The Senior Manager, Retail Labor & Workload is responsible for developing and managing labor and workload strategies that support business performance, store productivity, and the customer and associate experience across the J.Jill store organization. This role owns sales, workload, and payroll forecasting, labor planning, workforce management tools, and scheduling practices to ensure store labor aligns with business needs and financial objectives.

The Senior Manager is also responsible for building, forecasting, and reconciling the Retail operating expense (OpEx) budget. Reporting to the Senior Director of Store Operations & Experience, this role oversees a Data Analyst and partners closely with Retail leadership, Finance, HR, IT, and field teams.

Labor Planning, Forecasting & Workload

• Own store sales, workload, and payroll forecasting, aligning labor plans with business trends, workload drivers, and financial objectives.
• Develop and optimize labor models, workload standards, and scheduling practices to improve productivity, drive sales, and support an elevated customer experience.
• Evaluate labor and workload needs around peak periods, promotional activity, product launches, and other key business initiatives.
• Monitor labor, payroll, and scheduling KPIs to identify trends, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Partner with Retail leadership and field teams to continuously improve labor allocation, store productivity, and overall execution.

Workforce Management & Technology

• Lead the optimization of workforce management and scheduling tools, including labor models, scheduling rules, system configurations, and reporting.
• Identify opportunities to improve forecasting, scheduling, and labor allocation through technology, automation, and analytics.
• Partner with IT, HR, Payroll, Finance, and other teams on system enhancements, testing, implementation, and change management.
• Support compliance with applicable labor requirements and company scheduling policies.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures, tools, and training materials to support consistent adoption of labor and workload processes across the field.
• Partner with field and cross-functional teams to support training and ongoing education related to workforce management tools, scheduling practices, and labor processes.

Financial Planning & Analytics

• Build, forecast, reconcile, and manage the Retail OpEx budget in partnership with Finance and Retail leadership.
• Monitor payroll and operating expense performance, explaining variances and recommending actions.
• Develop reporting and analytics that provide visibility into labor productivity, workload, payroll, and store performance.
• Translate financial and operational data into actionable insights and recommendations for Retail leadership.

Leadership, Partnership & Project Management

• Partner across Store Operations, field leadership, Finance, HR, IT, and Payroll to align labor and workload strategies with business priorities.
• Lead and develop a Data Analyst, ensuring reporting and analysis support effective business decisions.
• Lead adoption of new labor processes, tools, and ways of working across the field.
• Synthesize and size workload and store capacity to assess the impact of initiatives and support effective prioritization and planning.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workload, improve processes, and create greater store capacity for customer-facing and selling activities.
• Lead cross-functional projects from planning through implementation, establishing clear objectives, timelines, milestones, ownership, and measures of success.
• Manage multiple priorities and initiatives simultaneously, identifying risks, dependencies, and resource needs while ensuring timely execution.
• Provide clear project updates and recommendations to key stakeholders and leadership.

Benefits, Tailored for You.

• Bonus eligible.
• 401(k) retirement plan with discretionary match and tuition reimbursement.
• Medical, dental, vision, company paid LTD/STD, and generous amount of paid time off.
• Generous associate discount; group discounts on auto, pet and homeowner insurance.
• Discount Marketplace for travel, consumer products, food, auto buying, etc.
• Associate resource groups.

• Strong knowledge of retail labor planning, workload management, sales and payroll forecasting, scheduling, and workforce management.
• Strong financial and analytical acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, P&L management, and variance analysis.
• Experience with workforce management and scheduling platforms such as UKG, Kronos, Legion, or similar.
• Strong understanding of multi-unit retail operations and the relationship between labor, productivity, sales, and customer experience.
• Ability to analyze complex data, synthesize workload and capacity needs, and translate findings into clear business recommendations.
• Strong project management skills with demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex initiatives, timelines, stakeholders, and dependencies.
• Ability to develop clear project plans, establish priorities, drive accountability, and manage initiatives from concept through execution.
• Strong cross-functional leadership, communication, and influencing skills.
• Advanced Excel skills; experience with BI, reporting, project management, and analytics tools preferred.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution in a fast-paced environment.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Retail Management, Operations, Analytics, or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 6+ years of experience in retail workforce management, labor planning, store operations, finance, analytics, project management, or a related function.
• Experience with sales, workload, payroll forecasting, labor modeling, and workforce management systems in a multi-unit retail environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional projects and initiatives from planning through implementation.
• Experience with budgeting, forecasting, and P&L management required.
• Previous people leadership experience preferred.
• Apparel, specialty retail, or consumer-facing industry experience strongly preferred.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by associates assigned to this job.  They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of this position.