Make Up For Ever International Merchandising Director
About Make Up For Ever
Make Up For Ever is a global professional cosmetics house known for its artist-driven product ranges and theatrical approach to make-up. Operating within the Parfums & Cosmétiques business group, the brand combines creative excellence with retail and digital distribution across international markets.
Make Up For Ever seeks an International Merchandising Director in Levallois-Perret, France to lead global retail merchandising and visual experience.
Role & Responsibilities
- Define and drive the brand’s international merchandising and in-store customer experience strategy, ensuring alignment with market-specific requirements and commercial objectives.
- Design, develop and deploy retail architecture concepts from creative brief through production: fixtures, lighting, wall elements, POS materials, promotional displays, podiums, uniforms and planograms.
- Ensure coherent, high-impact brand expression across all points of sale and activation platforms (flagships, boutiques, pop-ups, podiums), while respecting core brand values and cost/productivity constraints.
- Collaborate closely with the CMO, COMEX and cross-functional teams (marketing, communication, retail, training) to guarantee consistency between merchandising, brand strategy and marketing activations.
- Manage relationships with international markets to capture local needs, communicate merchandising directives and monitor operational implementation.
- Oversee external partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers to source innovative, reliable technical solutions that meet global, regional and local requirements while optimising cost.
- Develop and deploy merchandising communication and training tools: international/regional seminars, guidelines, manuals and training supports.
- Supervise budgets, procurement, stock control and department archives.
- Lead and coordinate international merchandising teams (direct central hierarchy and functional local teams), driving performance, consistency and employee engagement.
Qualifications
- Minimum 10–15 years of progressive experience in international merchandising, preferably within cosmetics or beauty retail.
- Proven track record as a manager of multidisciplinary teams in an international matrix organisation.
- Educational background from an architecture or design school complemented by business/commerce training.
- Exceptional understanding of brand and retail imperatives — business- and brand-oriented mindset.
- Strong strategic, analytical and pragmatic thinking with a solutions-oriented approach.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with creative teams and market stakeholders.
- Fluent English (spoken and written) is mandatory.
Skills
Experience
Minimum 10 years, ideally 10–15 years, of international merchandising experience in cosmetics or beauty retail, with demonstrated leadership of central and regional teams and end-to-end delivery of retail architecture projects.
Education
Degree from an architecture or design school plus business/commercial education (e.g., business school).
Workplace
The successful candidate will be located in Levallois-Perret, Île-de-France, France, with easy access to Paris.
Culture
The brand fosters a creative, professional and performance-driven environment where artistry and commercial discipline intersect. Teams operate in an international, fast-paced matrix, collaborating closely with marketing, retail and product functions to deliver a compelling customer experience.
About Cerulean
Cerulean is the definitive career portal for the global luxury industry. We match exceptional professionals with exclusive opportunities at the world's most prestigious brands. From haute couture and fine watchmaking to prestige beauty, hospitality, and boutique retail, Cerulean centralises luxury employment to help you find the career for which you were destined.
Frequently Asked Questions
The luxury industry is characterised by a diverse and nuanced nomenclature. Esteemed houses frequently employ proprietary terminology, and even within a single organisation like Make Up For Ever, titles may vary across global markets to reflect local conventions. To ensure absolute clarity, Cerulean assigns a standardised, industry-coherent canonical title to every listing. However, it is worth noting that this role is functionally synonymous with «Global Merchandising Director», «Head of International Retail Merchandising», «Director of Retail Experience (International)», «Global Visual Merchandising Director», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.