Director of Visual Merchandising and Store Design

Job Description

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