Associate Director, Americas Retail (Temp to Perm)

What You’ll Do

This is a temp-to-perm opportunity. The Associate Director will lead the activation of global toolkits, tailoring designs to meet local market needs while preserving the brand’s joyful, premium identity. From home bays and animations to pop-ups and large-scale events, they’ll ensure creative excellence, operational precision, and commercial impact.Ideal candidates are strategic, hands-on visual merchandising experts with strong spatial storytelling and event execution skills. They'll collaborate across global and regional teams to deliver seamless experiences from concept to installation. As a key bridge between global vision and regional nuance, this role requires a sharp understanding of messaging hierarchy and consumer journey design—ensuring every activation resonates with the Global brand vision. Our regional teams are brand stewards and champions of excellence. We move the work forward—with purpose, clarity, and creative excellence—and we thrive on strong ideas, thoughtful direction, and high standards. You lead with creative rigor, bring clarity and consistency to every brief, and deliver feedback that builds trust and sharpens the work. Craft, cohesion, and cultural relevance are your guiding principles—and they’re reflected in everything you touch.

What You’ll Be Working On

Regional VM & Event Responsibilities

• Activate Global Toolkits for High-Impact Regional Execution
• Translate Global Visual Merchandising guidelines and campaign assets into high-impact regional retail and event experiences—ensuring brand consistency while reflecting the unique needs and opportunities of the Americas market.
• Adapt toolkit components as needed, sourcing regionally appropriate materials and refining design details to meet executional and operational standards without compromising creative integrity.
• Partner closely with Global Retail and Global VM to ensure all regional executions uphold creative intent, providing feedback from in-market activations to contribute to continuous improvement of global toolkits and standards.

Design and Deliver Immersive Environments

• Lead the design and production of branded spaces across retail activations, pop-ups, and key consumer events—from concept development through onsite execution.
• Drive the creative translation of Global campaign elements into engaging, experiential environments that inspire discovery, connection, and conversion.
• Support pilot and first-to-market activations across the Americas, managing all design, production, and launch phases in close collaboration with Global Retail.

Own Event Production & Vendor Oversight

• Partner with regional business partners and vendors to manage fabrication, logistics, and installation, ensuring high-quality delivery on time and within budget.
• Oversee vendor vetting, training, and brand alignment, reinforcing Sol de Janeiro’s commitment to executional excellence in every build and event activation.
• Ensure all design intent, materials, finishes, and installations meet brand standards and visual integrity benchmarks across all physical executions.

Ensure Brand Standards & Executional Excellence

• Maintain visual and experiential brand integrity across retail and event environments, troubleshooting creative or technical challenges as needed.
• Develop systems and standards to ensure consistency of brand presentation across different retail formats, event scales, and market conditions.
• Embed consumer insight and market performance feedback into all adaptations, ensuring that creative executions deliver measurable impact in visibility, engagement, and sales conversion.

Collaborate Cross-Functionally

• Partner closely with Global VM, Regional Marketing, Sales, and Operations to align on strategic priorities, campaign timing, and executional needs.
• Act as the regional bridge between global vision and local execution, championing both creative fidelity and commercial agility.
• Contribute to value engineering discussions to ensure design feasibility, budget alignment, and production efficiency from the outset.

Leadership Functions

• Mentor and inspire a regional VM and events team to perform at the top of their abilities, fostering creative growth, accountability, and cross-functional excellence.
• Vet, manage, and train vendors, fabricators, and agency partners to ensure alignment to brand guidelines and adherence to the highest production standards.
• Champion creative problem-solving and cultivate a reputation for being a collaborative and solutions-oriented leader who balances brand storytelling with operational discipline.
• Establish clear workflows and approval checkpoints for all regional design and event workstreams—ensuring that global stakeholders have adequate time for review and feedback.
• Manage multiple fast-paced projects with confidence, maintaining quality and creative excellence even under tight timelines or shifting priorities.
• Foster a culture of excellence where every retail and event touchpoint is executed to reflect the brand’s premium positioning and joyful aesthetic.
• Represent the voice of the Americas/APAC region, advocating for regional needs within global planning cycles and ensuring the brand’s in-store and experiential expression remains innovative, relevant, and premium.

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Must Haves

• 8+ years of experience in event design, environmental design, or experiential production—preferably within the beauty, fashion, or lifestyle sectors
• Expertise in executing immersive brand experiences across both prestige and luxury environments, with a deep understanding of audience expectations, finish quality, and nuanced brand storytelling
• Proven track record delivering high-visibility brand experiences across retail, pop-up, and live event formats in the Americas market Strong working knowledge of event production workflows, fabrication methods, and regional vendor ecosystems
• Mastery of relevant 2D and 3D design skillsets—including spatial design, art direction, and visual storytelling—with a strong understanding of messaging hierarchies to ensure cohesive, consumer-facing experiences
• Proficiency in Sketchup, Rhino, Keyshot and Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop Ability to interpret global creative direction and apply it with precision, ensuring brand integrity across all regional executions
• Familiarity with value engineering principles and experience optimizing creative execution within defined budgets
• Skilled in stakeholder management, with experience aligning cross-functional priorities across Global Retail and Americas/APAC business partners to deliver localized adaptations of global campaigns that meet both strategic and commercial objectives
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to confidently represent creative work to internal stakeholders, Americas/APAC business partners, and external collaborators
• Must be based in New York City or surrounding areas
• Position is required to be in-office 3 Days per week.

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