Senior Manager Retail & E-commerce

The Senior Manager, Whitney Shop (SM), is a senior operational leader responsible for driving in-store revenue growth for all physical and digital retail sales channels. While rigorously managing expenses to maximize department profitability, they optimize business procedures in front and back of house. 

This position’s primary directive is to scale retail revenue of existing and new channels through strategic action following guidance from the Director. That task shall be supported by owning integration of new software and systems to support the creation of an omnichannel environment and experience within the department. 

The SM must be an analytical, commercially minded leader equally comfortable analyzing sales trends, presenting results to senior leadership, maintaining meticulous visual standards, and coaching a sales assistant on the floor. They balance the long-term strategic roadmap with the daily operational demands of a high-traffic museum retail environment and digital marketplace.

Responsibilities

Store Profitability & P&L Management 

• Manages the retail P&L: revenue targets, cost budgets, and operating margin goals in partnership with the Director of Retail and Licensing.  
• Builds and maintains rolling financial forecasts; tracks sales, labor costs, and operating expenses against budget with monthly variance analysis. 
• Coordinates margin-improvement initiatives through inventory management and monitoring and advancement on KPIs 
• Creates and presents monthly, quarterly, and annual business reviews with KPI dashboards for senior leadership.
• Owns retail stores’ operations budget and net income goals
• Partners with Finance Team for P&L reviews & budget tracking

Customer and Revenue 

• Establishes the tone and temper for all customer service interactions, through policy creation and leading by example 
• Monitors sales floor and provides coverage as needed to maximize sales and oversee delivery of best customer service practices and adherence to store policies 
• Plans and revises ongoing staff floor maps and assignments with support of Assistant Managers 
• Monitors online e-Commerce trends and coordinates omnichannel customer service experience  
• Builds relationships independently and through staff coaching to grow clienteling programs and VIP relations 
• Leads events and closings during peak times, including Free Friday Nights and Second Sundays, Openings, and all major events 
• Sets and monitors and remains accountable to improvement of customer service KPIs 
• Tends daily and strategic department activities to benefit sales performance to plan 
• Generates weekly, monthly and seasonal reports on sales trends by channel and provides thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis

People Management & Organizational Leadership 

• Leads, coaches, and develops staff; fosters high-performance, inclusive culture 
• Assigns/enforces scheduling optimized to traffic and revenue forecasts 
• Onboards, trains, and coaches staff for self-improvement and alignment to standards and priorities 
• Leads product knowledge training connected to Whitney program and Collection 
• Defines, revises, and enforces all sales, service and operating procedural standards through active engagement with teams and maintenance of rolling manuals and handbooks 
• Grows and maintains product knowledge documents and oversees ongoing staff education through use of internal documents and coordination of external vendor clinics and museum educational opportunities 
• Designs workforce planning models aligning staffing/labor spend with seasonal curves 
• Processes payroll and manages labor budget to target

Inventory & Operations 

• Anticipates and coordinates the full on-site product life cycle, inclusive of receiving, labelling, shelving and visual merchandising 
• Synchronizes physical and digital product releases with support from Assistant Managers and in concert with Merchandise Manager 
• Oversees Assistant Manager, Operations in the receiving of all product and coordination of its path to floor 
• Oversees damage-out with documented loss-prevention procedures  
• Directs ongoing and as-necessary cycle counts, requesting reconciliations and advising on corrective actions
• Monitors inventory levels by location to recommend and coordinate transfers
• Owns inventory exposure obligations and coordinates accordingly to front and back of house to maximize sales opportunity 

Visual Merchandising & Brand Expression 

• Coordinates floor changes and fixture removals and monitors adherence to VM standards 
• Manages signage creation independently or with support from Graphic Design within brand standards and product knowledge necessities 
• Establishes VM standards and their documentation and trains team on brand consistency 
• Creates thoughtfully and continuously monitors and revises narrative storytelling across categories, vendors, collections fixtures 

Retail Technology 

• Owns retail technology integrations and improvements, safeguarding their reliability and leading troubleshooting
• Maintains customer records management systems for efficiency and accuracy
• Activates technology to maximize sales through development and monitoring of useful KPIs 
• Partners with e-Commerce to unify customer UX across physical and digital platforms
• Partners with IT and Digital teams regarding technology roadmap and systems integration

• Coordinates with departments using adjacent Lobby and office spaces for successful space management; oversees de-installation and re-installation of Museum Shop as needed. 
• Manages special events in the Museum Store including sales, book signings, readings, trunk shows, and shopping events. 
• Assists in department-related requisitions. 
• Leads or contributes to cross-functional projects such as e-commerce integration, new store openings or renovations, and pop-up retail activations.  
• Must possess a high level of confidentiality as the SM will have access to 
  • Knowledge of Retail Operations sales figures, margin data, and financial forecasts. 
  • Knowledge of Retail Operations staff payroll and compensation data. 
  • Access to customer credit card information and Whitney Museum banking information. 
  • Vendor pricing, contract terms, and technology platform licensing details.  

• BA preferred but not required; additional languages a plus
• Minimum 6 years of progressive retail management, including 2+ years with direct P&L responsibility
• Demonstrated P&L management experience in a retail or comparable commercial environment
• Strong visual merchandising background
• Experience selecting & implementing retail technology systems
• POS system administration and inventory management; retail analytics and business intelligence tool
• Familiarity with software including Adobe Creative Suite, Counterpoint, and Airtable is helpful but not required.
• Proven people-management skills with direct reports
• Professional verbal & written communication skills 
• Accurate cash management skills
• Flexible schedule including weekends, evenings and holidays. An appreciation of diverse audiences is essential. 
• Ability to lift and carry moderate weights of merchandise. Extended periods on the sales floor. 

Compensation & Benefits: 

• Salary range is $100,000 - $110,000 and will be commensurate with experience 
• Medical, Dental, Vision, 403(b) elections 
• Generous Paid Time Off benefits 
• Commuter benefits - parking and mass transit 
• Admission to world-renowned museums across the city and nationally 
• Pet insurance and discounted membership for Citibike 

The advertised pay scale reflects the good faith minimum and maximum salary range for this role. The advertised pay scale is not a promise of a particular wage for any specific employee. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, special licensing or qualifications, and other factors. 

If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates. Whether you’re new to arts and culture administration, returning to work after a gap in employment, simply looking to transition, or take the next step in your career path, we will be glad to have you on our radar. Please use your cover letter to tell us about your interest in the arts and culture space and what you hope to bring to this role.

About the Whitney: 

The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for 86 years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today. 

EEO Statement: 

The Whitney Museum of American Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Museum does not discriminate because of age, sex, religion, race, color, creed, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, pregnancy, partnership status, caregiver status, veteran status, gender (including gender identity), sexual orientation, genetic information, predisposition, or carrier status, arrest or conviction record to the extent required by applicable law, credit history, domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking victim status, or any other factor prohibited by law.  The Museum hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. The Museum encourages all qualified candidates to apply for vacant positions at all levels.

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