General Manager

About the Company

IIC-INTERSPORT International Corporation is the brand-management and purchasing company of the INTERSPORT Group. With a turnover of EUR 14.0 billion in 2024 and more than 5'460 specialist sports stores in 42 countries, the INTERSPORT Group is among the world's leading sporting goods retailers.

About the Role

The General Manager of Private Label Brands is responsible to lead the end‑to‑end strategy and decision‑making for INTERSPORT's PLB portfolio, owning brand direction, range architecture and assortment inputs. The successful candidate will champion a bottom‑up approach, empowering National Organisations (N/Os) as the specialists who shape what we build and how we compete.

Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, this person will orchestrate, guide and elevate high‑performing teams across Bern and APAC to deliver PLB success for the Group.

You will set the trajectory and lead the transformations that keep PLB profitable, competitive and fully aligned with INTERSPORT's objectives.

Responsibilities

• Full commercial and operational accountability for the success of Private Label Brands business and organisation.
• Implement and optimize the Private Label brand strategy for the future direction together with the CCO (Chief Commercial Officer) and PLB Management Team.
• Synergize and syndicate relationships/alliances with Divisional GMs, PLB Management Team and National Organizations to bring PLB to the next level.
• Be the face of Private Label Brands and represent INTERSPORT on different occasions
• Ensure an organizational set up to improve capacity and capability of the Private Label Brands team while being efficient and profitable.
• Lead a competent, self-reliant team within the Division Private Label Brands and manage cross-divisional stakeholders to realize commercial results.
• Enable team to work self-responsibly by having clear responsibilities and roles to allow maximizing their performance and excel in their respective roles
• Exemplify leadership in all assigned roles.
• Champion an inclusive and open-minded culture within the organization by exemplifying it through role-modelling and clear communication.
• Steer the team to deliver a competitive and profitable PLB assortment following clear commercial price and margin target.
• Business Unit Portfolio in Sourcing: ensure across the Business Units to have the most successful portfolio mix of Sourcing for the ranges/product types within your Business unit to cover the optimal mix of Direct Supplier Sourcing, Traders, Agents. Have full buy-in and alignment from Category Management and the Global Category Teams.
• Oversee and account for Budget Planning.
• Ensure alignment with the marketing, digital and retail leaders that the teams deliver the relevant commercial tools.
• Ensure and drive the relevant analytical solutions for strategic business challenges across multiple stakeholders in the areas of product offer and creation as well as sourcing and supplier management in cooperation with Business Partnering where relevant.
• Act pro-active regarding relevant information sharing, identifying opportunities & challenges, escalating topics at the right moment and regular pro-active reporting on status of topics to superior and relevant stakeholders.
• Oversee optimizing the relevant services to the National Organizations to focus on better price, improved supply chain, better services, improved processes.
• Account for forecasting sales volume, value and profit and monitor the progress regularly to achieve the target goals and operative net results for the division.
• Report financial outcomes, delivery performance and propose and track quarterly action plans.

Key Requirements

• In-depth knowledge of the sporting goods market; competitors (brands and retailers), economic situation and factors in key markets, target consumers, etc.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking: ability to draw conclusions from complex retail data, market and trend information, KPI reports and translate them into clear actionable strategies that drive business growth.
• Excellent commercial understanding across product, promotion, price and place aspects of the business.
• Strategic thinking and the ability to anticipate future challenges and opportunities.
• Specific knowledge of the structure, strategy and business model and aspects of all relevant INTERSPORT N/Os. Strong understanding of all commercial aspects of the INTERSPORT operations. Uses this to build credibility and trust with the National Organizations.
• Sales oriented, visionary and creative, entrepreneurial with great negotiation and conflict management skills.
• Empower and inspire multi-cultural teams in a complex and dynamic environment to achieve defined targets.
• Understanding of supply chain management principles, practices, and industry trends.
• Understanding of the market dynamics, key suppliers, and industry-specific regulations and requirements.
• Awareness of emerging trends and best practices in sourcing and supplier management within the industry.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to build and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and cross-functional teams.
• Effective negotiation and conflict resolution skills to achieve mutually beneficial agreements.

Professional Experience

• Significant 10+ years work experience across commercial management, product management / category management, supply chain or operations preferably in the sporting goods or fashion industry or retail.
• Proven track-record of successfully leading cross-functional, multi-cultural high-performance teams.
• More than 8+ years experience in managing and leading global teams.

Educational & Language Requirements

• A bachelor's or master's degree in business administration, supply chain management, operations management or a related field.
• Consulting experience a plus.
• Professional English is required, German and French would be advantageous and other languages a plus.