Assistant Retail Academy Manager

Position

At Sephora, beauty is about feeling seen, valued, and empowered, individually and collectively. It is connecting deeply with others, celebrating diversity and inclusivity, unlocking your potential and making a difference every day. Together, we belong to something beautiful.

About This Role

To lead the design and successful implementation of retail excellence and leadership development initiatives that are strategically aligned with SEPHORA's Vision, Values, and business priorities in China. As a key member of SEPHORA University, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the retail academy curriculum to drive our unique cultural profile and elevate service standards across the market.

Key Responsibilities:

• Training Strategy & Planning: Develop the Mainland China retail training plan in close partnership with the retail operations team, supporting both store and office activities to directly address frontline business needs and challenges.
• End-to-End Program Management: Lead training initiatives from conception to completion, overseeing the entire learning cycle—including pre-training needs assessment and research, curriculum and workshop design, on-the-ground execution, and post-training follow-up and impact evaluation.
• Multi-Level Training Support: Design and deliver targeted learning solutions for different management levels, including Store Managers (SM), District Managers (DM), and Operation Management Trainees (OMT) , ensuring relevance and impact across the leadership pipeline.
• Program Development & Localization: Lead the design, adaptation, and continuous improvement of retail and leadership training programs within SEPHORA University, ensuring content relevance and excellence in China.
• Stakeholder & Cross-functional Partnership: Build strong, strategic business partnerships with Business Heads, Retail Leaders, and the broader office teams. Strengthen cross-departmental collaboration, particularly with the retail team, to ensure training initiatives are fully supported, business-relevant, and translate directly into improved competence and store performance.
• Project & Budget Management: Plan, organize, and manage assigned training activities and projects within budget, ensuring regular feedback and timely updates to key stakeholders to track return on investment and business impact.
• Best Practice Sharing: Proactively identify, capture, and roll out best practices across Mainland China stores, fostering a culture of peer-to-peer learning and continuous improvement.
• Learner Experience & Product Knowledge: Ensure that product knowledge training at both the national and local level is dynamic, engaging, and designed to deliver the best possible learner experience for Beauty Advisors.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or above in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• Minimum 3 years of solid experience in Learning & Development, with at least 1 years in a managerial role; proven experience in the retail or luxury industry is strongly preferred.
• Proven track record in end-to-end training cycle management, including needs diagnosis, content development, rollout execution, and post-training follow-up and evaluation.
• Strong facilitation, coaching, and presentation skills, with the ability to connect with and inspire learners at all levels.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with a proven ability to influence senior leaders and collaborate effectively across functions—especially in building strong partnerships with the retail field and store leadership teams.
• Fluent in English (both spoken and written).
• Passionate about people development and fostering a culture of continuous learning; strong sense of ownership, accountability, and business acumen.

Here, you will find:

• Community, in which authenticity is embraced, and the strength of our differences fuels our collective spirit.
• Culture of empowerment, learning & growth, that offers you the tools, space and opportunity to learn, innovate and lead.
• Work that brings fulfillment. From delighting clients every day, to inspiring our industry at large, every action makes a difference.