Manager, Retail Tech Strategy

Manager, Retail Tech Strategy

At Chanel, we are focused on creating an inclusive culture that nurtures personal growth, contributing to collective progress. We believe the uniqueness of each individual increases the diversity, complementarity and effectiveness of our teams. We strongly encourage your application, as we value the perspective, experience and potential you could bring to CHANEL.

About the role:

As a Project Manager within the Fashion Technology Strategy team with a focus on Retail Technology, you will support the delivery of strategic technology initiatives that enhance the tools, systems, and capabilities used across our US Fashion boutique network. These initiatives are designed to improve retail operations, enable boutique teams with modern digital tools, and ensure a seamless experience for both clients and advisors.

This role will work on projects like the rollout of a next-generation point-of-sale (POS) solution, deploying AI-enabled labor scheduling tools, and more generally optimizing boutique operations - ensuring that technology supports our people and our clients at the highest level. Partnering closely with our Fashion Boutique Excellence, Client Engagement, and Technology teams, you will ensure business needs are clearly defined, translated into requirements, and delivered through technology solutions.

The ideal candidate is a structured, proactive project manager who can quickly understand complex retail processes, coordinate cross-functional teams, and support the successful delivery of global technology initiatives.

What impact you can create at CHANEL:

• Strategic Alignment:

• Shape the direction for boutique technology projects as part of the Fashion Technology Strategy team, ensuring alignment with CHANEL's retail and client experience goals.

• Project Planning & Execution:

• Drive end-to-end project planning, execution, and monitoring in close collaboration with Tech teams and vendors, aligning project milestones with business objectives to ensure impactful and timeline delivery of high-quality outcomes.

• Identify, assess, and manage project risks through a business lens; develop robust mitigation strategies with Tech partners, proactively resolving challenges to protect business value and ensure project success.

• Establish and Align Project Scope:

• Collaborate with business, retail, and technology teams to define project scope, objectives, and KPIs. Ensure project deliverables meet business needs and create value at the boutique level.

• Business Requirements and Solution Design:

• Build strong relationships with the Boutique Excellence organization, boutique field leadership, retail teams, global and local IT, and external partners to understand needs, capture feedback, and ensure project success.

• Collaborate closely with key stakeholders to understand needs, capture expectations, and translate them into clear and structured requirements.

• Translate retail business requirements into structured documentation including:

• Business requirements

• Process flows

• User stories

• Support the design of solutions that align with business priorities and retail operational needs.

• Cross-Functional Coordination:

• Act as a liaison between retail business teams and technology delivery teams.

• Facilitate workshops, working sessions, and project meetings to gather business requirements and drive alignment.

• Ensure retail stakeholder needs are represented throughout project lifecycles.

• Act as the central communication point between project teams and business stakeholders. Deliver clear and timely updates on progress, challenges, and achievements.

• Project Governance & Documentation:

• Maintain project documentation and workstreams using tools such as Jira and Confluence.

• Collaborate with Tech team to prepare project status updates, leadership materials, and steering committee presentations.

• Monitor project risks, address any issues, and implement mitigation strategies to maintain alignment and safeguard business goals.

• Change Management & Adoption:

• Assist with user acceptance testing and validation of new capabilities.

• Partner with regional teams to ensure smooth adoption of new systems and tools.

• Support change management and user adoption plans for boutique teams, ensuring smooth transitions and maximizing the impact of new technology solutions.

• Continuous Improvement:

• Use insights from boutiques, clients, and technology trends to inform ongoing improvements and future project opportunities.

You are energized by:

• Connecting the dots on problems, bringing a keen eye for detail and strong problem-solving skills.
• Leading technology transformations that make a meaningful difference for boutique teams and clients.
• Collaborating with diverse teams across functions and regions, building trusted partnerships across Fashion and Technology.
• Tackling complex challenges in fast-paced, ever-evolving retail environments.
• Driving innovation-identifying and implementing solutions that set new standards for luxury retail.
• Championing change and supporting others through digital transformation journeys.
• Creating a culture of continuous improvement, where feedback and fresh ideas are valued.
• Delivering excellence-ensuring technology works seamlessly in support of CHANEL's client experience and relational promise.

What you will bring to the team:

• Proven experience managing large technology projects, ideally in luxury retail or boutique environments.
• Strong project management skills; experience in highly complex, multi-stakeholder environments is a plus.
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity and adapt to evolving business needs.
• Expertise in stakeholder management, change management, and user adoption.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; ability to engage with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities with excellent attention to detail.
• A passion for retail excellence, technology innovation, and delivering exceptional client and team experiences.
• Curiosity about luxury retail operations and emerging retail technologies.
• Experience with Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence) preferred.
• A high level of proficiency in Microsoft 365.

Position Logistics:

• Partially Remote: Role requires a minimum of three days in-person office presence at the designated location/office.
• Location: New York City Office
• 5+ years of project management experience leading highly cross-functional projects in complex environments.
• Project management certification preferred.
• Travel requirements: Minimal (less than 10%), ad hoc.

Compensation:

• The anticipated base salary range for this position is $70,000 through $115,000. Base salary is one component of the total compensation for this position. Other forms of variable pay [may/will] be offered for this position. Other components [may/will] include bonus potential, benefits, and/or perks.

Benefits and Perks:

• Wellbeing resources include dedicated paid time off for wellbeing, 2-week August Office Closure, and a wellbeing fund.
• Family and caregiving benefits (inclusive of parental leave, fertility support, Milk Stork, and Care.com Membership)
• Generous paid time off policies to include vacation, holiday, sick and volunteer days
• 401K and other incentives
• Robust healthcare offerings; medical, dental, vision, MDLIVE (virtual care), One Medical, Flexible Spending Accounts (Health Care & Dependent Care), Health Savings Account and Employee Assistance Program
• Life insurance, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Short-term Disability, Long-term Disability, Health Advocate, International Business Travel Accident & Medical, and Commuter Transit & Parking

Additional Information:

Chanel is a private company whose values are grounded in creating the conditions for people to perform at their best and feel fulfilled and confident in their work. We offer a unique work environment where individuals are encouraged to better understand the brand, the business, and motivations, so that together we can unlock the possibilities of growth. This is reflected in:

Diversity and Inclusion:

• At CHANEL, we are intentional in promoting Diversity & Inclusion. We foster respect, empathy, and dignity for all. We believe strongly that the diversity of our people across the full spectrum of human differences is essential to our organization and the connections we have with each other and our clients.
• We offer Employee Resource Groups in the US that are voluntary, open to all, employee-led groups formed around a shared identity or lived experience, whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community aligned with the values and missions of the communities they support.

Chanel Community:

• CHANEL Community empowers our employees to channel their passions, talents and sense of purpose to contribute to and learn from our communities.
• Employees are encouraged to take time off annually to volunteer through CHANEL Community. CHANEL also matches employee donations to select charitable organizations.

Sustainability:

• CHANEL Mission 1.5° is our climate action plan. It is focused on transforming the business in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit the average global mean temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
• Employees are encouraged to contribute to our US Sustainability efforts at the corporate level and within the divisions, through organized taskforces and initiatives.

Arts and Culture:

• We are committed to extending our legacy of cultural engagement. Global support includes the CHANEL Culture Fund, which supports a select group of leading art culture institutions across the globe, and the CHANEL Next Prize for the next generation of creative talent. US support currently includes Annual sponsorship of the MoMA film program, Tribeca Film Festival programs and Through Her Lens, Support of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women and Sponsorship of the BAAND Together Dance Festival at Lincoln Center.

Fondation Chanel:

• Since 2011, Fondation CHANEL's mission is for women and girls to be free to shape their own destiny. Through multi-year partnerships with financial and technical support, Fondation CHANEL is committed to improving the safety and autonomy of women and adolescent girls around the world, impacting over a million women and girls in its first 10 years.
• For more information, please navigate to the Fondation Chanel website here

Career and Leadership Development:

• We have dedicated in-house teams focused on supporting the onboarding of employees, developing leadership skills via custom programs like Imagine Chanel People, Heart of Leadership and group and individual coaching, and blended online and live classes offered on our Bloom platform and by skilled trainers, such as Shape Your Career, to develop career building skills.
• Chanel, Inc. benefits and perks are dependent on eligibility and subject to modification by Chanel at any time.