ABOUT KENDO

Kendo Holdings, Inc. is a San Francisco-based beauty brand developer and wholesaler owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group. A play on the words “can do”, Kendo has become the hub of creativity and next generation beauty product development for global Sephora channels and selective retailers outside of Sephora.

Through original development, collaborations and acquisitions the Kendo stable of brands will always be creative, inspiring and innovative. A dynamic engine of speed, expertise and market-savvy, the Kendo team continues to redefine the beauty industry through great product, great storytelling, great retail and direct-to-consumer partnerships. This shows up in everything we do and in what we stand for:

• “Can Do” Spirit: We work together to make our wildest dreams a reality: As entrepreneurs, we embrace optimism and find creative ways to reach our goals
• Advocacy, Diversity, and Inclusion: We recognize and celebrate the full spectrum of personal identities. We create safe spaces so everyone’s voice is heard. We listen with humility and act with courage.
• Storytelling: We tell authentic stories like no one else: It’s our key to inspire trust and build relationships, rallying, our people, partners, and consumers around our brands.
• Resilience: We embrace challenges as opportunities. Change is ever-constant, and agility is our strength.
• Product Excellence: We put the consumers first: We constantly raise the bar to create products of the highest quality that everyone just has to have.

As a condition of employment, Kendo requires all newly hired employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by their start date unless they have requested and received an exemption from the Company in the form of a reasonable accommodation due to a qualifying medical condition or a sincerely held religious belief or practice.

The salary range for this position is (insert salary range) based upon a San Francisco location. Offered salary is dependent upon experience and location. Kendo Total Rewards offerings also include an annual bonus and a comprehensive benefits package including: medical, dental and vision insurance, flex paid time off program, parental leave, employee discount/perks, a retirement plan with employer contributions, Summer Fridays, opportunity to work from anywhere for a month in the summer and July and December wellness/shutdown weeks for applicable positions.

The Kendo house of brands currently includes: Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, KVD Beauty, Lip Lab, Ole Henriksen.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director, Global Brand Management, Product Strategy leads the overall brand and product strategy, and is responsible for driving the Ole Henriksen product pipeline in close partnership with the General Manager in order to guide product development and asset creation for the brand while implementing and building global processes.

The Director is responsible for business management responsibilities, executing product strategy and product marketing plans and providing analytics to deliver and exceed the financial goals of the department. Additionally, the Director maintains brand relationships, both globally and with cross-functional partners, and manages direct reports. This role requires strong leadership, communication, creativity, and analytical skills.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Global Brand Management & Brand Advocacy
• Global Product Pipeline, Product Calendar and Product Assortment
• Global Product Briefs
• Global Go-To-Market Product Positioning & Messaging
• Day to Day Business Management

Global Brand Management & Brand Advocacy

• Partner with Senior Director to develop short and long term brand strategies to exceed company objectives; work with cross-functional partners to successfully execute
• Establish and maintain effective cross-functional relationships with internal partners
• Act as brand liaison for internal teams supporting packaging, inventory planning, creative, product development, dotcom and operations
• Prepare and support presentations for management meetings

Global Product Pipeline, Product Calendar, & Product Assortment

• Manage global product calendar and distribution of monthly updates
• Develop new product briefs to build global product pipeline, work with cross-functional partners to gather all necessary information to ensure that retail/cost of goods/margin targets/objectives are met
• Work with Senior Director to help build global product strategy by leading development of compelling and unique product concepts that fit within franchise positioning, leveraging consumer insights, understanding of gaps in market and portfolio
• Manage cost and margin targets to meet financial objectives of the brand
• Work closely with North America and International brand management and marketing teams on market needs; serve as global brand advocate to push initiatives forward

Global Go-To-Market Product Positioning & Messaging

• Drive global creative brief and content kick off process across core & newness with consumer insights via collaboration with marketing, creative, copy, and education.
• Prepare final newness pipeline marketing presentations that include key product features, benefits, claims, ingredients, price, sizes and packaging to support marketing, education, sales, customer service, and retailer presentations.
• Initiate and communicate messaging updates and positioning for newness internally.
• Build core pillars through crafting ongoing core messaging and campaigns including routine building, refreshed content, and informing set & sampling strategy annually.

Reporting & Research

• Be in-tune with the beauty retailer landscape and identify opportunities to further drive the business
• Maintain brand margin, conduct cost of good analysis as needed
• Provide key initiatives performance and ad-hoc reporting and analysis as needed
• Make recommendations based on research and sales trends

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required; MBA a plus
• 10+ years of related business experience, beauty experience strongly preferred
• Beauty junkie a MUST!
• Must demonstrate strong strategic, analytical, and creative skills
• Must be an excellent communicator (both in-person and digitally) with strong interpersonal skills
• Proven leadership skills with demonstrated experience managing a small team of direct and indirect reports
• Thrives in an environment that is fast-paced, rapidly changing, and client service-oriented
• Proactive with strong problem-solving skills
• Team player who can successfully build collaborative relationships and work cross-functionally with product development, packaging, operations, marketing, creative, retail partners, demand planning and supply chain
• Detail-oriented and able to handle multiple priorities while meeting objectives
• Ability to own and drive projects with limited direction and to make good judgement calls
• Highest level of professionalism at all times; calm under pressure
• Strong Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel skills