Client Development Director

Role Purpose The Client Development Director defines and drives Hermès’ client vision, ensuring that every interaction reflects the Maison’s commitment to excellence, personalization, and emotional connection. This role integrates clienteling, CRM intelligence, and customer journey design to create a seamless and elevated experience across all client touchpoints. It ensures that Hermès prioritizes relationship-first, cultivating long-term loyalty through meaningful and memorable client engagements. This role leads to the strategy and execution of end-to-end client experience (CX) and customer relationship management (CRM) insights. This role ensures the organization delivers consistent, data-driven, and differentiated client journeys while leveraging CRM data and analytics to drive growth, retention, and operational excellence. Key Responsibilities 1. Client Strategy & Clienteling Excellence Define, lead and execute a comprehensive local client development and engagement strategy, aligned with Hermès values and global direction. Champion the Hermès clienteling mindset: a balance of refined, one-to-one communication, authenticity, and human connection. Establish a continuous evolving relationship with client engagement, including recruitment, development, retention and reactivation.  Implement high-impact clienteling frameworks to shift from transaction-focused sales to emotional connection, exclusivity and long-term relationship building, including personalized outreach, soft-touch engagements, and curated experiences.    Partner with Communication, Retail and Merchandising teams to drive top client strategies and high-value client engagement such as private events, instore commercial animations and curated experiences.  Define and drive client segmentation framework to enable targeted, relevant and thoughtful engagements for each segment.  2. CRM Strategy & Client Insights Lead the evolution of CRM from database management to a strategic engine of personalized insight-led decision making.  Oversee the implementation and optimization of Hermes’ CRM platform, ensuring it supports business growth, delivers strong user experience, and integrates effectively across systems and data. With Paris and Regional IT, to deploy and implement advanced customer analytics capabilities, including:  Client segmentation & profiling Behavioral and lifecycle analysis  Campaign Creation/Execution, Performance Tracking, Attribution/Insights Customer lifetime value and retention / Customer Journey Optimization  Establish to track and measure performance (acquisition, retention, engagement, client Lifetime value).  Deliver actionable client insights through CX dashboards [or other visual reporting tools] to influence client strategies and decision making.  Translate customer data into strategic insights to help drive commercial performance and growth. 3. Customer Experience (CX) Journey Manage end-to-end customer journey strategy across all touchpoints (in-store, digital, omnichannel). Utilize HI concepts to conceptualize signature Hermès experiences locally, that evoke surprise, emotion, and delight. Identify and address pain points [and moments of truth] using data, feedback and qualitative insights and to drive resolution plans.  Oversee the local development of new services and experiential initiatives to elevate client satisfaction and loyalty.  Ensure consistency and excellence across all channels, aligning with brand standards and global guidelines. 4. Client Complaint Management & Service Recovery Excellence Partner closely with Retail teams to: Ensure timely and consistent resolution of client issues Establish clear escalation protocols and response standards Monitor complaint trends and identify root causes Act as the main escalation point for complex or sensitive client cases, ensuring resolution with discretion and care.  Embed a client-centric service recovery mindset, transforming complaints into opportunities to reinforce loyalty. Ensure all responses remain aligned with Hermès’ tone, values, and service excellence expectations. Analyze complaint data and client feedback to drive continuous improvement in the client journey. 5. Governance, Data Quality & Compliance Establish strong CRM governance and data quality standards ensuring accuracy, best-in-class data management and usage standards.  Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, PDPA). With Internal Control, IT and the Data Protection Officer, define clear processes and guidelines for client data capture and usage 6. Leadership & Capability Building Build a client-centric culture across the organization through training, coaching, and change management.  Partner with Global/Regional teams to design and deliver training programs on client experience, CRM data literacy, and service excellence. Influence senior stakeholders for alignment across Retail, Communications, Merchandising, Digital and Operations. Key Qualifications & Experience 10–15+ years of experience in CRM, clienteling, customer insights, or customer experience, ideally within luxury or premium retail. Proven track record of building and executing customer-centric strategies at scale. Strong expertise in:  CRM platforms Data analytics and business intelligence Customer journey design and CX frameworks Demonstrated ability to translate data into actionable business strategies. Experience leading cross-functional and multicultural teams. Strong stakeholder management and executive influence skills. Key Competencies Strategic thinking with customer-first mindset Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills Leadership, coaching and team development Exceptional communication and storytelling with data Change management and transformation capability High level of discretion, empathy and client sensitivity. Success Metrics / KPIs Growth in client loyalty, retention and lifetime value Elevation of client experience quality and satisfaction. CRM adoption and data quality improvement Successful CRM-driven Campaigns Improvement in client satisfaction and mystery shopping results. Enhanced client engagement and activation rates Sales contribution from targeted client segments