration.
• Colleague discount – Generous colleague discount from day 1.
• Bonus – Eligibility for a bonus scheme when goals are reached.
• Workplace – Hybrid policy of an average of 3 days per week in the office, with location discussion during recruitment.

The LEGO Group is highly committed to equal employment opportunity and equal pay and seeks to encourage applicants from all backgrounds (sex, gender identity or expression, race/ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age and religion) to apply for roles in our team. The LEGO Group is fully committed to Children's Rights and Child Wellbeing across the globe. Candidates offered positions with high engagement with children are required to take part in Child Safeguarding Background Screening, as a condition of the offer.

Children are our role models. Their curiosity, creativity and imagination inspire everything we do. We strive to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive culture of play at the LEGO Group, where everyone feels safe, valued and belongs.