Chief Executive Officer

Drayton are thrilled to be partnering with a highly regarded, heritage brand to appoint a Chief Executive Officer to lead the business through its next phase of growth. This is a unique opportunity to take the helm of a founder led, profitable and well established retail and ecommerce business with a strong international customer base and clear ambition to scale significantly over the coming years.

In this role you will have responsibilities for

• Full executive leadership of the business, setting and delivering a clear strategy to scale revenue and profitability
• Ownership of full P&L, driving strong commercial performance across retail, ecommerce, wholesale and international channels
• Enhancement of the retail model while accelerating ecommerce towards a significantly greater proportion of total revenue
• Development and execution of an international growth strategy across key global markets
• Strengthening and evolving the brand and product proposition while protecting this brand’s heritage positioning
• Building and leading a high performing leadership team, fostering a culture of ownership, accountability and pace
• Acting as a visible and hands on leader, close to trading, stores and operational execution
• Working closely with the founder and board, ensuring robust governance, financial discipline and long term value creation

Requirements for this role include:

• Proven experience leading and scaling a retail & omnichannel led consumer businesses as a CEO or COO
• Strong commercial and trading capability with full P&L ownership experience
• Deep understanding of retail operations and omnichannel execution
• Experience leading own brand product development and third party product expertise
• Track record of driving ecommerce growth and improving digital performance
• Experience expanding into international markets across multiple regions
• Ability to operate in a PE-backed or similarly high-velocity environments, thriving amidst a culture of pace, agility and continuous improvement
• Strong leadership capability with experience building and developing senior teams
• Comfort working in a founder led or owner managed environment

The ideal profile

• A highly commercial, energetic and grounded leader with a natural bias for action
• Someone who thrives operating close to the detail while also setting clear strategic direction
• A leader who combines pace and ambition with emotional intelligence and respect for heritage
• Strong instinct for brand, product and customer, with the ability to evolve without losing authenticity
• Resilient, adaptable and motivated to build something meaningful over the long term
• A credible and collaborative operator who can engage effectively with founders, boards and teams

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