Communications Director – APAC, China & Korea

Position

This is a regional leadership role to lead the Maison’s communications strategy and roadmap across the region. This role is both strategic and hands-on, responsible for ensuring the long-term brand vision defined by Headquarters is clearly understood, consistently upheld, and meaningfully translated into locally relevant initiatives across diverse markets in the region.

The role requires a mature, agile, and highly strategic leader who can operate effectively in a matrix organization, partnering closely with regional business leaders and HQ. This person will play a key role in defining both the core narrative and the way it is brought to market, ensuring close alignment with HQ while maximizing local relevance and resonance.

Acting as the bridge between global ambition and local reality, this person will advocate for market needs with credibility, challenge conventional playbooks, and convert strategy into pragmatic, high-impact communication plans that elevate desirability.

Job responsibilities

Strategic Communications Leadership & Roadmap

• Define and lead the comprehensive communications strategy across APAC, China, and Korea, in alignment with Berluti’s global vision, brand positioning, and business priorities.
• Develop the communications roadmap in collaboration with local communications teams and business leaders, balancing long-term brand equity with local market opportunities.
• Play a key role in defining both the core narrative and the way it is brought to market, ensuring close alignment with HQ while maximizing local relevance and resonance.
• Act as a trusted strategic advisor to regional and local leadership teams on brand visibility, reputation, and market impact.

HQ Alignment & Local Market Advocacy

• Serve as the key interface between regional markets and Global Headquarters, ensuring strong alignment on strategic direction, communication priorities, and brand standards.
• Translate HQ vision into market-relevant approaches that resonate with local clients, media ecosystems, and cultural nuances.
• Articulate local market needs, consumer shifts, and business realities to HQ with clarity, maturity, and well-reasoned adaptation proposals.
• Ensure strong internal alignment and understanding on HQ communication strategy across the region, partnering with local teams so that market GMs, key managers, and retail teams clearly understand the Maison’s vision, key messages, and global campaigns, and can translate them consistently within their markets.
• Apply rigorous critical thinking to challenge routine "business-as-usual" execution, ensuring every campaign serves the target client and the Maison’s overarching objectives.

PR, Celebrity, KOL & Press Relationships

• Lead the Maison’s regional approach to celebrity, KOL, and press relationships, ensuring all external visibility initiatives align with Berluti’s image and strategic goals.
• Guide local teams on high-impact media strategies, editorial positioning, press engagement, and storytelling initiatives.
• Oversee brand activations, launches, and visibility events that elevate desirability while remaining selective and brand-right.

Market Intelligence & Trend Monitoring

• Work closely with the local teams to stay fully informed and up-to-date on social media evolution, fashion trends, cultural movements, and consumer behavior across the region—with a particular focus on China and Korea.
• Monitor market dynamics and emerging opportunities alongside local teams to ensure Berluti’s communication approach remains relevant and responsive.

Team Leadership & Operational Excellence

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a multicultural team of 5 across Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Korea, fostering a culture of agility, accountability, and creative excellence.
• Encourage innovative thinking and resource-efficient execution, empowering teams to drive impact-driven initiatives.
• Build strong cross-functional collaboration with marketing, retail, client engagement, and merchandising teams.
• Manage budgets, agency relationships, and issues/reputation management with maturity, sound judgment, and resilience.

Profile

• Experience: 10+ years of progressive communications and PR experience within luxury fashion, leather goods, or comparable prestige sectors, with at least 3 years at a regional or market senior leadership level. Direct experience leading communications in China is essential; proven Korea market experience is preferred.
• Long-Term Strategic Thinking: Proven capability to design multi-year communications strategies and brand roadmaps for a region, looking well beyond standard campaign cycles.
• Strategic Maturity: A senior leader with high maturity, emotional intelligence, and resilience in navigating matrix structures between local markets and global HQ.
• Agility & Innovation: Proven ability to adapt quickly to shifting market dynamics, with a track record of pragmatic strategies that break away from traditional playbooks.
• Critical Thinking: Exceptional analytical and conceptual skills; able to interrogate assumptions, look beyond surface-level trends, and construct robust arguments that secure HQ alignment.
• Market Expertise: Deep understanding of the APAC luxury landscape, digital and social ecosystems, fashion and cultural trends, and client behavior in China and Korea.
• Relationship Management: A strong existing network across press, KOL, and talent management, with proven expertise in negotiation and activation at the Maison level.
• Communication Skills: Outstanding interpersonal, influencing, and cross-cultural communication skills. Fluent in English and Mandarin.
• Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional background; a communications, marketing, or business qualification is a plus.