District Leader, PNW

Crate & Barrel; Northbrook (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Crate & Barrel is seeking a District Leader to energize store teams and drive top-line growth while placing the customer at the center of everything. This role links corporate strategy with field execution, translating vision into actionable district plans and coaching leaders toward peak performance.

The District Leader will oversee multiple stores, refine processes, and enhance profitability through brand standards, talent development, and strategic initiative execution across the district.

Qualifications

• Extensive retail leadership experience with multi-unit oversight.
• Proven track record in driving sales and profitability.
• Strong talent development and succession planning skills.
• Ability to interpret corporate vision and translate to district action.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.

Responsibilities

• Inspire teams to achieve year-over-year sales growth with a selling culture.
• Leverage store visits and analytics to identify opportunities and root causes.
• Support problem solving and action plan development across districts.
• Drive leadership decisions and execute brand initiatives across channels.
• Provide customer-centric service leadership and mentorship across stores.
• Maintain awareness of talent, train mentors, and build a leadership bench.
• Set high performance standards and recognize top performers.
• Be present in stores, approachable, and responsive to feedback.
• Assess store leadership and groom associates for key roles.
• Monitor competitors and anticipate trends to grow the business.
• Advise on process improvements and profitability with an innovation focus.
• Guide strategy changes and rollout plans with issue anticipation.
• Provide subject matter expertise on store-relevant projects.
• Collaborate with Regional Director and store leaders for continuous improvement.

Skills

Retail leadership

Multi-unit management

Talent development

Strategic planning

Brand standards

Job description

The District Leader inspires and empowers store teams to drive top-line revenue growth while keeping the customer at the center of everything. They ensure consistent brand standards, deliver best-in-class service, and foster a fun, engaging experience for both customers and team members. Acting as a vital link between corporate and stores, the District Leader interprets company vision, effectively communicates key messages across the district, and leads the execution of brand and business initiatives. By closely monitoring district trends and financial performance, the District Leader provides strategic insights and feedback to corporate, helping to refine processes and enhance profitability. They coach and hold associates accountable to achieve peak performance, develop talent for future leadership roles, and design recruiting strategies to maintain a strong pipeline of both internal and external candidates.

Responsibilities

• Inspire teams to increase sales year over year by ensuring a selling culture, leading and executing a selling focused organization and sales performance incentives
• Leverage business acumen, reporting and store visits to assess districts of opportunity, prioritize and determine root causes
• Support your teams to problem solve and build solution-based action plans
• Bring leadership decisions to life, supporting efforts and initiatives across all business channels
• Demonstrate curiosity by understanding feedback from various business channels and customers in order to deliver exceptional customer service
• Maintain awareness and strong understanding of the associate talent and expertise in the district in order to leverage skills, training, and mentorship across stores
• Set a high bar for exceptional performance and lead performance management standards to ensure strong associates are recognized and that issues are identified, coached and challenged
• Be present in stores. Build trust, be approachable and maintain an open door so that associates feel comfortable sharing their feedback. Respond to issues and feedback with urgency and care
• Proactively assess the store leadership team, and support the store leader to develop all associates and create a bench for key roles
• Maintain an understanding of competitors across your district and anticipate trends and opportunities to increase business
• Provide feedback to improve processes and standards and drive profitability with a focus toward innovation and growth
• Approach strategy changes and rollouts thoughtfully and anticipate potential issues based on knowledge of your stores and propose solutions to overcome any obstacles
• Provide subject matter expertise on store-relevant projects
• Partner with the Regional Director and store leaders on strategic decision-making and ongoing feedback for continuous improvement

Qualifications

• Ability to travel 80% of the time
• Ability to view the business with big picture thinking and local action, demonstrating initiative and courage
• Ability to assess a situation and form a strategic plan that solves root causes
• Proven success in developing associates’ skills and fostering and developing a talent bench within complex business operations
• Passion to be the best and a track record of driving business results and achieving goals
• A sense of personal style with a discerning eye and passion for design and home furnishings
• Ability to manage change, shifting quickly as business evolves.

Preferred Experience

• 5+ years of retail leadership experience including at least 2 years multi-unit experience
• Experience with $50 million+ volume strongly preferred