The Role at a Glance

The Store Operations Manager leads all support functions that enable the FAO Schwarz Flagship to run at its best. While the Store Manager owns the guest experience and the sales floor, this role owns everything that makes it possible: the people, systems, and environments that work behind the scenes.

Leading a team across Back of House, Front of House Operations, and Visual Merchandising, this role sets the operational strategy, holds the management team accountable for execution, and ensures every part of the store is commercially sharp, operationally sound, and positioned to deliver an extraordinary guest experience.

Creating the Magic
Lead the Operation

• Set the operational strategy for the flagship, keeping the guest experience at the center of every decision and translating business priorities into a clear plan your management team can own, execute, and continually improve.
• Anticipate what the business will need, setting the operational conditions for upcoming projects and priorities well in advance.
• Set and maintain operational processes and standards across the store, keeping them current, audit-ready, and aligned with the business's direction, ensuring managers are accountable for day-to-day execution.
• Lead the store's operational improvement agenda across technology, infrastructure, and safety by identifying gaps, building the business case for investment, and overseeing delivery against agreed plans.

Lead the Team

• Build a high-performing management team by investing in each manager's development, setting clear expectations, and developing the bench strength the business needs to grow.
• Coach your managers to lead their teams well by developing their people leadership alongside their functional expertise, so they become the leaders the business needs next.
• Hold the management team accountable consistently and with care, recognizing strong performance and addressing underperformance directly and constructively.
• Own hiring at the manager level and hold your managers accountable for the hiring decisions they make within their teams, ensuring the right people lead every function you own.
• Lead succession planning across your functions, maintaining a clear view of readiness and development needs to ensure the business is never dependent on any one person.

Run the Operation

• Manage the operational budget for your functions, including cash handling and compliance controls; execute approved spending; and make a well-reasoned case for investment when business needs require it.
• Own the store labor strategy, setting the coverage model, managing labor costs, and keeping scheduling aligned with the needs of the business and New York labor law requirements.
• Own the store's physical environment, including facilities, maintenance, and health and safety standards, and hold your managers accountable for quick resolution while ensuring the space meets brand and legal requirements.
• Govern the loss prevention framework across the store, keeping the right controls in place, ensuring audit programs are executed, and keeping every team clear about their role in protecting the business.
• Ensure all functions are operationally prepared for key business moments, including peak trade, product launches, overnight installations, and inventory counts, without disrupting the guest experience.

Drive Business Performance

• Ensure the operational decisions across your functions actively support the store's commercial performance by translating data into clear recommendations for senior leadership and acting on what you see before it requires escalation.
• Drive operational efficiency as a commercial lever, keeping your functions within a cost structure that supports the business without compromising the guest experience.
• Hold the visual function accountable for merchandising that drives commercial outcomes while upholding brand standards, ensuring the product on the floor earns its space both commercially and aesthetically.
• Track operational metrics across your functions, including shrink, cash variance, and facilities spend, and translate the insights from the data into action before issues become problems.

Partner Across the Business

• Build a strong partnership with the Store Manager by aligning on priorities, proactively sharing information, and keeping operations and the guest experience moving in the same direction.
• Show up as a senior member of the store leadership team, contributing to collective decisions, representing the operational perspective, and keeping the team informed and aligned.
• Own senior relationships with building management, external vendors, and service partners by setting clear expectations, holding partners accountable for contractual performance, and retaining accountability for outcomes while delegating day-to-day execution.
• Represent the operations function in senior business conversations, offering a credible point of view grounded in a thorough understanding of store operations at every level.

What Success looks like

You're doing well in this role when:

• Every operational function runs reliably and to standard, with managers who own their areas and teams that perform without needing constant direction.
• The management team is growing in capability, holding their teams accountable, and building the bench strength the business needs.
• The operation runs within budget, labor is deployed efficiently, and senior leadership always has a clear picture of costs, compliance, and improvement progress.
• The physical environment consistently meets flagship standards; back-of-house, facilities, and visual presentation are owned by the team and do not require escalation.
• Key business moments are planned. Launches, events, and peak periods run smoothly because the groundwork was laid well in advance.
• The operational functions are visibly contributing to commercial performance: costs are controlled, the floor is stocked and visually strong, and shrinkage is managed.
• The Store Manager and senior leadership rely on you as a strong operational partner: someone who understands the full business, maintains key relationships, and offers a clear point of view in every conversation.

This role aligns with Level M5 in our Career Framework, reflecting senior management responsibility across a multi-function scope and accountability for building a management team that delivers operational excellence at scale. It provides a strong foundation for progression into Director-level roles (M6).

What you'll bring

• You don't need to have held this exact role before, but you do need to lead with strategic clarity, operational precision, and the conviction that strong operations translate to great retail experiences.
• Significant senior management experience in retail, hospitality, or another complex operational environment.
• Proven experience in leading managers and delivering results across multiple functions.
• A track record of making the managers around you better through coaching, clear expectations, and leadership that raises the bar without micromanaging.
• Experience owning senior external relationships with vendors, service partners, or building management, with the judgment to know when to delegate execution and when to stay closely involved.
• An ownership mentality: someone who sees problems early, acts with initiative, and knows when to resolve them and when to escalate.

Experience in flagship, multi-function, or high-volume retail operations is a strong plus.

This job description should not be construed to contain every function/responsibility that may be required to be performed by this role. Employees are required to perform other related functions as assigned.