Retail Store Experience Manager Full Time NEW

The Role:

Based at our Doonmarngwarree (Torquay) Head Office, the Retail Store Experience Manager supports our growing retail network across Australia and New Zealand and oversees the end‑to‑end delivery of our in‑store retail experience. In this Fulltime position, the Retail Store Experience Manager will oversee new store openings, refurbishments, and branded wholesale installations, while also leading the Australian Visual Merchandising (VM) team to implement our VM standards. You’ll partner with our merchandising and planning teams to shape seasonal product stories, develop seasonal store strategies through product placement and customer experience, and develop visual merchandising standards.

Responsibilities include project planning and stakeholder management (suppliers, customers and internal), budgeting and cost management, managing complex projects from concept through to completion, team leadership, contributing to seasonal range architecture, development of seasonal merchandising plans, and ensuring outcomes are delivered on time and on budget. Engaging and collaborating with internal stakeholders is essential to the success of this role.

With a deep understanding of the outdoor and surf market and contemporary consumer behaviours, this role integrates retail execution with merchandising and marketing through strategic planning, leadership, collaboration, and hands-on retail execution. When done successfully, this role will support the growth of core categories, technical product, and overall brand success in the retail and wholesale marketplace.

Our retail stores are where our brand comes to life, and we consider these spaces as a gift to our communities. We create an environment that is welcoming to everyone, unique, inspiring, and reflective of the local community. This role will honour this through creative design, embedding brand directives, and ensuring that local stories are told to not only create a unique retail experience, but a hub for local activism.

Objectives:

Assortment Planning

You will play a key role in shaping product presentation and assortment strategies that reflect store identity and customer needs. This involves leveraging sales data, market insights, and customer profiles to support planning and in-store execution. By collaborating closely with retail, merchandise, Marketing, buying teams to ensure alignment across channels, while driving performance through strategic product selection and visual storytelling.

• Align product planning with store DNA by analysing sales, customers, and trends to ensure assortments reflect store’s needs. Produce floor plans, layouts, and presentation decks.
• Partner with merchandising and buying teams to give strategic feedback, ensuring assortments support visual storytelling, seasonal campaigns, and brand goals.
• Design product flows and themed presentations using Illustrator (or similar) to create compelling, easy-to-navigate guides that help store teams execute layouts.
• Conduct regular store visits to research customer behaviour, assess execution, and gather insights that inform merchandising strategies and improve experience.
• Use Illustrator (or similar) to sketch layout changes, develop floor plans, and optimise navigation and product visibility across various store zones.

Visual Merchandising

You will be responsible for driving the overall visual strategy and brand experience across Patagonia retail and wholesale stores. The role involves collaborating with cross-functional teams, ensuring brand consistency, and elevating the aesthetic appeal of displays. You’ll lead the VM team, monitor performance, and adapt strategies based on sales trends. Additionally, you’ll oversee the implementation of branded Shop-in-Shop displays in key wholesale accounts and provide ongoing support to store teams.

• Develop and manage seasonal store marketing strategies, including design, POP, and in-store experience creation.
• Lead seasonal planning to support retail campaigns, product launches, and store installations.
• Oversee vendor partnerships to design and supply seasonal POP assets, ensuring alignment with budget and brand standards.
• Guide the Visual Merchandising (VM) team in crafting compelling visual concepts that enhance brand storytelling.
• Create seasonal design plans to highlight key products and elevate brand moments across retail environments.
• Uphold brand standards across all retail stores, ensuring consistency in execution and presentation.
• Ensure the VM team delivers cohesive visual displays, signage, and overall store aesthetics across locations.
• Manage the VM team’s travel calendar in alignment with seasonal product deliveries, storytelling execution, and wholesale support.
• Continuously seek opportunities to enhance the brand experience through innovative design, layout optimisation, and immersive retail environments.
• Lead Shop-in-Shop execution by creating tailored layouts and assortments that balance Patagonia’s identity with host store flow and standards.

Retail Experience  

You will partner in the design process for new stores, existing store refurbishment and significant wholesale branded projects through management of an external architects, designers and drafts people. This will involve:

• Executing store modelling and rendering of branded structures and store environments, through design partners and directly (project size dependant).
• Producing floorplans, layouts, and detailed presentation decks.
• Interfacing with vendors, contractors, and other external agencies where necessary
• Researching and selecting appropriate materials with thoughtful consideration to sustainability and environmental impact – maintain a materials library and sample boards.
• Collaborating with marketing, product, and retail/sales peers on creative and compelling design solutions.
• Manage vendors and contractors effectively, for on-time delivery within budget.
• Partner in the concept design process for store projects with external design partners; from initial briefing, through to design iterations, and final sign off with internal and external stakeholders.
• Establishing project resourcing through trusted and cost-effective trades or store fit-out partners as appropriate.
• Conducting regular review of vendors to ensure positive outcomes.
• Developing and managing project budgets and timelines in line with capital planning and management direction.

About you: 

You’re equally at home in the worlds of design and commerce – blending a refined aesthetic with a clear understanding of what drives retail performance. Whether shaping store environments or influencing product decisions, you use both intuition and insight to create experiences that are not only beautiful, but purposeful and impactful. To be successful in this role you will bring:

• Experience in visual merchandising, store development or senior design roles within a retail environment.
• Degree in Fashion Merchandising, Design, Architecture, Marketing, or a related field (desirable).
• A sharp aesthetic eye and genuine sensitivity to brand, with experience translating values into product decisions
• Analytical skills – assortment planning, open-to-buy, sell-through, stock turn – with the ability to let data inform (not replace) good judgement
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills that can articulate a vision and bring people on the journey
• Ability to build strong working relationships and effectively collaborate and influence to achieve outcomes
• High level of project management skills and attention to detail with a focus on premium design principles.
• Equally comfortable presenting to the leadership team and rolling up your sleeves to deliver store experience
• Proficient in design tools like: Sketchup Pro Rendering software (KeyShot, Podium, etc.); Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator)
• Flexible to work extended hours and travel when needed.
• Able to provide a folio to validate experience

Tagged as: patagonia, retail, retail experience, retail management, retail marketing