Managing Director (Italian Ops)

AliveShoes gives talented and creative people all over the world the professional resources to design their own custom shoes, fashion products, and accessories. We support them with design tools, e-commerce tools, and supply-chain, and help them launch their line from scratch, completely online and at the speed of light. The creator's economy is booming, the shift in power from institutional organizations and brands to individuals across industries is accelerating. Our community of creators is international, made of designers, Artists, students, creative people and shoe lovers from all over the world. Our mission is to support and nurture them, so to help them achieve their dream of launching their own fashion line. Our design and production facilities are based in Italy, in the biggest and most prestigious shoe design and development cluster in the world called The Shoe Valley (Located in Le Marche, Italy). We are a team of 28+ people working from Italy, USA, The Netherlands. We boost diverse backgrounds ranging from Tech to Fashion to business operations. We have investors from The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. We mostly operate in the US market (for now). We are leading the biggest revolution in the footwear and fashion/accessories industry of the last 20 years. Joining us means to be at the upfront avant-garde of fashion-tech.

Job Description

We are looking for an experienced and talented Managing Director to help us scale our Operations in Italy. You will be leading and directly oversee the Marche and Abruzzo supply chain, production & design units. The goal of the Managing Director is to manage all the important daily operations functions of the Italian part of the company. You'll direct all administrative, financial, organizational, and operational activities around supply chain, production, customer service and design. You'll organize and prioritize critical issues and required information to facilitate efficient decision-making. You'll be the HR lead of the Italian unit. You'll be working from our main supply chain location in Marche with frequent travels to our other supply chain location in Abruzzo.

The general responsibilities of the position go around these 6 main areas:

1. Run the HR management of the Italian unit supporting leaders in Marche and Abbruzzo
2. Run Italian and global admin of our Italy-Holland-US companies, through connecting and coordinating our network of accountants, lawyers, financial/fiscal consultants, and a direct internal company team member. These will include fiscal mgmt and compliance, monthly p&l of the group, balance sheet of the 3 entities and financial overview.
3. Support and optimize the workflow of the supply chain operations
4. Perform cost control and optimize pricing
5. Manage relations with production partners and suppliers
6. Constantly Sync with Founders (CEO & CTO). Align with the international and tech-marketing side of the company on growth, objectives and culture.

Requirements

Working at AliveShoes as the Managing Director of Italian operations means being always on and supporting the Founders and the AliveShoes team at your best. You will be working from Marche and Abruzzo. You are also open to travel internationally to sync with other functions of the company. We are not looking for a classic manager of "old-school" companies, we are looking for an energetic and open-minded doer, with a hands-on approach and proven experience in operating in a modern company. Organizational and leadership skills, an analytical mindset, and a solid international admin/finance background complete the set. We don't require plenty of experience, but we look for talent, a great attitude, and a truly palpable passion for fashion-tech innovation.

General Requirements

• You have gained at least 8 years of work experience in an international e-commerce company, in a big tech company, in a leading agency, in a consultancy firm, in a big fashion or lifestyle company, or in a post-seed startup
• Experience in administration and finance is required
• Experience in managing administrative tasks in international companies is required
• Proven passion and deep knowledge of fashion-tech
• Experience in a fashion-tech company is a big plus
• Experience in the broad fashion industry is a big plus
• Experience in supply chains is a big plus
• BSc/BA in relevant field; MSc/MBA is a plus
• Having an Extensive network in Marche and central Italy is a big plus
• Experience of 1 to 3 years of working abroad
• Demonstrable competency in project management, operations, administration, finance
• Outstanding organizational abilities
• You master the main collaborative online tools and can seamlessly work remotely with the different teams
• Professional Italian required
• Professional English required
• Highly performance-based growth mindset
• Can start within 1-3 months
• Think big mentality
• Doer- you can do all kinds of hands-on work in product/project management, customer service, digital marketing, administration

Details

We normally review applications weekly. If we find a fit we will get back to you in less than 1 week. The first part of the process involves an initial 60 min call. If we both see there is a fit, the second part of the process will be a 2-3 half-day session from remote or in person. This will involve a deep-dive session with the CEO, going full in on the role and on the company, some calls or meeting with the team and with one or more of our investors/partners. We will normally offer you an initial trial contract of up to 6 months and a subsequent contract of 1 to 3+ years. This position includes a very wide package of shares in the company. This means a significant amount of partner-level shares, regulated with a classic 4 years vesting period. We want you in the cap-table, not just on the field. Salary-wise, we offer a range between Net 3.000 to 6.500 Euro/month (or 6.500 to 12.500 Euro if invoiced) depending on experience, competencies, and attitude. The salary will scale up proportionally together with additional rounds of funding and bigger yearly turnover milestones. Further performance-based bonuses will be also added to the mix. All travel expenses are paid by the company.

Notes

AliveShoes is a startup, that means we go fast, we don't follow the standard rules we are hands-on and we do lots of extra job. We look for exceptional people with plenty of energy, lot's of ambition that strive for excellence. If you want to start an amazing journey in the fashion-technology industry, grow fast and learn a lot in just a few months, give this application your best shot.

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