National Head of Digital | Retail | Marks & Spencer | UAE

Job Requisition ID: 167737 

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United A”rab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world's most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organisation to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate. 

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day.

Overview of the role

The Head of Digital will be accountable for the entire Digital operations across all MENA regions to deliver sales and profit targets whilst providing market leading customer experience.  The job holder is responsible for developing the current operation, landscape and spearheading growth whilst delivering service levels, meeting business objectives in line with budget and company business plan for the entire MENA region. The role holder is responsible for 7 x external Food 3rd Party relationships across the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and KSA which operate in over 20 stores, the M&S App across UAE, QA (Being developed) and KSA (Being developed), our C&H 3rd party external Partnerships in Egypt, KSA and the UAE and our Website which trades across the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and KSA.

The job holder will be responsible for the entire operation from strategy to process flow, improvement, technology and operations; including, but not limited to the commercial calendar, financial profitability, outsourcing, vendor selection, legal and performance of the sites in collaboration with the Digital MD. The individual will form part of the M&S leadership team and operate across the brand to ensure consistency, economies of scale and performance in each territory.

This position is critical to the success of the M&S MENA operations which include the overall business growth strategy in Foods, the clothing & home goals and the shift in customers shopping habits. This will be achieved through holding end to end P&L accountability and delivering best practice and experience.

The role is responsible for the stakeholder engagement with the Principle, the M&S department function leads, the central retail & digital team. Markets covered are UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, KSA with support to Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

What you will do: -

Description of Accountability:

Strategy & Business Development

·         The role holder develops, builds and lead the Brands Digital Strategy and roadmap for business development

·         Focused on expanding the brand presence, running profitable operations and following the group priorities

·         Understanding the Digital trends across each region, remain relevant and ready to adopt and grow

·         Constantly explore opportunities to drive customer experience, growth, loyalty and data

·         Ability to recognise new opportunities in a retail environment to drive sales

·         Build and develop the Digital team and structure; ready to adapt & deliver at pace

Trade & Operations

·         Digital drive: 62M at 5% of sales

·         Trade all platforms 7 countries across the MENA region (7 active market, 20 Stores active with Digital Presence with plans to cover entire estate (49 Stores by 2023)

·         Ensure Merchandising excellence

·         Deliver market specific solutions that drive locality and reward our customers

·         Ensure the promotional and marketing activity drive sales across each BU, building loyalty

·         Use the commercial calendar and BU strengths to ensure consistency, economies of scale and performance in each territory

·         Scope, build and deliver the AFG platform; launching in the UAE & KSA

·         Broaden our footprint through active participation with strategic partners: Build on Deliveroo/Talabat, Instashop introduction: 19M sales stretch @11% foods business

·         Explore other 3rd party opportunities for clothing and drive Amazon proposition to deliver 3M additional sales (C&H)

·         M&S Food App in Abu Dhabi & Qatar

·         Digital first development: Store openings, 3rd parties, in-store process & experience

·         Drive engagement and awareness of digital channels and business development throughout our territories through training, development and continuous improvement

·         Drive customer engagement and feedback through NPS/VOC in each region

Financial and Business Planning

·         Manage stakeholders effectively with Retail Operations, Merchandising & Buying and Group Logistics to deliver KPI’S in line with the sales plan and budgeted costs

·         Build and deliver annual budget in line with business plan

·         Budgets are as below:

o   Flagship C&H Website

o   AFG C&H Website

o   Food App Qatar

o   Food App UAE

o   3rd Party Foods

o   3rd Party C&H

·         Conduct feasibility study on new markets to understand requirements to achieve the margin.

·         2021 Projects:

o   M&S Platform Migration

o   Qatar Food App

o   RFID

o   Egypt presence

o   Identify and deliver new initiatives

People

·         Work with HRBP to deliver targeted people solutions to create employee engagement, compliance to HR Policies and local legislation

·         Set up succession plans to sustain continuity and development

·         Maintain a training and development program with HR to ensure the team have relevant training in place from induction to up-skilling training.

·         Role model M&S and AL Futtaim Leadership Competencies and Way behaviours as a Senior leader

·         Build, coach and develop the team across each region ensuring the talent pipeline

·         Ensure clear goals and accountabilities are set and communicated to the team

·         Drive a “Digital as usual” mindset across the business

Corporate and Brand

·         Promote Brand and Corporate Values throughout the Digital team and the ways of working with M&S, stores, operations and depending functions within Al Futtaim

·         Ensure compliance with all relevant legislation, regulation and corporate governance practices

·         Works in partnership M&S UK to develop best practices and maintain a good working relationship

·         Regularly and proactively communicates with M&S brand principle to establish and maintain a good working relationship and partnership.

·         Work with M&S principle to resolve issues and deliver opportunities for driving availability at lower

Required Skills to be successful:

• Proven track record of success in managing end to end digital operations to budget and timeline
• Strong working knowledge across digital ecosystems including back end business integration
• Stakeholder management and engagement
• Up-to-date knowledge of the latest trends and best practices in Digital within the retail industry.
• Experience in managing and driving multiple teams in different locations
• Motivated and can deliver Financial Budget and Key Performance Indicators
• Understanding of customer research and the ability to amend the range to reflect customer requirements and feedback
• Strong Leadership and people management skills
• Excellent time management skills with the ability to multi-task
• Fact based, assertive and respectful
• Strong problem identification, resolution & conflict management skills.
• High level of motivation, enthusiasm and persistence.
• Ability to be a change agent within the organisation.
• Customer centricity and individual Accountability
• Continuous Improvement
• Motivated and can deliver Financial Budget and Key Performance Indicators
• Competent is using MSOffice Tools, SAP or similar ERP pack
• Demonstrated experience in leading and executing complex supply chain operations in a multi country environment
• Strong presentation and communication skills to deliver information, results and coordination among different parties

What equips you for the role:

• Bachelor Degree with similar background 7-10 years work experience in multichannel retail environment
• Experience managing all aspects of Digital including Trade, commercial, training and development, procedural creation and ownership and the daily management of the operations.
• Building roadmap & Strategy
• P&L Accountability
• Highly analytical person with great precision and attention to detail
• Problem solving

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