Operations Manager

Our Story So Far

Founded in 1862, FAO Schwarz is one of the oldest and most iconic toy retailers in the world. Frederick August Otto Schwarz dreamed of a marvelous, bountiful emporium full of extraordinary, one-of-a-kind toys from all over the world. His dream became a reality, and as one of America's oldest brands, we have provided this wonder to families for more than 160 years.

The Job

The Operations Manager is responsible for leading the team to deliver all daily operational, inbound inventory and replenishment-related tasks. This role is responsible for ensuring the best product availability through effective shipment and PO processing to support a more efficient replenishment workflow. The Operations Manager is responsible for managing Facilities and Maintenance across the store, stock storage, and office spaces to ensure delivery of a world-class standard. 

This is a full-time, exempt role that requires flexible availability in line with a Flagship Retail environment across days, evenings and weekends.

Reporting to: Director of Operations

What You'll Do

Guest

• Establish routines and best practices that support a consistent guest experience, ensuring all lines are available on the selling floor at all times.
• Cultivate a strong partnership with the Visual Merchandising team.
• Ensure department planograms are maintained through an effective replenishment strategy.
• Coach the operations team to pause tasks as needed to assist guests on the sales floor.
• Understand how the operational functions of the business contribute to the overall guest experience and delivery of the store selling vision.
• Complete daily floor walks of store and stock rooms to ensure opening and closing checklists are completed.
• Ensure that the Facilities team completes daily checklists and partner with Facilities Coordinator to take action on reactive and preventative maintenance issues.

Team

• Communicate daily and weekly updates to the team and ensure they are aware of key events, business goals, and expectations for their area of business.
• Coach the team to prioritize shipment processing and intake based on up-to-date information.
• Own weekly scheduling and vacation planning for your assigned area to maximize productivity and balance workload.
• Lead weekly stockroom/operational walk-throughs with the Operations Leads to identify and prioritize workload.
• Drive team engagement by building authentic connections and creating rapport with your team.
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the team to build connections, understand needs, and recognize how you can support their development.
• Set clear expectations for the team to ensure clarity of their job responsibilities on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
• Build a culture of accountability and manage individual performance as needed to drive consistency.
• Build authentic connections with other teams across the store to create effective working partnerships.

Store

• Partner with the Facilities coordinator to build out the preventative maintenance calendar across the facility.
• Establish a world-class inventory organization system that improves replenishment processes and shipment processing productivity.
• Collate and order weekly store supply orders, ensuring spending remains within budget and is adjusted in line with sales trends.
• Establish and enhance best practices relating to inventory management, including write offs, cycle counts and RTVs (Return to Vendor) to ensure we receive the appropriate credits.
• Assign areas of responsibility to the Operations Leads that support delivering the operational strategy.
• Ensure BOSS orders are processed in line with SLA and packing guidelines to minimize freight costs incurred.
• Ensure price stickering standards are maintained across all departments.
• Understand business performance using bestsellers and commercial reports to effectively drive sales by prioritizing key lines for shipment processing and replenishment.
• Take ownership of your assigned areas of business while maintaining a strong understanding of the operations of the store at large.
• Oversee supply ordering processes and analyze opportunities to reduce costs in line with annual budgets.
• Oversee Annual Inventory count planning with the Operations Manager and 3PL team.
• Create cycle count calendar, prioritizing key lines based on sales and investigation needs to resolve inventory issues across 3PL and store.
• Monitor to ensure inbound standards from vendors are aligned with vendor routing guide and take action to initiate chargebacks as needed.
• Own the evolution of best practices relating to receiving, picking, and shipping product.

What You Have

• 3+ years experience in an operational leadership role within a fast-paced premium retail or experience-based environment.
• Excellent communication, collaboration and interpersonal ability.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to use reporting to make solid business decisions.
• Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
• Strong knowledge of inventory and shrink mitigation shortage and investigation.
• Flexible availability in line with a Flagship Retail environment across days, evenings and weekends.
• Capable of lifting up to 50 pounds, and bending, twisting, and standing for long periods of time.

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.  

FAO Schwarz is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws.   

FAO Schwarz strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, interns, or any other covered persons, on the basis of age, race, color, religion, creed, national origin including ancestry, ethnicity, sex including pregnancy, gender identity, and transgender status, gender, physical or mental disability, including gender dysphoria and similar gender-related conditions, alienage or citizenship status, military status, including past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status, partnership status, domestic violence victim status, familial status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, unemployment status, caregiver status, credit history, salary history, or any other category protected by applicable federal, state and local laws, with respect to hiring, promotion, discipline, firing, compensation, benefits, or other terms, conditions or privileges of employment.   

If you need a reasonable accommodation in the application or hiring process, or during the course of your employment, please contact the Director of Human Resources at HR@fao.com.   

Apply online at faoschwarz.com/pages/careers; Indeed.com; or GetHired.com   

FAO Schwarz is an EEO employer - M/F/Vets/Disabled