Director of Visual Merchandising and Store Design

Director of Visual Merchandising and Store Design Prestige beauty brand is seeking a Senior Design Director, Visual Merchandising & Store Design to lead its global 3D retail design function. This brand focuses on high-performance, luxury products and is widely distributed across premium specialty and department store channels in North America, Europe, and Asia. You will lead the global 3D design team and play a central role in developing architectural and visual merchandising concepts across multiple retail formats (freestanding, shop-in-shop, counters, gondolas and display systems). Key Responsibilities Lead the global 3D VM/SD design team with multiple direct reports across global headquarters and regional offices. Partner with senior brand leadership on global design evolution and strategic visual merchandising initiatives; develop 3D concept renderings for review and approval. Oversee conceptual design development and ensure seamless integration of visual merchandising within architectural concepts across retail environments. Define forward-looking store design and merchandising concepts that support evolving brand and business needs. Create and iterate 3D architectural and merchandising renderings that meet creative, commercial and budget requirements. Own the global design review and approval process for projects initiated by regional teams and external partners, from early concepts through final shop drawings and execution. Present and explain complex design solutions to regional stakeholders and vendors to ensure understanding, alignment and consistent execution. Evaluate performance and effectiveness of store designs and merchandising displays and apply learnings to future concepts. Drive the development of scalable global design guidelines and standards; ensure adherence across markets and channels. Review project briefs to confirm clarity on retailer requirements, budgets and commercial objectives. Lead regular reporting on project status, proactively flagging risks, trade-offs and timing impacts. Manage design to defined cost parameters; partner with regional teams and vendors to value engineer when necessary while protecting the brand aesthetic. Review vendor technical drawings, construction documents and prototypes; redline and guide revisions through to final production sign-off. Collaborate with global VM/SD peers to define best practices, improve workflows, and enhance communication between regions and teams. Partner with 2D visual design leadership to optimize asset selection and delivery for new doors, with a focus on streamlining approvals and handoffs. Ensure the design team clearly communicates product display requirements for new store openings and secondary placements, improving coordination with operations and implementation teams. Continuously assess internal team capacity versus workload; build and maintain a network of external design partners to flex resources as needed. Collaborate closely with event and experiential design leadership to align temporary brand experiences with permanent retail environments, creating a cohesive 360° brand expression. Qualifications 12 years of experience in architectural store design and visual merchandising or closely related 3D retail design fields; experience in beauty, luxury or premium lifestyle brands strongly preferred. Proven track record leading end-to-end design development, review, approval and execution with internal stakeholders and external vendors/trades. Hands-on experience redlining vendor technical drawings, design development sets, millwork/fixture drawings and construction document packages. Demonstrated ability to design within defined budgets and to develop value-engineered solutions without compromising brand equity. Proficiency with core office and project tools (e.g., presentation, spreadsheet and project tracking software). Advanced skills in 3D design and rendering software (e.g., SketchUp plus a rendering engine, 3D Studio Max, Rhino or comparable tools), as well as image editing and visualization tools. Highly organized, resourceful and forward-thinking, with a strong ownership mindset. Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present to senior stakeholders. Experience in prestige or luxury environments and working with global retailers is a plus. Ability to work on a hybrid basis, with at least 60% of time spent in the corporate office. Open to consultants and full time candidates Work Schedule- 3 days in office, 2 days WFH Must be open to going in office Accepted file types: doc, docx, pdf, txt, Max. file size: 10 MB. 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