Business Head – Luxury Brands (Dubai)

ENVIRONMENT:

We have an exciting opportuning for a highly experienced Business Head to take charge of the Luxury Brands division of a global Luxury Retailer where you will join its high-performance team in Dubai. You will own end-to-end commercial performance and strategic direction for a multi-brand premium portfolio across the Middle East and North Africa. The role will translate global brand ambition into locally relevant product, merchandising, channel, and trading strategies across more than 100 points of sale and e-commerce. You will also act as the key interface between international brand headquarters and local markets, ensuring collections, pricing, assortments, and go-to-market plans reflect regional demand without diluting brand identity. Key brands may include Lacoste, Karl Lagerfeld, Tumi, Guess, Axel Arigato, CWF, MC2, and Vilebrequin. The successful incumbent will require a suitable Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent practical experience of 10–16 years of progressive experience in buying, merchandising, commercial leadership, or portfolio management within premium or luxury fashion, lifestyle, accessories, or adjacent consumer sectors. Your background will demonstrate ownership of multi-brand performance across physical retail and e-commerce, ideally across MENA or the GCC.

DUTIES:

·        Own end-to-end commercial performance and strategic direction for a multi-brand premium portfolio across MENA, using P&L reviews, trading dashboards, and operating plans to improve profitable growth.

·        Define regional product and merchandising strategy across more than 100 points of sale and e-commerce, aligning assortments, categories, and channel roles to demand and productivity goals.

·        Serve as the primary interface between international brand headquarters and local markets, translating global collections into commercially relevant regional ranges while protecting brand identity.

·        Lead assortment architecture, segmentation, depth, and pricing decisions across customer profiles and channels, improving product-market fit, full-price performance, and inventory productivity.

·        Direct in-season trading decisions through sell-through, stock, margin, and markdown analysis, enabling faster interventions that protect profitability and reduce dependency on discounting.

·        Influence brand partners on range construction, pricing architecture, product mix, and go-to-market plans, strengthening alignment between global strategy and MENA commercial realities.

·        Build and develop a team of buyers through clear standards, coaching, scorecards, and decision rights, increasing commercial accountability, analytical rigor, and decision-making quality.

·        Own the commercial success of priority brands, including Lacoste, by balancing brand equity with regional consumer expectations and strengthening competitive positioning across the GCC.

REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications –

·        A Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent practical experience is expected. Above all, you combine commercial decisiveness with strong product instinct, regional consumer understanding, and the relationship skills required to represent a premium portfolio credibly.

Experience/Skills –

·        You will bring 10–16 years of progressive experience in buying, merchandising, commercial leadership, or portfolio management within premium or luxury fashion, lifestyle, accessories, or adjacent consumer sectors. Your background will demonstrate ownership of multi-brand performance across physical retail and e-commerce, ideally across MENA or the GCC.

·        You know how to translate global collections into locally optimized assortments, define category-level strategies, and balance full-price and outlet economics.

·        You will be confident using performance insights to drive in-season actions, improve sell-through, protect margins, and reduce markdown dependency.

·        You can influence international headquarters on range construction, product depth, pricing architecture, and market approach while preserving brand identity.

·        You will also bring experience building and developing Buying teams, strengthening accountability, analytical discipline, and decision quality.

·        Demonstrated leadership of premium or luxury fashion, lifestyle, accessories, or consumer brand portfolios across MENA, with accountability for commercial performance, margins, and multi-channel growth.

·        Deep expertise in buying, merchandising, assortment architecture, category strategy, range construction, pricing, segmentation, and full price versus outlet channel management.

·        Strong in-season trading capability using sell-through, stock cover, margin, markdown, productivity, and customer performance insights to make decisive commercial interventions.

·        Experience managing relationships with international brand headquarters, influencing product mix, depth, pricing, collections, and go-to-market decisions across culturally diverse markets.

·        Advanced commercial analysis using Excel, PowerPoint, ERP, e-commerce, retail analytics, and performance dashboards to convert product and trading data into profitable action.

·        Proven team leadership experience developing buyers and commercial talent, establishing accountability, structured decision-making, and consistent execution across a broad portfolio.

·        Executive communication and negotiation skills, with the credibility to balance global brand standards, local consumer expectations, partner priorities, and business economics.

Advantageous –

·        Direct experience with brands such as Lacoste, Karl Lagerfeld, Tumi, Guess, Axel Arigato, CWF, MC2, or Vilebrequin, or comparable international premium and luxury labels.

·        Experience managing more than 100 points of sale alongside e-commerce, including full-price, outlet, department store, wholesale, and other regional channel models.

·        Existing relationships with luxury and premium brand headquarters, regional retail partners, or GCC commercial stakeholders, supported by strong understanding of MENA consumer behaviour.