Head of Retail

Who is Allbirds?

At Allbirds, we believe in using business as a force for good. We’re a global footwear and apparel brand with roots in New Zealand and our headquarters in San Francisco. Since 2016, we’ve been on a mission to prove that comfort, design, and sustainability aren’t mutually exclusive. Our commitment to creating better things in a better way is fueled by a belief that the fashion industry needs to focus less on flash and more on thoughtfulness. And as a certified B Corp, we’re dedicated to making the most sustainable products we can using premium natural materials - designed for life’s everyday adventures.

Where we need help

We are looking for an experienced Head of Retail within our Commercial team to be a key member of our business. In this role, you will work closely with the CEO and Retail Teams to drive the strategic direction and operational efficiency in this key channel. 

As the Head of Retail you are responsible for the operations of a retail business, including sales, inventory, and staff. A highly experienced retail leader with a proven track record of overseeing numerous stores and achieving consistent comparable growth while successfully delivering new store openings on schedule and as planned. 

Enthusiastic and inquisitive, with a keen interest in contributing to a growing consumer-facing Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brand. 

Demonstrates a team-oriented mindset, with a willingness and eagerness to engage in all necessary tasks to advance the business objectives. 

Possesses the ability to think independently and approach challenges with a solutions-focused mindset. Committed to supporting the team and advocating for their needs at headquarters, ensuring they have the necessary resources and support to effectively manage their individual operations. 

What does the job entail?

• Operational excellence: Driving initiatives to improve sales, reduce costs, and increase operational efficiency 
• Staff management: Overseeing the hiring, training, and development of staff, including store managers 
• Inventory management: Ensuring that all locations have sufficient inventory 
• Marketing: Developing and executing marketing strategies to increase footfall in stores 
• Customer experience: Maintaining and improving customer service standards 
• Compliance: Ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations 
• Budgeting: Managing company budgets and setting sales targets 
• Performance measurement: Measuring key performance indicators and identifying ways to improve, ability to understand analytics and reporting metrics as they pertain to the retail stores, using this data to make adjustments as needed
• Merchandising: Selecting products and analyzing customer behavior and preferences 
• Continued development of our retail vision, strategy and roadmap:Owner on all things retail with a holistic end-to-end view across both strategy and the operational capabilities required to deliver flawless execution now and as we continue to scale

• Develop strong partnerships: Strong relationships with all  relevant HQ functions to ensure retail is being adequately and effectively served by teams that may not always have brick and mortar top of mind; holding leadership and their teams accountable for retail centric deliverables

• Drive performance: Understand what really moves the needle to improve store performance, both short term tactics and long-term strategies so our stores can exceed expectations across comp growth, EBITDA while maintaining standards across labor and NPS. Optimize core drivers across inventory, merchandising, retail marketing and VM.

• Develop our Team: Develop the flock both within retail and across HQ functions to ensure success, Instill a performance culture that’s right for Allbirds both across the stores and within HQ. Develop world class field management structure to enable flawless execution 

• The Foundational Responsibilities
• Own our retail fleet P&L, budgets, resources and staffing levels, exceeding forecasts and delivering exceptional results.
• Ensure our stores are delivering on our standards in partnership with the owners of those standards from HQ like Employee Experience, Retail Ops, Visual Merchandising and Supply Chain, among others
• Invest time physically in our stores as often as possible, ensuring area-level and store-level meetings/calls are happening at the right frequency and enabling strong two-way dialogue. Promote feedback, idea generation and an “open-door” policy to support employee happiness and give everyone a voice
• Build a Fleet-wide culture that is grown out of the incredible store-level cultures that have already been created.
• Travel expectation: 50% of the time
• Location based in SF, CA
• Reports to Chief Executive Officer

More practical skills needed:

• 14+ years of retail leadership both in stores and successful HQ multifunction leadership
• Must have footwear / apparel experience
• You are a people person, easy to build rapport and camaraderie with
• Entrepreneurial attitude and willingness to take the initiative to build things from scratch
• Comfortable with ambiguity but have an ability to remove ambiguity through process, structure and technology particularly cross-functionally
• Roll up your sleeves  mentality that lends itself to spending time on the sales floor in favor of always directing from HQ
• You take pride in the place you work, and Allbirds’s business, mission and values align with your own 
• Able to comfortably lift 30 lbs when needed 

What do we offer?

The pay range for this role is: $200,000 - $226,000 and must be performed in our San Francisco, CA office. 

Allbirds routinely evaluates pay rates, and the ranges are subject to change based on market rates and other considerations.  We factor in a number of components when determining starting pay, including the job and level you are hired into, location, skillset, experience and peer compensation.

Benefits Overview:

When you join our flock at Allbirds, we offer competitive pay as well as bonus and equity for eligible roles, healthcare, retirement savings, and other great benefits for the whole being. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to a specific plan or program terms. For information about benefits and eligibility, please see the detailed list below.

• Health benefits include Medical, Dental, and Vision plans for employees and eligible dependents. 
• Medical plan options include: PPO, HDHP (100% premium paid for employees, employees only pay premium for dependents), and HMO (in California)
• 100% Company paid OneMedical memberships available for members of certain medical plans. 
• Company HSA contribution for enrolled HSA members.
• Financial benefits include: company equity for eligible roles, 401(k) with employer matching contribution (with immediate vesting and pre and post-tax options), Employee Stock Purchase Plan, company-paid life insurance for full time roles, short-term and long-term disability, pre-tax savings programs for eligible healthcare, childcare and commuter expenses for both full and part-time roles, medical travel expense reimbursement program for full and part-time roles.
• Unlimited PTO for full-time corporate roles, sick and vacation time for  other roles, plus parental leave (with a new parent bonus for full-time employees), volunteering, medical & family care leave, bereavement, jury duty, and voting.
• Support benefits through Modern Health (free mental health benefit with coaching and therapy sessions), Employee Assistance Program and more.
• Other Perks include: the company discount (50%) on most Allbirds products, discount mall through LifeBalance, reimbursement on eligible wellness expenses (full-time employees) and cellphone and more for certain eligible roles.

Diversity

Allbirds is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions on the basis of merit. Allbirds policy prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, marital or veteran status, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information or characteristics (or those of a family member), sexual orientation, pregnancy, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. It also prohibits discrimination based on a perception that anyone has any of those characteristics or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics. All such discrimination is unlawful.