Associate Project Manager, Retail Development

L'Occitane en Provence, founded in 1976 in the Provence region of France, is a worldwide brand that offers premium, natural-based, personal care and wellbeing Provencal products and services. L'Occitane continues to grow, opening several new boutiques nationwide. L'Occitane seeks to revive the Provencal way of life and traditions through high quality, effective personal care products as a great answer for natural wellbeing.

L'Occitane Group’s mission is to “empower entrepreneurs and communities to cultivate natural beauty and well-being and regenerate nature”. L'Occitane is also committed to sustainability for business, people & the planet, as well as respect of human rights, ethics principles and labor protection. All employees at L'Occitane must therefore implement the company’s mission and integrate the social, environmental, economic, and legal effects of their actions in their day-to-day job. In practice, this means that any employee at L'Occitane shall contribute to growing sales, regenerating nature, caring for our consumers & partners and supporting our employees. Both job descriptions & performance objectives shall explicitly reflect the employee’s contribution & impact to the triple bottom-line (people, planet, profit).

JOB SUMMARY:

The Retail Development Associate Project Manager will work with our Retail Development Department, with a focus on supporting the Design, Construction, Boutique Care (facilities) and Real Estate Teams. They will support with general tasks associated with new store & remodel construction projects. With 170+ stores in the US and Canadian, this position provides ample opportunity to develop skills related to design, construction, real estate and maintenance. The Retail Development Associate Project Manager will also be the point person for smaller scale Retail Construction Projects, including Kiosks, Temp Stores, Minor Relocations and Remodels. They are responsible for coordinating all facets of the construction process, from start to finish, to ensure that their projects are managed in a timely manner and within budget.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

Retail Development General Team Support:

• Provide administrative support for Design, Construction, Boutique Care & Real Estate Teams.
• Partner with A/P and Finance to set up project financial information (cost centers, store numbers, and internal order numbers) .
• Book and coordinate conference rooms for team meeting needs.
• Prepare spreadsheets and other statistical reports for department.
• Manage Shared Team calendar to ensure that all project dates are current.
• Manage construction schedule to ensure key dates are recorded or updated to be distributed weekly to internal and external stakeholders.
• Prepare weekly PowerPoint for weekly Retail Project Review meeting with architects and Project Managers.
• File all pertinent documents and photos to their corresponding project folders.

Construction Project Manager Support:

• Have weekly meeting with project managers to review each projects schedule & needs.
• Qualify new vendors to meet company ethical requirements.
• Create PO’s, process invoices, track approval signatures and insure timely processing.
• Distribute bid and proposal requests to general contractors and vendors for each project.
• Issue contracts between L'Occitane and General Contractors.
• Prepare bid evaluations for use in selecting vendors or subcontractors by inputting project bids into the bid comparison forms and sending to the Construction Project Manager and Director of Construction for review.
• Qualify new general contractors .

Furniture Inventory Support:

• Partner with Director of Construction to confirm furniture and material needs per project.
• Work with Supply Chain team to manage furniture inventory forecasting and stock management.

Startup/Closeout Project Support:

• Partner with Project Managers to help support punchlist completion and project closeout.
• Partner with Real Estate Manager to compile landlord required closeout documents for Tenant Allowance submittals.
• Work with Boutique Care team to set up utilities for each project.

All other duties or projects as assigned.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Project Deadlines, Budget, Furniture Inventory Levels, Project Close-out/Punchlist Completion

REQUIREMENTS:

EDUCATION:

• BA in (Construction Management, Finance or equivalent) required.

EXPERIENCE:

• Retail experiences a plus.
• Commercial Real Estate or Construction financial background a plus.
• Experience as financial assistant in Commercial Real Estate, Construction, or Legal Firm is a plus.

SKILLS:

• Ability to follow directions, become a team player and be enthusiastic.
• Ability to work well under pressure & handle multiple projects while maintaining deadlines.
• Proficiency in MS Office, primarily Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and MS Project.
• Ability to read architectural plans and schematic drawings.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Familiarity with both UNION and Non-UNION based vendors, contractors, and Mall Personnel (Simon, Macerich, GGP, Taubman, etc.).
• Familiarity with Commercial Leases and construction contracts.
• Proven ability to multi-task and prioritize.
• A general knowledge of standard operating procedures in regard to HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc.
• Ability to interact well with vendors, contractors and corporate Team members.
• Familiarity with construction contracts and negotiations.

PHYSICAL & TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be able to work in normal office conditions.
• Must be able to drive a car
• Must be able to travel via airplane within the U.S. and Canada for more than 25% of the time.
• Must be able to work 8 hours per day.

The salary range for this role is $55,000 - $60,000 for the NYC region (based on skills, experience and with differentials applied if outside of NY.)

L’Occitane North America offers a competitive compensation package and a comprehensive benefit. L’OCCITANE is an equal opportunity employer. This means that, when making decisions about our employees’ careers with us, our main considerations are their ability to do their jobs and develop in their roles. One way we cultivate change is by creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace and organizational culture. As part of this, we are committed to building an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment where everyone feels respected and valued. We recruit positive-minded people who share our core values: entrepreneurship, team spirit, leading by example and authenticity – and our commitment to sustainability. Employment may be subject to verification of references and background check investigation.