Head of Retail (Product Owner)

Salt; Dubai; On-site; AED 900,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Salt is seeking a senior leader to own the product, technology and transformation agenda across its retail business in Dubai. You will connect physical stores, digital commerce, data and technology to deliver an omnichannel customer experience, leading a 50+ team across Dubai and Bangalore.

The role demands deep experience in retail, ecommerce or commerce tech, with a proven track record of leading large product organisations and major transformation programmes.

Qualifications

• 15–20+ years of experience across retail, ecommerce, commerce technology, product or digital transformation.
• Significant experience in large-scale retail environments, ideally multi-brand or multi-market.
• Proven track record leading 50+ person product, technology or digital organisations.
• Strong experience across physical retail / stores, not solely ecommerce.
• Demonstrated ownership of store operations, POS, retail technology or omnichannel platforms.
• Experience leading major digital or business transformation programmes.
• Strong product strategy, roadmap and portfolio management experience.
• Experience managing major platform migrations and technology vendors.
• Proven ability to operate within complex, matrixed organisations and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial, financial and organisational leadership capability.

Responsibilities

• Define the vision, strategy and multi-year roadmap for the retail product portfolio.
• Translate business strategy into clear product priorities, investment cases and measurable outcomes.
• Identify where AI, automation, data and connected commerce can materially improve retail performance.
• Establish a customer- and store-associate-led approach to product discovery and prioritisation.
• Own the technology and product agenda supporting day-to-day store operations.
• Drive improvements in store productivity, operational efficiency and task execution.
• Own the POS roadmap, including platform migration, stabilisation and continuous improvement.
• Manage key technology vendors and strategic partners.
• Connect physical stores and ecommerce to create seamless customer journeys.
• Drive capabilities such as real-time inventory visibility, ship-from-store, endless aisle and cross-channel fulfilment.
• Own clienteling and enable store associates to deliver more personalised customer experiences.
• Partner closely with ecommerce, customer, loyalty and analytics teams.
• Define and prioritise retail intelligence and data products that improve store performance.
• Partner with data science and analytics teams to embed insights into everyday retail decisions.
• Identify opportunities for AI assistants, personalisation, predictive analytics and intelligent store operations.
• Lead the retail transformation agenda across technology, process and operating model.
• Build and manage the transformation portfolio, governance and value tracking.
• Drive adoption and change management across the retail organisation.
• Remove cross-functional blockers and ensure transformation programmes deliver measurable business value.
• Lead and develop a 50+ person organisation across Dubai and Bangalore.
• Manage senior pillar leaders across Store Operations, Retail Technology, POS and related domains.
• Build a high-performing, multi-location product organisation with clear accountability.
• Own headcount planning, talent development, budget and vendor commercials.
• Represent retail product and transformation at senior executive and CDO leadership forums.

Skills

15–20+ years experience

Large-scale retail environments

Leadership of 50+ people

Store operations & POS

Digital transformation programmes

Product strategy & roadmap

Platform migrations

Stakeholder management

Commercial leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, Design or related

MBA or relevant master's degree

Tools

Jumpmind

Oracle Retail

NCR

Aptos

Job description

Head of Retail – Product, Technology & Transformation

Location: Dubai, UAE

About the Role

Our client is looking for a senior retail product and transformation leader to own the product, technology and transformation agenda across its retail business.

This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for connecting physical stores, digital commerce, customer experience, data and technology to create a seamless omnichannel retail experience.

You will lead a team of 50+ across Dubai and Bangalore and own key retail domains including Store Operations, Retail Technology, POS, Retail Intelligence, Clienteling, Brand Experience and Omnichannel.

The ideal candidate will bring deep experience across retail, ecommerce or commerce technology, combined with a strong track record of leading large product organisations and complex transformation programmes.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Vision

• Define the vision, strategy and multi-year roadmap for the retail product portfolio.
• Translate business strategy into clear product priorities, investment cases and measurable outcomes.
• Identify where AI, automation, data and connected commerce can materially improve retail performance.
• Establish a customer- and store-associate-led approach to product discovery and prioritisation.

Store Operations & Retail Technology

• Own the technology and product agenda supporting day-to-day store operations.
• Drive improvements in store productivity, operational efficiency and task execution.
• Own the POS roadmap, including platform migration, stabilisation and continuous improvement.
• Manage key technology vendors and strategic partners.

Omnichannel & Customer Experience

• Connect physical stores and ecommerce to create seamless customer journeys.
• Drive capabilities such as real-time inventory visibility, ship-from-store, endless aisle and cross-channel fulfilment.
• Own clienteling and enable store associates to deliver more personalised customer experiences.
• Partner closely with ecommerce, customer, loyalty and analytics teams.

Retail Intelligence & AI

• Define and prioritise retail intelligence and data products that improve store performance.
• Partner with data science and analytics teams to embed insights into everyday retail decisions.
• Identify opportunities for AI assistants, personalisation, predictive analytics and intelligent store operations.

Transformation

• Lead the retail transformation agenda across technology, process and operating model.
• Build and manage the transformation portfolio, governance and value tracking.
• Drive adoption and change management across the retail organisation.
• Remove cross-functional blockers and ensure transformation programmes deliver measurable business value.

Leadership

• Lead and develop a 50+ person organisation across Dubai and Bangalore.
• Manage senior pillar leaders across Store Operations, Retail Technology, POS and related domains.
• Build a high-performing, multi-location product organisation with clear accountability.
• Own headcount planning, talent development, budget and vendor commercials.
• Represent retail product and transformation at senior executive and CDO leadership forums.

What We're Looking For

• 15–20+ years of experience across retail, ecommerce, commerce technology, product or digital transformation.
• Significant experience in large-scale retail environments, ideally multi-brand or multi-market.
• Proven track record leading 50+ person product, technology or digital organisations.
• Strong experience across physical retail / stores, not solely ecommerce.
• Demonstrated ownership of store operations, POS, retail technology or omnichannel platforms.
• Experience leading major digital or business transformation programmes.
• Strong product strategy, roadmap and portfolio management experience.
• Experience managing major platform migrations and technology vendors.
• Proven ability to operate within complex, matrixed organisations and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial, financial and organisational leadership capability.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, Design or a related discipline.

Preferred

• Experience with Jumpmind, Oracle Retail, NCR, Aptos or comparable POS platforms.
• Experience across clienteling, retail intelligence, supply chain or store operations technology.
• Exposure to AI-enabled retail, personalisation or intelligent store experiences.
• Previous experience in the Middle East or large multi-brand retail groups.
• MBA or relevant master's degree.

Leadership Profile

We are looking for a leader who is:

• Strategic and commercially minded
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and complexity
• Highly customer- and store-associate-centric
• Strong at influencing across a matrix
• An effective transformation and change leader
• Data-driven and outcome-oriented
• A strong people leader and talent builder
• Able to balance innovation with operational resilience

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to shape the future of retail across a major multi-brand organisation, with the mandate to redefine how stores, digital commerce, data, AI and customer experience come together.

The successful candidate will have significant influence over the organisation's retail product strategy, technology roadmap and transformation agenda, with direct visibility at C-suite level.

*** Only successful candidates will be contacted ***