Independent Director — Retail Footprint and Capital Allocation
Italy·Consumer & Retail·Retail and franchise networks· Turin·Posted 16 August 2026
Applications close 3 December 2026
Retail and franchise networks organisation in Italy
The problem this seat exists to solve
This director will challenge decisions about retail locations, formats and investment. The board needs to understand why a site should open, remain, change or close, including its role in the wider customer proposition. Store-level profitability is important but cannot be interpreted without understanding shared costs, catchment and interactions with other channels.
Judge the network as a portfolio of customer propositions
The appointment is a genuine board seat. Management retains responsibility for operating locations and negotiating property arrangements. The director will contribute to collective strategy and risk oversight beyond the specialist network remit.
Evidence required from candidates
Applicants should have senior retail or distribution leadership with responsibility for a multi-site network and capital decisions. They need financial literacy and experience evaluating location economics through changing customer behaviour. Evidence of both successful investment and disciplined withdrawal is valuable.
Candidates must demonstrate the ability to challenge an attractive growth narrative without becoming reflexively opposed to expansion. Prior board experience is useful where it shows independent judgement and appropriate separation from executive work.
Questions before committing capital
Examine demand assumptions, format suitability, operating costs and the time needed to establish performance. Challenge whether investment proposals include working capital, staffing, maintenance and exit costs. Ask how a new or refurbished location affects nearby sites and digital fulfilment rather than assuming every sale is incremental.
Review alternatives to major investment, including format changes, reduced scope or different service models. Require clear conditions for post-investment review and timely reconsideration where assumptions prove weak.
Follow the consequences
The director will help the board assess whether approved changes deliver customer and financial outcomes, not merely whether projects finish on schedule. Monitor concentration in property obligations and the capacity of management to operate an expanding network. Independence, conflicts and appointment-specific eligibility will be assessed. Success is a more defensible footprint strategy, with transparent trade-offs and a reliable link between capital approval and subsequent performance. The director will not act as an individual property approver or instruct site teams outside collective governance.
Terms
- Where the board sits
- Turin, Italy
- Applications close
- 3 December 2026
- Appointment
- Board appointment
- Compensation
- EUR 45,000–80,000 per year (indicative annual board fee)
- Time commitment in this market
- Typically 8–12 board meetings a year plus committees; Italian boards meet more often than the European average.
Before you apply — Italy
No nationality or residency test applies to an Italian director. The route in that matters is procedural rather than legal: a place on a slate.
- Residency test
- None.
- Nationality test
- None.
- Work authorisation
- A non-executive director attending board meetings does not require a permit. Executive roles for non-EU nationals do, and are subject to the immigration decree quotas.
- Tenure limit once appointed
- No hard statutory cap. The 2020 Corporate Governance Code treats service exceeding nine years in the previous twelve as a circumstance that compromises independence, requiring the board to assess and disclose.
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