Al Futtaim Jobs - Head of Digital | M&S| UAE (Dubai, AE)

Job Requisition ID: 92991 

No two days are the same at Al-Futtaim, no matter what role you have. Our work is driven by the desire to make a difference and to have a meaningful impact with the goal of enriching everyday lives. Take our engaging and supportive work environment and couple it with a company culture that recognises and rewards quality performance, and what do you get? The chance to push the limits every single day.

 

As a humble family business that started on the banks of the Dubai Creek in the 1930s, Al-Futtaim has expanded to a presence in 31 countries, a portfolio of over 200 companies, and 42,000 employees. You’ll find us in industries ranging from automotive and retail, to finance and real estate, and connecting people with international names like Lexus, Ikea, Robinsons, and Adidas. Our team is proudly multicultural and multinational because that kind of diverse representation gives us the global mindset to grow and impact the people, markets, and trends around us.

 

Come join us to live well, work better, and be the best.

ROLE PURPOSE:

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.

 

KEY ROLE SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIES:
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

• 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 costs and the delivery of current and future commercial targets.

 

Minimum Education,Experience and Knowledge:
• University degree
• 10+ years work experience in multichannel retail environment
• 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

 

Job-Specific Skills:

• 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 skills

 

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