Store Applications Specialist

The Armani Group is a leading company in the fashion and luxury sector, with more than 8,000 employees. Its three core brands – Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and A|X Armani Exchange – are active in all the world’s major countries, across many continents. With origins firmly rooted in Italy, but also with a cosmopolitan vision and culture, the company has grown since it was founded in 1975, expanding its offer from clothes and accessories to cosmetics, fragrances, eyewear, watches, jewellery, and furniture and furnishing accessories. Today, therefore, as well as being well known in the area of fashion, the Armani Group is also renowned in the sectors of interior design, food and beverage, and hotels and resorts.
Giorgio Armani has created a style that has, with remarkable consistency, continued to explore countless variations and possibilities over the years. It expresses a precise vision down to the most minute detail: a way of being and presenting oneself, certainly incorporating clothing and accessories, but also including gestures, ways, behaviours and attitudes; a style that goes beyond the sum of its parts, and well beyond what one wears
Convinced that ethics and aesthetics must coincide, Giorgio Armani expresses fundamental and enduring values his clothes. He does so by creating timeless pieces that, enhanced by precious materials and artisanal craftwork, resist the whim of fleeting trends with their pure and essential design.
Context and purpose
Within the company’s Digital Transformation and the Phygital Customer Relationship Journey that lead to an increasing attention and focus on customer centricity, the IT Department has undertaken an evolution path towards a Customer First Operating model, possibly evolving to a product based organisation in the mid-term. The IT department is on a path that aims at innovating all the solutions supporting the in-store experience adopting digital and sustainable solutions.
The scope encompasses (although it is not limited to):

• Point of Sale
• Store Operations (reviewing by RF-ID technology)
• Omni-channel/Multi-experience (driven by the Omni-channel IT area)
• Analytics (drive by the Data Strategy & Analytics IT area)
• In store new technologies (in co-operation with all the IT areas)

 
With the ultimate objective of building a “customer” and “value generation” obsessed highly skilled technical group of professionals, we are looking for a talented “Store Applications Specialist”.
 
Role mission 
Reporting to the “Retail Applications Manager”, the Store Applications Specialist (SAS) will be in charge of the development, implementation, evolution, monitoring and maintenance of the assigned applications (cloud based, API/Microservices integrated, on-prem) in DevOps mode. The SAS will be very attentive to application adoption KPIs as to identify any possible actions that may lead to the full success of the applications.
 
The Store Application Specialist will be a contributor of the cross-functional team overseeing the following solutions:

• The New Pos Solution
• Omni-channel/Multi-experience (driven by the Omni-channel IT area)
• Store Operation Tools (tools for store assistants and store managers)
• In store new technologies (in co-operation with all the IT areas)

Aiming at providing

• consumers with a memorable experience throughout all the touch points along with the business counterparts from Client Engagement, Digital Business departments and other IT teams such as Enterprise Architecture.;
• employees with easy-to-use tools to empower their customer serving activities and to provide the best customer experience;

He/she will work along with the business counterparts from Retail Operations, Client Engagement, Digital Business departments and other IT teams such as Enterprise Architecture.
 
 
Responsibilities

• Support the Retail Applications Manager in successfully implementing, enhancing, supporting, maintaining the applications part of the Omni-channel/Multi-experience ecosystem
• Stay on top of Store Applications & Technologies trends and developments by continuously researching and scouting new possible solutions as to foster company’s revenue or enhancing the service to customers throughout all the touch points
• Gather, consolidate, elaborate business requirements and translate them into technical requirements
• Configuration and testing of the applications
• Designing and developing new applications based on client needs and preferences in co-operation with other IT areas such as Enterprise Architecture
• Designing and developing new human interaction to empower usability, to speed-up learning curve and to maximize adoption
• Recommending improvements to existing applications or designing new applications to meet specific business needs
• Providing technical support and troubleshooting problems with existing applications
• Communicating with clients to clarify requirements and ensure satisfaction with results by monitoring and measuring the overall business adoption of the implemented solutions
• Coordinating with IT support staff to troubleshoot technical issues with existing applications
• Preparing proposals for new software development projects, including identifying potential clients and creating detailed sales presentations
• Working with clients to design custom applications to meet their unique business needs
• Performing quality assurance testing on new applications to ensure they meet industry standards for functionality and usability

Requirements
Must have skills

• Degree in engineering or information technology or similar
• At least 3 years working in national/international IT Retail team and in a project environment
• Proven experience with Roll-out retail Application (Pos system, Erp etc)
• Past proven experience with/implementing Unified Commerce Platforms represents a big plus
• Proven functional and technical knowledge, past implementation of one or more of the following platforms: Oracle X-Store, Cegid Retail Y2, Enactor, Newstore

Nice to have skills

• Proven ability to work on site and remotely within an international team spread over multiple time zones
• Problem-solving aptitude combined with excellent verbal and written communication
• Creativity combined with good problem-solving skills
• Excellent verbal communication skills combined with good interpersonal skills
• Excellent analytical and multitasking skills
• Fluency in Italian and English is a must

 
We promote diversity and inclusion in all forms, within a collaborative environment where your talent can flourish in the pursuit of a common goal: yours and our growth.