Wholesale Activation Manager - 12 month fixed term contract (Jan 2024 start)

When you look at L’Oréal, what do you see? If all you see is lipstick, look again and experience the Freedom to go Beyond the ordinary. That’s the beauty of L’Oréal. We operate in 150 countries on 5 continents. With 36 international brands and 86,000 employees worldwide, we’re well on our way to fulfilling our common purpose: to create beauty that moves the world.

By 2030 we want to capture over another 1 billion consumers around the world. How? By creating cosmetic products which meet the infinite diversity of consumers beauty needs and desires, and always through digital innovation. Not only that but taking our sustainability goals seriously; moving us to a more inclusive and sustainable society, for every generation.

Our brands, dynamic culture, and always being our own challenger mean that we offer freedom and opportunity you won’t get anywhere else. 

If you want the Freedom to go Beyond, we’ll see you at L’Oréal.

In the Professional Products Division, our mission is to support hairdressers and develop the hair industry sustainably, while benefiting all. We’re the founding Division for the L’Oréal group, having history more than 110 years ago. 

Here, you’ll be constantly looking to create connections between our brands, professionals and consumers in every market. Our mission is to always reinvent professional beauty and lead the digital transformation of our industry with a customer-centric approach. 

You will

Your Mission: You will lead the wholesale acceleration of the American brands, with a focus on Matrix & Biolage with our distributor partners and be the key link between brand and commercial. You will own the channel strategy and the indirect promotions and ensure we hit our sales targets for the indirect channel. Reporting into the Brand Business Manager of Matrix, Biolage & Pulp Riot.

Be responsible for:

BUSINESS TARGETS & OPERATIONS

•    Own the forecasting process for the indirect channel, working closely with the commercial & marketing teams

•    Be the link between brand marketing team and the PPD Indirect commercial team

•    Present the brand commercial strategy, launches & results at internal meetings

•    Work closely with the commercial team on the sell in & provide regular status updates to brand, plus ad hoc analysis

•    Lead the monthly promotional offers across colour and retail

•    Provide monthly sell out reporting and analysis across channels and categories including WOC 

CHANNEL STRATEGY & EXECUTION

•    Lead the channel strategy across field teams, stores & B2B e-com 

•    Own the shopper journey in stores  and drive success of shopper marketing

•    Develop and share shopper insight with wider team

•    Work closely with education on in-store eventing 

•    Lead the freelancer strategy in stores

•    Work closely with PPD category management team on implementation of hierarchies and planograms

•    Work closely with the Commercial Stores & Field Sales managers on BP & store staff engagement & incentives

•    Manage the forecast and delivery of brand tools with the commercial teams across distributors

•    Work closely with brand teams to ensure brand stories are fit for purpose for Indirect channel

•    Drive the conquest strategy 

•    Own the merchandising in our distributor stores and all store PLV, collaborating with brand team

DISTRIBUTOR RELATIONS

•    Present at key trade days with distributor partners 

•    Be the brand lead for distributor artworks & assets

•    Be the brand go-to for distributor activations

•    Build best in class distributor strategy decks, working hand in hand with commercial and marketing

You have

•    A strong marketing or commercial background delivering growth for your brands

•    Ability to work cross functionally and with multiple stakeholders

•    Experience in designing strategies, excellence in implementing campaigns 

•    Advanced skills in interpreting and reporting on data and insights

•    Excellent presentation and communication skills – written and verbal 

•    Strong negotiator and highly organised with prioritisation skills

•    Commercial acumen

•    Creative and agile thinker and thrive in a changing environment, with a track record in providing solutions to business problems

•    The ability to work autonomously and to tight deadlines and maximize budget

•    Strong relationship management and collaboration skills

•    Energetic and enthusiastic with a team spirit

•    Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint

•    Exceptional attention to detail

•    Strong analytical ability and proven project management experience

You show

Ambition: You anticipate, think and dream big, demonstrating a high level of aspiration. You are self-driven and show proactivity, especially when seeing problems as challenges. You thrive for exceptional performance.

Judgement: You can balance operational and strategic thinking, challenging the status quo and managing confrontation effectively. You cut quickly through complexity and ambiguity whilst also thinking sustainably and are future-oriented. You reduce complexity to get things done.

Resilience: You always demonstrate purpose and ownership mindset but manage your own energy well. You uphold positivity for others and persist, bouncing back when faced with obstacles. You step back at times and accept limits.  

Empathy: You cooperate and network effectively, creating genuine and trustful relationships with diverse people. You are sensitive to beauty and related emotions, always supporting others and showing benevolence. You understand and respect others’ feelings and motives.  

Learning Agility: You are a self-motivated learner, showing self-awareness and demonstrating openness and curiosity. You experiment and learn from mistakes and past experiences, always showing courage and stepping out of your comfort zone. You support the development of a learning culture.

You get

We put people development and learning at the heart of our business; we’ll help you master your role, develop your technical expertise and you’ll benefit from exceptional management and leadership programmes. From face-to-face workshops to our global online learning resources, you’re actively encouraged to embed learning into your daily life and are rewarded for continuous improvement. Don’t forget that every employee gets 3 Coursera credits; that means you can get qualifications from over 1000 universities from around the world, with thousands of courses to choose from.

Looking for a good work/life balance? With our new hybrid working scheme, you can take a flexible approach to work as well as benefit from early finishes on Fridays during the summer...so you can enjoy more time with your friends and family.

As any great employer should do, we make sure we look after your financial wellbeing. That’s why we have a great pension plan, profit share scheme and many more incentives to give you the security you deserve. We also put employee health and wellbeing at the front of everything we do; fully training employees as mental health ambassadors to support and educate ourselves further. There’s also the chance to enrol in medical and dental insurance, gym discounts, health check-ups and even yoga and Pilates classes to employees in all of our locations.

Oh, did we mention that as an employee you also get discount sales of up to 70% off throughout the year on our 36 brands? Plus, you also get the option to share that in our Friends and Family sales as well!

How we recruit

At L’Oréal, we take pride in creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment where everyone is welcome and their contributions are valued. When we recruit, hire, train, promote or engage in any other employment practice, we are committed to being an inclusive employer regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, socioeconomic status, medical condition or disability, or any other protected status. When we look for talent, we welcome difference - different backgrounds, experiences, personalities and perspectives. The beauty we find in our differences gives us the freedom to go beyond. That’s the beauty of L’Oréal.