Head of US Accounts - Scaling Luxury beauty brand

Head of US Accounts

Location: US flexible

Reports to: Managing Director

MagnetIX is proud to be partnering with an independent, globally recognised luxury beauty brand as they enter an exciting phase of continued US expansion.

With a distinctive point of view, exceptional products and a highly engaged global customer base, the brand is growing its US presence and is looking for an experienced Head of US Accounts to help lead the next phase of growth.

This is a senior, hands-on commercial role for someone who understands that building a successful beauty business is about more than hitting a sales target. You’ll need strong commercial instincts, deep retailer relationships and a genuine understanding of brand, customer and the wider beauty landscape .

A note on experience

Beauty experience is essential for this role, as is direct Sephora experience.

You must have personally managed a Sephora relationship , including selling into Sephora, negotiating commercial opportunities and building a strong, long-term relationship with the retailer.

If you have not worked directly with Sephora, unfortunately you will not be considered for this position, even if you have strong experience within beauty wholesale or other retail accounts.

Ideally, you will also have experience within a challenger, independent or fast-growth beauty brand , rather than exclusively within a large corporate beauty organisation.

What you’ll do

• Own the day-to-day relationships and P&L for key US retail accounts, becoming a trusted and highly collaborative partner to retailer leadership.
• Develop annual account strategies that translate the wider brand vision into compelling, retailer-specific growth plans.
• Build and pitch account growth plans across new doors, launches, promotional calendars and exclusive opportunities.
• Lead commercial negotiations with retail partners, identifying opportunities to grow the business while protecting the brand and commercial objectives.
• Lead the planning and execution of product launches and key brand moments, coordinating sell-in, merchandising, marketing and internal timelines.
• Partner with the VM team to deliver impactful retail execution while ensuring investment is commercially well managed.
• Track sell-through, inventory and account performance, turning data into clear actions and opportunities.
• Lead forecasting and replenishment planning in partnership with Operations and Supply Chain.
• Own account budgets and P&L, using ROI analysis to ensure investment is delivering effectively.
• Work closely with the field sales and education teams to ensure excellent in-store execution and brand experience.
• Identify risks and opportunities early — from inventory challenges and competitive activity to retailer changes and emerging opportunities.
• Build strong, long-term relationships across retailer teams, from day-to-day commercial contacts through to senior leadership.
• As the US business continues to scale, help build out a small team around the function, shaping the structure and capability as you go.

What you’ll bring

• Proven experience within the beauty industry is essential.
• Direct Sephora experience is essential. You will have personally managed the Sephora relationship, sold into the retailer, negotiated deals and built long-term relationships with key stakeholders.
• Experience with Sephora US is particularly relevant.
• Experience with other specialty and luxury beauty retailers such as Violet Grey, Net-a-Porter Beauty, Bluemercury or similar is strongly preferred.
• Ideally, experience within a challenger, independent or fast-growth beauty brand , where you have been hands-on and comfortable wearing multiple hats.
• A strong track record of leading product launches cross-functionally — shaping the plan rather than simply executing a retailer calendar.
• Strong commercial and analytical capability, with confidence working with sales, forecasting, inventory and P&L data.
• Strong negotiation skills and the ability to build genuine, long-term retailer partnerships.
• The confidence and credibility to work with senior retail leadership.
• A genuine understanding of brand as well as commercial performance — you know how to grow the business without losing what makes the brand special.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial approach and the ability to operate with pace, autonomy and pragmatism.
• Previous experience mentoring or managing others would be advantageous, with the opportunity to build a small team as the US business grows.

Why this role?

This is an opportunity to join a distinctive independent luxury beauty brand at a genuinely exciting point in its US journey.

You won’t simply inherit an established account structure. You’ll have the opportunity to shape the US commercial strategy, negotiate and grow key retailer partnerships, influence how the brand is represented at retail and help build the team and infrastructure for the next phase of growth.

If you have genuine US beauty retail experience, direct Sephora experience and the commercial and relationship-building skills to help an ambitious challenger brand scale , we’d love to hear from you.

Salary 130-150k USD but bonus and benefits

Please note: direct Sephora experience is a non-negotiable requirement for this position.