Yves Saint Laurent Retail Director
- Seniority
- Director
- Department
- Retail & Boutique Operations
- Industry
- Fashion, Apparel & Leather Goods
- Posted
- Apr 24, 2026
About Yves Saint Laurent
Saint Laurent (Yves Saint Laurent) is a leading Parisian luxury maison renowned for its modern, iconoclastic aesthetic across ready‑to‑wear, leather goods, shoes and accessories. The house operates internationally within the Kering group and combines a designer‑led creative vision with a results‑driven retail organisation.
Saint Laurent is hiring a Retail Director in Tokyo to lead store performance, openings and team development for the luxury maison.
Role & Responsibilities
- Define and drive local retail strategy to achieve sales targets, P&L objectives and performance KPIs across stores in the market.
- Analyse sales figures and market trends to produce forecasts, annual targets and actionable business plans at store level.
- Deploy Retail Excellence standards and ensure consistent brand image and customer experience both front‑of‑house and back‑office.
- Lead store opening, relocation and renovation projects: provide design brief input, propose budgets, coordinate HO departments and manage project timelines.
- Implement CRM and clienteling initiatives (SL CRM) at store level and oversee customer relationship management and handling of VIPs and complaints.
- Recruit, develop and coach store management and sales teams; create individual development plans and run performance reviews and talent retention actions.
- Ensure compliance with legal, safety, HR and internal process requirements; challenge and optimise processes for efficiency and continuous improvement.
- Manage stock organisation and inventory processes to align product allocation and merchandising with business goals; monitor discount policy deployment and report to HQ.
- Serve as the primary local counterpart to HQ functions including Legal, Store Planning, Operations, Facilities, Inventory Control, MIS, Marketing, CRM, VM and HR.
Qualifications
- Proven leadership experience in luxury retail with responsibility for multiple stores, P&L and store openings.
- Strong commercial acumen with demonstrated ability to set and meet sales targets and translate data into action plans.
- Robust project management capability to coordinate cross‑functional teams through store openings and major initiatives.
- Excellent people management skills: hiring, coaching, performance management and talent development at management level.
- Ability to maintain brand standards, drive visual and operational excellence and deliver exceptional customer experience.
Skills
Experience
Senior retail leadership with significant experience in luxury fashion retail; track record of managing multi‑store operations, delivering sales growth, leading flagship openings and overseeing P&L and HR processes. Typically 8+ years in progressive retail management roles or equivalent.
Education
Bachelor’s degree in business, retail management, hospitality or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
Workplace
This position is based in Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Culture
Saint Laurent blends a rigorous commercial mentality with a strong creative identity, operating within an international, performance‑orientated luxury environment under the Kering group. The workplace values exacting standards, collaborative cross‑functional work and leadership that both preserves the maison’s aesthetic and delivers measurable retail results.
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 Yves Saint Laurent, 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 «Director of Retail Operations», «Store Director — Flagship & Multi‑Store», «Retail Area Director», «Head of Store Development», «Director of Store Openings & Operations», and other variations. Our sophisticated search architecture anticipates these variations, ensuring that inquiries using related terms will seamlessly yield the exact roles you desire.