Format Development Manager Zwaagdijk-Oost • Action

(Fulltime, 38 hours per week)

As Format Development Manager at Action, you lead the evolution of our store concept across all markets. From future-proof layouts to seamless customer journeys, your work defines the in-store experience for millions of customers. 
This role is critical to the future growth of our Format function. As our business continues to expand, your leadership will ensure our store concept evolves with it. You will guide the vision and own the execution balancing strategy with creativity, consistency, and commercial opportunity with operational simplicity, turning data into insight, insight into strategy, and strategy into retail reality.

In this role, you lead the evolution of Action’s store format across countries. You will define and manage the Format Development Roadmap, turning strategic ambitions into executable, scalable, and customer-centric store solutions.
You lead cross-functional initiatives that optimize every inch of our store blueprint – from navigation flows and layout design to enhancing operational efficiency. With your team, you will develop and maintain guidelines that ensures standardization and international consistency of our store portfolio.

From analyzing customer data and scouting global trends to aligning with Real Estate, Digital, Store Operations and Commerce teams, your work ensures every Action store offers a consistent and compelling experience. Whether you're fine-tuning a new prototype layout or embedding sustainability into store designs, your role is essential to delivering the next generation of retail spaces.

With tens of millions of fans across Europe, we keep surprising them week after week. The Format department is at the heart of Action’s store experience. From layout development to in-store signage and materials, we ensure every Action location delivers consistency and quality. You will join a team that values smart solutions, teamwork, and continuous improvement. And with such a fast-growing retail footprint, there’s always a new challenge to tackle!

You’re a strategic thinker with a builder mindset. You know how to zoom out to see the big picture, then zoom in to make it happen. You thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment and love turning complexity into clarity. You’re analytical, creative, and above all, passionate about retail innovation.

You’re just as comfortable coaching your team as you are presenting to stakeholders or sketching a new layout. You bring a commercial mindset to every format decision, always linking customer experience to business value. You have experience working within the retail industry and understand the pace, volume, and scale that come with multi-country operations.
And when faced with ambiguity, you lead with structure and confidence.

In addition:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business, Retail Management, or a related field
• At least 5 years of experience in retail format development or store concept strategy
• Proven leadership experience in cross-functional environments
• Experience working in the retail industry, ideally with high-volume and multi-country operations
• A strong commercial mindset, able to balance customer needs with business impact
• Fluent English (Dutch is a strong advantage)
• Strategic and data-driven mindset, with a passion for operational excellence
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• A passion for retail, customer experience, and driving innovation from insight to implementation

Surprisingly more! From our bustling home base in the Netherlands, you will have an impact on the whole of Europe. Today we have more than 3,000 stores in 13 countries and millions of smiles from our customers. And we have big growth ambitions. For Action and you. Because our growth means that you can always take new steps. A different job, an interesting innovation project, and new skills: as a professional, you can develop without limits. And all this in a culture where our shared values are truly lived: customer focus, teamwork, simplicity, discipline, cost consciousness, and respect.

Did you know that you can also count on:

• A market-based salary based on a 38-hour work week
• An annual bonus based on company and personal performance
• 24 days of holiday and the option to buy 5 extra days (based on 38 hours per week)
• A temporary contract with the intention of offering you a permanent contract in the long term
• Flexible working hours and the possibility of working up to 40% from home, of course in coordination with your team and manager
• 15% staff discount on your purchases at Action 
• A good pension scheme, collective health insurance and a lease car or mobility allowance (Zwaagdijk-Oost is traffic jam-free and only 30 minutes by car from Amsterdam)

If you only know Action from the stores, a world will open up for you when you come and work with us. We work hard to make a positive impact on society and the environment. Did you know, for example, that we sponsor more than 2,500 children worldwide who grow up in an SOS Children's Village? That our team reflects the diversity of our customers, including 155 different nationalities? That we purchase 94% of our wood products and 100% of our cotton sustainably? And that almost all our stores only use energy-efficient LED lighting? Yes, that is also Action. Curious about what other initiatives we’re facilitating? Join our team and find out for yourself.

We are proud to be an inclusive employer, and we warmly invite anyone who recognises themselves in the vacancy to apply. So take action and respond to this vacancy now!

What happens next:

1. Response to your application within 14 days (and usually earlier)
2. First meeting with the manager and a colleague
3. Online assessment to get to know you better
4. Second interview to delve further and meet more Action colleagues 
5. Welcome to Action…

Throughout the process, your recruiter is your permanent point of contact and is available to answer any questions you may have.

Integrity is very important to us. Pre-employment screening is therefore part of the process for this vacancy. Ask your recruiter for more information.