People Director – Level Shoes – Chalhoub Group

For over seven decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences across the Middle East, distributing and retailing some of the world’s most recognised fashion, beauty, jewellery, watch, eyewear, and art de vivre brands in the region. Level Shoes, one of the group’s flagship retail concepts, is among the world’s largest luxury footwear destinations, and this role is for a People Director to lead the human resources function supporting that business.

The role carries senior HR leadership responsibility: setting and driving people strategy for Level Shoes, overseeing talent acquisition, development, and retention, guiding organisational design and workforce planning as the business evolves, and partnering closely with commercial leadership to ensure the people function genuinely supports business goals rather than operating separately from them. In a luxury retail environment specifically, this also means understanding how to attract, develop, and retain the kind of talent that delivers a genuinely elevated customer experience.

It suits an experienced HR leader with a strong track record in retail or luxury environments, comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on levels, and genuinely fluent in translating business priorities into people strategy. Strong stakeholder management with senior commercial leadership is as important as HR technical expertise.

Leading people strategy for a brand of Level Shoes’ scale and recognition within Chalhoub’s broader luxury portfolio is a genuinely senior, visible mandate.

In luxury retail, the quality of the customer experience is delivered almost entirely by people — store associates, specialists, and leaders whose product knowledge, service style, and genuine engagement directly shape whether a customer's visit lives up to the brand promise. A People Director who gets talent acquisition, development, and retention right at Level Shoes directly protects and strengthens that customer experience, while gaps in people strategy show up quickly as inconsistent service or high turnover in customer-facing roles. Because this is a senior leadership role partnering directly with commercial leadership, decisions made here also shape organisational structure and workforce planning that affect the business's ability to scale and adapt over time. For a flagship retail concept within Chalhoub's broader luxury portfolio, strong people leadership is not a support function sitting apart from the business — it's one of the more direct levers on whether Level Shoes continues to deliver the elevated experience its brand promise depends on.

A People Director role at a brand of Level Shoes' scale, within one of the region's most established luxury groups, offers genuinely senior HR leadership exposure with real strategic scope — organisational design, talent strategy, and direct partnership with commercial leadership, rather than purely operational HR administration. For an HR leader building toward a Chief People Officer or broader executive HR role, this kind of business-embedded, luxury-retail-specific leadership experience is exactly the track record that differentiates candidates at the most senior levels. Working within Chalhoub Group also means exposure to how one of the region's most respected luxury retail and distribution groups approaches talent strategy across its portfolio of international brand partnerships, a genuinely distinctive vantage point within HR leadership. The direct, close partnership with commercial leadership required in this role also builds strong business acumen alongside HR expertise, a combination increasingly expected of senior HR leaders across industries. For someone with strong HR leadership credentials and a specific interest in luxury retail or customer-experience-driven businesses, this role offers both the seniority and the sector specialisation to build a distinctive executive HR career. It also builds genuine credibility operating at board level, since senior HR leadership roles increasingly expect comfort presenting people strategy alongside commercial and financial performance discussions.

• Significant senior HR leadership experience, ideally within retail, luxury, or a similarly customer-experience-driven industry
• Strong track record in talent acquisition, organisational development, and workforce planning at scale
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to partner closely with senior commercial leadership
• Deep understanding of how people strategy supports customer experience in a luxury retail environment
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in HR, business, or organisational psychology is an advantage
• Experience leading HR through periods of organisational change or growth
• Strong communication skills across all levels of the organisation, from store teams to senior leadership