Manager, Retail Strategy

Company Description
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is a global leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in five categories: apparel, accessories, home, fragrances, and hospitality. For more than 50 years, Ralph Lauren's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. The Company's brand names, which include Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, among others, constitute one of the world's most widely recognized families of consumer brands. At Ralph Lauren, we unite and inspire the communities within our company as well as those in which we serve by amplifying voices and perspectives to create a culture of belonging, ensuring inclusion, and fairness for all. We foster a culture of inclusion through: Talent, Education & Communication, Employee Groups and Celebration.

Position Overview
The Manager, Retail Strategy will bring in-depth understanding of elevated customer experiences and a passion for frictionless employee operations to the management of strategic projects and technology initiatives development, as a resource for stakeholders, colleagues and stores to ensure optimal across four key areas:
* Store Technology Customer Experience & Program Management
* Digital Product Development & Implementation
* Store Process & Support Oversight
* Strategic Project Execution

Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Business Objectives Store Technology CX & Program Management
• Oversee connected retail product management for retail store teams, including ensuring customers & end user teams are centric in decision-making & prioritization
• Engineer connected retail customer & employee experience journeys development, mapping & alignment with stakeholders, partners & vendors to ensure best-in-class experiences in our stores through our digital store ecosystem of tools
• Drive 360 program mechanics for our digital-to-physical store fulfillment model - store capacity planning, forecasting, systemic management & stakeholder reporting
• Improve efficiency and customer experience through analytics by delivering action-enabling insights, reporting and learnings to stakeholders, performance partners and end-users Digital Product Development & Implementation
• Manage retail business requirement definition, discovery, prioritization (including business partner alignments) with product partners
• Drive digital & retail IT Product UAT, feature/fix testing in staging & production environments
• Lead store & customer impact strategic activations, including change-management, end-user adoption training and process improvement to achieve business targets Retail Digital Technology Store Process & Support
• Own process optimization for stores digital technology use to enable effective customer & employee experience & disciplined inventory fulfillment execution
• Lead store digital tech testing & hardware installation validation
• Deliver store user training execution & adoption validation as needed
• Build & own the consistent delivery of critical reporting that includes retail strategy, special project progress & outputs, as well as retail business results to form cohesive, 360-degree views of division results & impact Business Objectives Store Technology CX & Program Management
• Oversee connected retail product management for retail store teams, including ensuring customers & end user teams are centric in decision-making & prioritization
• Engineer connected retail customer & employee experience journeys development, mapping & alignment with stakeholders, partners & vendors to ensure best-in-class experiences in our stores through our digital store ecosystem of tools
• Drive 360 program mechanics for our digital-to-physical store fulfillment model - store capacity planning, forecasting, systemic management & stakeholder reporting
• Improve efficiency and customer experience through analytics by delivering action-enabling insights, reporting and learnings to stakeholders, performance partners and end-users Digital Product Development & Implementation
• Manage retail business requirement definition, discovery, prioritization (including business partner alignments) with product partners
• Drive digital & retail IT Product UAT, feature/fix testing in staging & production environments
• Lead store & customer impact strategic activations, including change-management, end-user adoption training and process improvement to achieve business targets Retail Digital Technology Store Process & Support
• Own process optimization for stores digital technology use to enable effective customer & employee experience & disciplined inventory fulfillment execution
• Lead store digital tech testing & hardware installation validation
• Deliver store user training execution & adoption validation as needed
• Build & own the consistent delivery of critical reporting that includes retail strategy, special project progress & outputs, as well as retail business results to form cohesive, 360-degree views of division results & impact Strategic Project Execution Management
* Mange critical implementation and execution components for retail strategy special projects, including strategic technology launches, activations, activation validation and training
* Take leadership role in the communication and adoption of important retail strategy special projects, including new technologies & tools, evolutions of processes, and important mindset shifts that support organization objectives
* Manage all special project timelines, communications, resource allocation & distribution, stakeholder progress reporting, roll-out progress updates, and business impact review & analytics
* Support training and implementation of operating processes & procedures as needed, including field implementation if relevant to the special project
* Apply critical problem solving & reasoning skills to ensure the effectiveness of special projects in meeting company and division objectives, overcome roadblocks or market headwinds, maximize benefits for employees, ensure superior customer experiences, and elevate the brand
* Liaise between key business teams & end users to improve effectiveness of business decisions with respect to strategic projects People
* Passionate about being an ambassador of the Brand in our stores and with performance partners internally & externally.
* Focused on delivering on a superior service that is customer and employee centric, delivering elevated lifestyle experiences
* Exhibit pride through positive demeanor, body language and personal presentation.
* Demonstrates professional etiquette through integrity, honesty, and respect for others.
* Embrace diversity and inclusiveness through our people, customer, and brand.
* Builds strong partnerships with cross-functional teams in the execution of business operational workflows and projects
* Comfortable communicating with a wide range of diverse working groups, as well as multiple layers of leadership, including enterprise leadership
* Strong passion for technology, digital marketplace, and new ideas, with an innovator mindset to exploring new ways to grow a business and approach business obstacles differently Customer Focused
* Demonstrate customer-centric values and foster an environment where service excellence & an elevated experience is a top priority
* Drive the effective management and execution of strategically impactful business decisions and processes for customer facing and customer-experience-impacting operations and initiatives Brand
* Demonstrate a value of the importance of initiatives and strategies that enhance store environments, create consistently compelling shopping experiences, and uphold superior standards that represent the brand as outlined in our company values

Experience, Skills & Knowledge
Critical Skills & Competencies
* Experience: 3-5+ Years' Experience in Project Management, Business Development, Consulting, Business Operations, Strategy Or Communications, Preferably With Exposure To Luxury Or Upmarket Fashion Or Consumer Brands, Hospitality, Or Media Industries
* Required Technical Skills: Strong Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, Word, SharePoint/Office File Management. Technology background a plus.
* Required Other: Self-motivated, Results driven, Strong in Communication, Complex Problem-Solving, Content & Process Organization, Detail Oriented, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Data Management & Reasoning - Always-On Learner, Actively Engaged & Driven