EVP – Operations Transformation — Luxury Retail Portfolio

The mandate

The portfolio's clients increasingly move between boutique, remote adviser and digital journeys. An item may be discovered in one market, reserved by an adviser, sourced from another location and delivered to a different address, with later alteration, return or repair. Internal operations still treat many of those steps as channel exceptions. Stock is buffered by location, advisers rely on manual escalation, digital orders are sometimes fulfilled through costly paths, and returns or after-sales cases lose context as they cross systems and teams.

The EVP – Operations Transformation will redesign that journey as one operating system while preserving the discretion expected in luxury service. The remit includes omnichannel order management, inventory governance, boutique operations standards, distribution, transport, returns, after-sales coordination, process excellence and relevant operating platforms. Retail and brand leaders own the client relationship and commercial proposition; technology builds core systems; finance validates value. The EVP is accountable for making the promise executable across those boundaries.

This planned replacement is not a mandate for generic retail standardisation. A high-value client request, a rare product or a ceremonial boutique moment may justify handling that would be uneconomic at scale. The transformation must distinguish purposeful exception from workaround. The board wants fewer failures, clearer economics and better colleague tools—not service reduced to the lowest common process.

Scope and operating context

Based onsite in Paris, the executive will influence approximately 750 employees and material partners across France and a wider international region. Direct and matrix leaders cover boutique operations, fulfilment design, inventory control, distribution, transport, returns, after-sales and transformation delivery. The network relies on specialist carriers, repair ateliers, customs advisers and technology providers alongside internal teams.

Inventory carries different meanings across the portfolio. Some pieces are broadly replenishable; others are scarce, allocated or reserved for named clients. Boutiques require presentation depth, and client advisers need confidence that a remote promise will be honoured. Availability cannot be improved simply by making all stock universally orderable. Rules must reflect product sensitivity, custody, strategic presentation and the probability of completion.

Cross-border fulfilment introduces tax, customs, export, payment, fraud and returns requirements. Digital convenience may also generate split shipments, premium packaging and repeated delivery attempts whose cost is not visible in channel reporting. The EVP will work with qualified specialists to design permissible flows and ensure commercial teams understand where a promise cannot be offered responsibly.

First-year agenda

The first one hundred days will trace priority client journeys across boutique and digital channels. The EVP will examine inventory accuracy, reservation, sourcing, packaging, delivery, alteration, return, refund, repair and communication. They will quantify waiting, manual touch, failed promise, transport, packaging, return and service cost, while capturing where colleague judgement creates value rather than inefficiency.

The executive will then define service and fulfilment archetypes. Standard replenishable orders, high-value delivery, boutique transfer, remote clienteling, gifting, cross-border requests and after-sales cases may require different controls and promises. Each archetype will state eligibility, ownership, service level, custody, communication, cost and exception authority. Front-line colleagues should be able to explain the promise without navigating hidden internal policy.

Inventory governance is an early intervention. Reservation and allocation rules will distinguish active client intent from indefinite holding, presentation need from local habit and legitimate scarcity from data failure. Rebalancing should occur through transparent triggers rather than personal escalation. Inventory accuracy in priority boutiques and distribution nodes must improve before broader availability is advertised.

Returns and after-sales will be treated as part of the relationship. The EVP will establish clear triage, product custody, technical ownership, client communication and feedback into quality or product teams. Items suitable for return to sale, repair, refurbishment or disposal must follow controlled paths. A fast refund with no understanding of repeat failure is not complete resolution.

Several focused releases should reach operation within the year: for example, a reliable remote-reservation flow, a cross-channel returns journey or a single case view for repair. Each must improve client and colleague outcomes and demonstrate full economics. By year-end, manual escalation, avoidable split fulfilment and lost case context should have declined materially in the selected journeys.

Leadership responsibilities

The EVP will lead the transformation portfolio and the operating forums that resolve cross-channel failures. Work will be prioritised by client consequence, recurring cost and strategic importance, not by which function owns the loudest project. Each initiative needs a business owner, adoption plan, measurable outcome and path to retirement of the old process.

Front-line involvement is essential. Boutique advisers, stock colleagues, customer-care teams, repair specialists and distribution employees will help design and test new work. The executive must prevent central teams from treating local workarounds as resistance before understanding the need they serve, while still removing practices that create custody, fairness or inventory risk.

External partners will be governed against the luxury promise as well as cost. Carrier selection, packaging, delivery conduct, repair quality and information security all affect trust. Contracts should contain useful performance evidence, remedy and transition rights, and the portfolio must retain internal knowledge of critical services.

Measures of success

The board will review confirmed-promise fulfilment, inventory accuracy, reservation conversion and ageing, split shipments, failed delivery, return cycle, refund timing, repair turnaround, severe custody events and service contacts. Economics will include fulfilment and packaging cost, inventory productivity, avoidable markdown and working capital, segmented by journey rather than only channel.

Client and colleague outcomes include confidence in availability, reduced effort, case continuity and appropriate use of exception authority. Transformation measures will track adoption, old-process retirement, delivery reliability and benefits realised in budgets or capacity. The EVP will not receive credit for moving work from boutiques to an invisible central queue.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring 22–28 years of operations leadership in luxury, premium retail, e-commerce, hospitality, high-value logistics or another service environment where custody and personalisation matter. They must have led physical and digital fulfilment together and operated across several countries. Experience with after-sales, repair or high-value returns is particularly relevant.

The board will seek examples of improving inventory availability without eliminating meaningful scarcity, designing an exception model that colleagues could use responsibly and fixing a cross-channel journey through process, data and leadership change. Candidates should understand customs, specialist transport, inventory custody and the economics of premium service.

The successful executive will be disciplined without making service mechanical. They must value front-line judgement, challenge manual rituals that lack purpose and communicate complex operating choices to brand leaders and the board. Visible engagement in boutiques, distribution and service operations is expected.

Compensation and appointment terms

Expected base compensation is EUR 285,000–390,000, with annual incentive and long-term participation linked to service, cash and transformation outcomes. Final terms will reflect comparable portfolio scope, operational depth and current arrangements. Relocation or responsible treatment of forfeited remuneration will be considered during final appointment discussions.

Confidentiality

The portfolio is not named because the role touches client-service weaknesses, operating partners and unreleased transformation choices. Detailed journey and network information will be shared only after identity, conflict and confidentiality review. Applications must not include client identities, product movements, security procedures or proprietary service records from another organisation.