Senior Director, Head of China Retail Development
LEGO · Shanghai
Job Description
Are you ready to lead Retail Development for one of LEGO®’s most important and complex markets, spanning 400+ stores across China?
Set the direction for LEGO® Retail Development in China, partnering with global RD functions to bring together footprint strategy, real estate, design and implementation across a complex and fast-moving retail market.
This is a rare opportunity to shape the next chapter of LEGO® branded retail in China by bringing together strategy, creativity, real estate excellence and disciplined execution across both our own stores and our partner-operated network.
Functional Expertise:
Set and lead the China Retail Development agenda across footprint strategy, real estate, retail design and implementation, including defining and delivering a prioritized portfolio of cross-functional China retail development initiatives for both LEGO Brand Retail (owned and operated stores) and LEGO Certified Stores managed by third-party partners.
Translate China market, consumer and shopper insights into actionable retail development priorities that improve local relevance, elevate brand experience and support commercial growth.
Lead the China retail real estate strategy, including location strategy, portfolio choices, landlord relationships and partner-store development opportunities in priority cities and retail destinations.
Define and lead the China store format strategy, driving the development, testing and rollout of China-relevant store concepts, formats and in-store solutions, ensuring they remain consistent with global brand standards while responding to local market needs.
Oversee end-to-end execution of new stores, remodels, relocations and partner-store initiatives, ensuring delivery on time, on budget and to the expected quality, compliance and brand standards.
Own and manage the budget for China Retail Development activities, ensuring investment choices are aligned with strategic priorities, financial discipline and expected business outcomes.
Establish clear ways of working, governance and decision forums across global Retail Development, LEGO Retail China, China Market Group and third-party partners to enable faster, higher-quality execution.
Take full accountability for tracking and communicating progress, risks, trade-offs and outcomes across the China Retail Development portfolio, providing clear and regular updates to the VP of Global Retail Development and other VP+ senior stakeholders.
Monitor retail development performance, competitive dynamics, emerging technologies and industry trends to keep LEGO retail experiences in China innovative, commercially relevant and future-facing.
Leadership & Collaboration:
Lead, coach and develop a multi-disciplinary team across footprint strategy and expansion, real estate, retail design, implementation and related retail development functions.
Report directly to the VP of Global Retail Development and serve as a member of the Global Retail Development Leadership Team, representing China priorities while helping shape global functional strategy, capability building and resource allocation.
Act as the senior bridge between Global Retail Development and China stakeholders, ensuring local market needs inform global plans and global standards are translated effectively in China.
Collaborate closely with RD Global Functional Leaders across Footprint Strategy, Retail Design and Construction to ensure China initiatives are delivered with strong local execution while remaining fully aligned with global standards, design principles, governance and ways of working.
Build trusted partnerships with LEGO Retail China, China Market Group, global functional leaders, commercial teams, finance, legal, compliance, construction, supply chain and external partners.
Create a high-performing, collaborative and accountable team culture that balances creativity, commercial impact, operational discipline and respect for local market realities
Play your part in our team succeeding
Retail Development is responsible for shaping and delivering the physical retail experience across LEGO® branded stores, from footprint strategy and real estate through retail design, implementation and portfolio evolution. The function plays a critical role in ensuring our stores are commercially strong, operationally executable and distinctive expressions of the LEGO brand.
China is one of our most important and complex retail markets, with a network of 400+ LEGO® branded stores and significant opportunities across owned and operated stores and LEGO Certified Stores managed by third-party partners. Reporting directly to the VP of Global Retail Development, this role will provide senior leadership in China while sitting in the Global Retail Development Leadership Team, ensuring that market insight, global standards and partner execution come together to deliver a more integrated, agile and impactful approach to retail development.
Do you have what it takes?
20 years of relevant experience in retail development, real estate, retail design or related leadership roles within premium lifestyle, branded retail or experience-led consumer environments.
Significant experience operating in China, with a strong understanding of the retail real estate landscape, consumer trends, partner ecosystems and local market dynamics, ideally gained through leadership of a retail network of similar or larger scale.
Significant experience working with licensed, franchise, dealership or partner-operated retail models.
Proven experience defining and delivering store format strategies, including developing, testing and scaling different retail formats across multiple functions, stakeholders and store operating models.
Strong people leadership experience, with a track record of leading senior specialists and multi-disciplinary teams through change, ambiguity and demanding delivery environments.
Excellent commercial acumen, with the ability to balance brand elevation, shopper experience, financial performance, operational feasibility and long-term portfolio health.
Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to work across global, regional and local teams and build trusted relationships with senior internal and external partners.
Strategic and execution-oriented mindset, with the ability to define direction, create governance, prioritize resources and deliver measurable impact at pace.
Entrepreneurial, resilient and collaborative leadership style, with the ability to drive transformation while creating clarity, trust and accountability.
Bachelor’s or master’s degree in architecture, design, business, real estate, engineering or another relevant field preferred.
Nice to have:
Experience in both global headquarters and local market roles, or in roles requiring strong global-local translation.
Broader experience across Asia retail markets beyond China is preferred.
Experience with retail portfolio segmentation, flagship stores, premium mall environments or destination retail formats.
Familiarity with design, construction, project management or store maintenance operating models
Advanced English and Mandarin communication skills, both written and spoken, are required
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Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis. However, please note we do amend or withdraw our jobs and reserve the right to do so at any time, including prior to any advertised closing date. So, if you're interested in this role we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
What’s in it for you?
Here is what you can expect:
Family Care Leave - We offer enhanced paid leave options for those important times.
Insurances – All colleagues are covered by our life and disability insurance which provides protection and peace of mind.
Wellbeing - We want our people to feel well and thrive. We offer resources and benefits to nurture physical and mental wellbeing along with opportunities to build community and inspire creativity.
Colleague Discount – We know you'll love to build, so from day 1 you will qualify for our generous colleague discount.
Bonus - We do our best work to succeed together. When goals are reached and if eligible, you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme.
Workplace - When you join the team you'll be assigned a primary workplace location i.e. one of our Offices, stores or factories. Our hybrid work policy means an average of 3 days per week in the office. The hiring team will discuss the policy and role eligibility with you during the recruitment process.
Children are our role models. Their curiosity, creativity and imagination inspire everything we do. We strive to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive culture of play at the LEGO Group, where everyone feels safe, valued and they belong.
The LEGO Group is highly committed to equal employment opportunity and equal pay and seeks to encourage applicants from all backgrounds (eg. sex, gender identity or expression, race/ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age and religion) to apply for roles in our team.
The LEGO Group is fully committed to Children’s Rights and Child Wellbeing across the globe. Candidates offered positions with high engagement with children are required to take part in Child Safeguarding Background Screening, as a condition of the offer.
Thank you for sharing our global commitment to Children’s Rights.
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Join the LEGO® team today.