Director Wholesale & Franchise

The Director, Wholesale & Franchise, reporting to the Senior Director Sales, is responsible for leading the wholesale and franchise strategy across Wholesale, Distributors and Franchise Partners in key global markets. The role is accountable for accelerating sustainable, profitable growth across all product categories while strengthening Karl Lagerfeld's premium brand positioning and optimizing the marketplace through a disciplined channel strategy.

The Director will lead the development and expansion of the wholesale and franchise network by maximizing the potential of existing partners and identifying new strategic opportunities. Working closely with the broader Sales organization and Retail team, the role will drive a holistic marketplace approach, ensuring the right distribution, partner mix and consumer experience across all channels.

With commercial ownership of the partner portfolio, the Director will support the development of ambitious growth plans, drive revenue performance and ensure delivery of sales budgets and strategic KPIs. The role requires an entrepreneurial mindset, combining strategic thinking with a hands on approach to identify opportunities, solve complex commercial challenges and drive execution. The successful candidate will be comfortable operating in a fast paced environment, taking ownership, influencing stakeholders and leading from the front to deliver measurable business results.

The role also requires strong cross functional leadership, orchestrating collaboration across Merchandising, Product, Marketing, Logistics, Supply Chain, Store Development, Visual Merchandising, Finance and Operations to deliver best in class commercial execution, operational excellence and long term value creation for both Karl Lagerfeld and its partners.

This is an Amsterdam based position.

Lead and develop a high-performing, multi-site Wholesale & Franchise organization, setting the strategic direction, priorities, and performance agenda across markets.

Define and drive seasonal and multi-year business strategies, translating company objectives into ambitious commercial plans, budgets, and growth roadmaps.

Shape and evolve the Wholesale & Franchise partner portfolio, leading strategic negotiations, partnership models, and long-term commercial relationships in close alignment with Management.

Own commercial performance and sustainable growth, ensuring delivery against financial targets while identifying opportunities to accelerate revenue, profitability, market penetration, and brand development.

Translate business and market intelligence into strategic action, leveraging performance, KPI, customer, and point-of-sale insights to optimize the existing business and identify future growth opportunities.

Drive market expansion and partner acquisition, identifying and prioritizing new franchise and wholesale opportunities and leading negotiations on strategic Terms & Conditions.

Build strong cross-functional alignment across the organization, ensuring commercial priorities are integrated with Brand, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, Retail, and other key functions, with clear strategic objectives and service-level expectations.

Act as a strategic business partner to Management, providing market perspective, commercial insights, and recommendations to support key business decisions and the long-term development of the Wholesale & Franchise channel.

At Karl Lagerfeld, we are driven by Karl’s mantra: “Embrace the present and invent the future.”

Always contemporary and forward-looking, the House of KARL LAGERFELD shares the creative vision and design aesthetic of its iconic founder, Karl Lagerfeld.

We are the only fashion house that carries Karl’s name on its door and we strive to live up to this responsibility in everything we do, every day, with the utmost joy and passion.

Our headquarters in Paris and in Amsterdam are home to a highly diverse and driven team of KARL family members that hail from over 35 countries. Together, we aim to create meaningful stories and product concepts that connect to Karl’s world and iconic attributes.

Women’s & Men's ready-to-wear, bags, small leather goods, swimwear and underwear are managed directly from our Amsterdam headquarters, while other categories, including footwear, fragrances, eyewear and more, are developed with best-in-class licensing partners.

We connect with our consumers on multiple levels, ensuring that our online and offline approach goes hand in hand. We thrive to maximize consumer engagement via more than 200 KL stores worldwide, our premium wholesale partners, and our strong digital footprint, spearheaded by our  karllagerfeld.com and 35 countries. Our digital channels currently represent more than 30% of our overall full-price business.

We are a dynamic, fast-growing and inclusive company built on professionalism and strong values. At KARL LAGERFELD we’re committed to working toward the highest standards of sustainability and integrity across all areas of our business,. In 2019, KARL LAGERFELD joined as a founding member of the Fashion Pact, a global sustainability initiative seeking to transform the fashion industry through objectives in three areas: climate, biodiversity and ocean protection.