Our client is a rapidly growing Ukrainian value retail chain, currently expanding its presence in Romania and Bulgaria with more than 60 stores. The company offers a wide assortment of affordable products for home, personal care, and everyday lifestyle needs.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement the company’s European retail expansion strategy, ensuring systematic market entry and scalable growth across Romania, Bulgaria, and other CEE markets.
• Manage the real estate pipeline and site selection process, ensuring strong pipeline coverage and high conversion from lead to store opening.
• Lead market analysis and location evaluation, applying data-driven scoring models to identify optimal store locations.
• Oversee the store format strategy and development, including standard and large-format stores, ensuring financial viability and operational efficiency.
• Manage the new store opening process end-to-end, from site approval and lease negotiation to construction, fit-out, and store launch.
• Ensure effective CAPEX planning and budget control throughout the store development cycle.
• Supervise store design, construction, and fit-out delivery, ensuring adherence to brand standards, cost benchmarks, and project timelines.
• Establish and manage a network of contractors, suppliers, and partners across all markets.
• Implement facility management and maintenance processes, ensuring operational reliability and compliance with safety and regulatory standards.
• Oversee permitting, lease administration, and regulatory approvals required for store openings in different countries.
• Collaborate closely with Finance, Operations, Commercial, Supply Chain, and Logistics teams to ensure successful store launches and long-term performance.
• Monitor post-opening store performance and recommend optimizations, relocations, or closures when necessary.
• Build and lead a multidisciplinary store development team, ensuring effective project management, clear processes, and strong execution across markets.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of experience in retail store development, real estate, or network expansion within an international retail chain.
• Proven track record managing large-scale store rollout programs, ideally with 100+ openings per year across multiple markets.
• Experience working at senior or director level, managing cross-functional teams and multi-country projects.
• Strong expertise in retail site evaluation and store economics, including catchment analysis, footfall assessment, rent-to-sales benchmarks, and investment appraisal.
• Experience developing and scaling different retail formats (small format stores ~100–200 sqm and medium formats ~400–600 sqm).
• Experience working with pipeline management systems or CRM tools to track store development stages and conversion metrics.
• Ability to lead teams in a fast-growing and dynamic retail environment.
• English — B2/C1 (mandatory) for communication with international teams.

Company Offers:

• A pivotal senior leadership role with direct access to the CMO and strategic influence across Aurora's global growth agenda.
• The mandate and resources to lead a large, globally-scoped Store Development function across multiple markets.
• Competitive compensation with performance-based incentives tied to expansion milestones, format performance, and pipeline KPIs.
• A dynamic, entrepreneurial environment with fast decision-making and flat leadership culture.
• The opportunity to shape the physical retail footprint of one of Europe's fastest-growing value retailers.
• Exposure to a multi-country retail group with operations across Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and growing European markets.