Head of Retail at Frette in New York, NY

Company Description

For over 164 years, Frette has crafted exquisite linens, blending Italian artistry with timeless luxury. Master artisans in Monza and Milan transform the finest fibers into creations of unmatched quality and elegance. Renowned for its signature finish, Frette has graced iconic destinations—from St. Peter’s Basilica to the Orient Express—while over 500 European royal families have slept beneath its sheets. Today, its legacy lives on in luxury hotels, private residences, yachts, and jets, remaining dedicated to outfitting the world’s most exceptional spaces.

Job Description

The Head of Retail is a newly created leadership role at Frette, reporting directly to the Group Chief Executive Officer and serving as a key member of the Retail Leadership Team. This role is responsible for driving the performance, development, and evolution of Frette's North America retail business across 12 stores (9 full-price and 3 outlet locations).

The Head of Retail will collaborate closely with Merchandising, Marketing, E-Commerce, and Operations teams to accelerate business growth, elevate customer experience, and strengthen organizational capability. A core focus of this role will be evaluating and assessing our existing store fleet, ensuring operational excellence, consistent execution of brand standards, and the development of high-performing teams.

This leader will champion learning, coaching, and succession planning throughout the retail organization while leveraging innovation, AI, and process optimization to modernize retail operations and support sustainable growth across North America. In addition, they will lead succession planning to build high-performing store teams creating a framework of future pipelining.

Areas of Focus

1. Executive Leadership, Coaching, and Learning & Development

Provide inspirational and transformative leadership to the retail organization, fostering a high-performance culture rooted in accountability, coaching, and continuous development. Lead the development, engagement, and retention of top retail talent, with a strong emphasis on leadership capability building, succession planning, and internal career progression.

Design and implement best-in-class learning and development programs for all retail positions, equipping teams with the tools, behaviors, and product knowledge needed to deliver exceptional results. Establish a culture that strengthens leadership effectiveness at every level of the organization while cultivating Frette's standards of luxury service and client engagement.

2. Retail Excellence & Brand Standards

Establish, implement, and continuously monitor retail operating standards and brand guidelines across all North America stores, ensuring a consistent and elevated luxury customer experience.

Lead regular store evaluations and performance reviews to identify opportunities for improvement in service, visual presentation, operational execution, and team effectiveness. Partner with store leadership to develop corrective action plans and ensure consistent adherence to brand expectations.

3. Market Intelligence, Performance Optimization, and AI

Identify and capitalize on emerging market trends, competitive dynamics, and new business opportunities to strengthen Frette's market position and drive sustainable growth. Maintain a deep understanding of industry developments and macroeconomic and microeconomic trends. Leverage retail performance analytics to inform strategy and empower regional leadership teams to implement data-driven actions that achieve and exceed business objectives. Lastly, champion AI-enabled innovation across the retail network by identifying opportunities to automate non-selling activities, optimize workforce planning, enhance clientelling effectiveness, and streamline operational processes.

Job Description

• Lead learning and development initiatives across the retail organization, creating programs, tools, and resources that strengthen leadership capability, selling behaviors, product expertise, and succession readiness.
• Conduct comprehensive assessments of all existing retail locations to identify opportunities to improve sales productivity, customer experience, operational efficiency, talent capability, and brand execution.
• Implement, monitor, and continuously reinforce Frette's retail operating standards and brand guidelines across all stores, ensuring consistency in customer experience, visual presentation, service delivery, and operational execution.
• Establish a structured store review and coaching cadence with store leadership teams, developing action plans, accountability measures, and performance objectives that drive continuous improvement.
• Design and embed a comprehensive Learning & Development strategy aligned with both short- and long-term retail objectives, establishing clear career pathways and development opportunities, and meaningful feedback loops.
• Develop and execute succession plans across the retail organization, creating strategies to attract, develop, retain, and advance top talent.
• Establish, document, and continuously improve store development processes, governance standards, and KPIs, including budget adherence, project timelines, customer satisfaction, and sales ramp-up performance, to ensure scalable execution across markets.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including the executive leadership team, Board of Directors, landlords, and strategic partners, ensuring alignment and business continuity.
• Lead and develop the retail organization, drive store performance through commercial excellence, accountability, and inspirational leadership.
• Maintain expertise in luxury retail, home lifestyle trends, and competitive innovations, anticipating evolving consumer preferences and upcoming market opportunities.
• Source, evaluate, and secure new retail locations, leading negotiations with landlords, developers, and agents on lease terms, renewals, incentives, and key commercial agreements to achieve target returns on invested capital.
• Lead and develop the retail organization, drive store performance through commercial excellence, accountability, and inspirational leadership.
• Maintain expertise in luxury retail, home lifestyle trends, and competitive innovations, anticipating evolving consumer preferences and upcoming market opportunities.
• Source, evaluate, and secure new retail locations, leading negotiations with landlords, developers, and agents on lease terms, renewals, incentives, and key commercial agreements to achieve target returns on invested capital.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of executive leadership experience within luxury retail or a premium global consumer brand, with apparel, fashion, footwear, home furnishings, or luxury lifestyle experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience establishing and scaling retail operating standards, coaching frameworks, and brand compliance programs across a multi-unit luxury retail organization.
• Proven experience managing P&L performance, strategic financial planning, and driving significant revenue growth and profitability within a multi-channel retail environment.
• Demonstrated success in designing and implementing learning and development frameworks that enhance performance, leadership capability, and succession planning.
• Exceptional strategic and commercial acumen, with the ability to translate market insights into actionable business strategies and lead organizational transformation.
• Inspirational leadership style with a track record of building, developing, and retaining high-performing teams.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to engage effectively with C-suite executives, global partners, board members, and diverse teams.
• Deep understanding of luxury consumer behavior, retail market dynamics, and the competitive landscape.
• Proven ability to cultivate strategic relationships and foster cross-functional collaboration within complex, international organizations.
• Willingness to travel up to 60% within the United States.

Additional Information

This is a highly specialized role that will require someone to meet a variety of stakeholders. We aim to provide transparency of the people you will meet throughout our process.

• Senior HR Manager
• Group CEO
• Group Chief Merchandising & E-Commerce Officer
• Director of Global Merchandise Planning
• Marketing Director, Home
• Senior Manager, Merchandise and Planning

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

#LI-Onsite

It is the policy and commitment of Frette to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. The objective of Frette is to recruit, hire, train, and promote the most qualified applicants into all job levels. Frette does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. Frette will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in any undue hardship to the Company. This policy governs all aspects of employment, including selection, job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.