Head of professional

Scholl Shoes stands as a premier brand in aesthetic comfort footwear, with its headquarters situated in Milan, Italy. The iconic heritage dating back to the 60s and 70s, marked by lifestyle, attitude, and female empowerment, combined with over a century of technological and innovative strides inspired by Dr. Scholl, positions the brand at the forefront of pioneering comfort, technology, and fashion — an unparalleled blend. The commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction with every step is evident as the brand operates globally, spanning more than 70 countries and boasting a presence of over 10,000 sales points worldwide.

For its global professional footwear business (including distributorship, agents), Scholl Shoes is looking for a Head of Professional, directly reporting to the General Manager of the Business Unit, with a cross-country focus on managing the existing partner relationships across EMEA and APAC regions. The clear objective is to grow the existing business in the future and when identified and feasible expand into new territories.

The preferred candidate demonstrates a genuine passion for comfortable and aesthetic footwear products, complemented by substantial experience in similar roles within footwear product development, marketing, and sales including multinational key account management. Flourishing in a dynamic, agile, and multinational work environment is a hallmark of their professional competence.

Key responsibilities

Strategic planning & business development

· Develop, implement, and manage strategic plans that align with the company's strategic and financial goals according to the annual planning and forecasting process;

· Research the regions, leverage network, and identify new Professional wholesale partners;

· Cooperate with brand marketing to develop pitch decks that align the brand value proposition with the prospect's interests and capabilities;

· Continually drive prospects into leads;

· Work in partnership with other teams (e.g. finance, marketing, merchandising, product) to develop business plans and formulate product proposals;

· manage and organize industry trade fairs and events;

· present and showcase collections in the showroom to agents and distributors.

Partner management

· Manage relationship with existing partners end-to-end and build the foundation for future growth;

· Develop a joint business development plan including revenue targets by country and channel;

· Be the single-point-of-contact to support partners' development through the connection with other Scholl-internal departments to share existing knowledge within the organization such as, Product innovation;

· Ensure adherence to defined revenue targets;

· Assist partners in quota attainment;

· Ensure adherence to brand guidelines;

· Track and review payment procedures.

Growth support

· Proactively define strategies to improve sales in close alignment with partners such as:

o Optimization of existing product collection

o Launch of new products

o Improvement of existing channels

o Expansion to new channels (e.g. on line players)

· Track execution of measures and support partner where needed.

Analysis & reporting

· Analyze local professional footwear markets including consumer trends and major competition;

· Prepare annual revenue and royalty forecasts on partner, country, and channel level;

· Analyze partners' sales performance on a regular basis and conduct regular review meetings;

· Monitor revenue achievements against royalty invoicing and payments in close alignment;

· Provide insights to other Scholl-internal departments as needed (e.g. for product development).

Qualifications

· Bachelor's degree in a relevant field;

· At least 5 years of experience in footwear or workwear, preferably in EMEA and APAC;

· Persuasive and negotiation skills;

· Strong negotiation skills are required and an understanding of cross-cultural nuances;

· Collaborative and cross functional mindset and ability to influence internal and externally;

· Strong planning, organization and time management skills with the ability to multitask and prioritize;

· Strong knowledge of wholesale go-to-market timelines and requirements;

· Experience building and leading remote sales teams, through sales reps and internal staff;

· Advanced working knowledge of Office 365 applications including MS Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint;

· Comfortable to travel aboard;

· High proficiency in the English language. An other foreign language is appreciated.

Characteristics

· Thriving in a fast-paced, multinational, and agile working environment;

· Experienced leader of high-performing teams;

· High social intelligence and strong soft skills to effectively manage internal and external relationships, with a focus on emotional awareness;

· Strong problem-solving, multi-tasking, and time-management skills;

· Detail-orientation and self-organization;

· Excellence in written and verbal communication;

· Experience in managing distributors and sales representatives.