Dancing Leopard symbolises magic, mystery, passion and sensuality . It’s the Wild, vibrant and adventurous creature that lives inside us all. We embody adventure with a unique twist.
The Company and overview of Position
We are looking to hire a high-calibre General Manager (GM) to oversee the running of the company, including these key areas: Finance, HR, Operations and the three core Sales Channels (Online, Wholesale and Retail).
The GM will be expected to ensure that Dancing Leopard is ethically and environmentally forward thinking, internally amongst the team but also externally with its customers. Sustainability is a key value of the Company and the successful GM candidate will be able to demonstrate they have a sound grasp of current issues in this area.
Furthermore Dancing Leopard would like to expand their reach and involvement in a range of charitable projects which the GM will again be responsible for advising on and overseeing so a passion in these areas is a must.
The GM will be responsible for implementing Dancing Leopard’s trading strategy, helping the owners execute their business plan and ensuring that all teams within the business understand their objectives and are working constructively together to achieve targets.
A key component of the role will be to analyse data and performance from across the company and present it to the owners. The GM will also act as a chief liason, supporting the senior management team on strategy, difficult decisions and reacting to fast-changing situations.
Dancing Leopard has a team of much loved, vibrant and passionate individuals spread across in-house and remote locations. The mission of the GM is to unite, inspire and motivate the team and lead the company towards it’s full potential.
The Role in more detail
Sales Channels and Product
High Performance of the marketing, merchandising and wholesale teams is necessary to achieve an optimum flow of stock. It will be the mission of the GM to ensure these teams are well motivated, achieving their targets and collaborating effectively in order to reach the primary goal: enough product availability to meet demand along with high sell-through rates across collections.
- Leading the way in reducing returns rates by pulling together information from the various teams, analysing data meticulously, strategising with the CEO and always striving for the best quality product.
- Acting as a coach to the Marketing manager, making sure that targets get met so that Dancing Leopard’s customers receive a world-class online experience across every touch point, platform and device and that conversion, engagement and sales are optimised.
- Supporting the Head of Merchandising in their mission to keep the best sellers in stock and reduce lead times from factories.
- Working closely with the Wholesale Manager to ensure that the strategy works coherently with the companies e-commerce trading and contributes to the success of product sell-through.
- Organising regular meetings between the teams to make sure the lines of communication are open and flowing.
- Staying well informed on all industry practices, constantly researching new technologies and methodologies and gathering information ready to present and discuss with the CEO.
Finance
The GM will be responsible for the company’s financial operations, ensuring budget is being used effectively and that each department is operating in a smart and cost-efficient manner. The overall goal is to maintain financial robustness, build company value, keep the CEO well informed and offer guidance and support on financial strategy.
- Overseeing Accounts procedures to ensure spending is meticulously documented.
- Evaluating budget spend across departments, identifying areas for improvement and advising team leaders to help them spend wisely.
- Cost of fulfilment - staying very intune with cost at current warehouse and researching alternatives in order to be reactive to changing needs.
- Reporting back to the CEO regularly on all areas of company spends/use of budget.
Managing the Teams and Culture/Vision
Strong Leadership is key in this role - The GM will be an outstanding and inspirational manager who will set the highest standards in hiring, training and development, retention and employee satisfaction. The whole company will report in to the GM and they will have the support to grow and reshape the team as appropriate. They will be seen by the the entire Dancing Leopard organisation, as a deeply credible and trusted figure, present at all times for the team and a key asset for the company.
- Running weekly video meet ups to ensure a high level of connection between remote and in house employees.
- Inspiring and driving the team leaders to perform at a high level, supporting them in achieving their goals and holding them accountable to a high standard of excellence.
- Ensuring the company culture and vision is maintained as the owners have intended.
- Regular one on ones and reviews with team leaders, with all information flowing back efficiently to the owners.
- Team expansion strategy meetings with the CEO.
Systems and Resources
The GM will be responsible for optimising systems and resources across the company; firstly taking time to learn the current systems and then generating new ideas for improvements from their learnings. The goal for 2020 is to ensure all company processes are efficient and scalable, re-designing where appropriate.
- Warehouse: Supporting and strategising with the warehouse manager to ensure optimal efficiency. Offering guidance where appropriate.
- HR: Ensuring all processes for recruitment, onboarding, reviews etc are culturally fitting, streamlined and consistent across the company - ensuring that the employees feel supported in their career and well informed.
- Across Teams: Always evaluating current project management and communication tech to ensure the latest resources are being used efficiently.
- Information Flow to CEO: Ensuring the CEO is always fully informed about all aspects from within the day to day of the company and it’s people.
- Problem Solving: Always adaptable, dynamic and ready to handle operational curveballs! The GM will be excellent at identifying problems and executing solutions.
Profile Overview
- Passionate about the environment and ready to bring ideas to the table on how the business can work towards sustainability.
- You are an exceptional communicator across all modals - video, face to face, phone call and written. You are able to quickly build a rapport, gain respect and have are skilled at delivering information in a crystal-clear way.
- You are capable of effectively leading the financials of the company and able to demonstrate a good knowledge and experience in this area.
- You have solid commercial and trading instincts, and the ability to make sound and rapid operational decisions.
- You will have operated successfully in a digital environment, with a deep understanding of the KPIs and best practices across the consumer journey and a passion for fashion.
- You are an inspiring and engaging leader with a naturally high emotional intelligence, able to recruit and retain high-calibre staff.
- You ideally have a track record of managing remote teams.
- You will be enthusiastic about the brand and have a desire to drive it to success. You love to celebrate wins and will encourage the whole team to do so.
- You are a proactive self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset, you love a challenge, see failures as learnings and have a desire to constantly improve.
- You ideally have experience working directly with Senior Management, are confident to challenge thinking where appropriate and are perceptive enough to know which information nuggets do and don’t need to be communicated.
- You are a highly skilled diplomat, able to deliver tough information when necessary.
- You value attention to detail highly and always strive for operational perfection.
- You are an expert in presenting information and data in a visual and easily digestible format.
- High level of integrity with zero tolerance for politics - caring most for what’s best for the company.
- You love using new tech to enhance performance and are always on the look out for new products developments that can be useful.
Salary: Dependent on experience and comes with a desirable benefits package. Will consider part remote working for the right candidate.
To apply - please email joinus@dancingleopard.co.uk