Assistant Store Manager (FAO Schwarz Boutique at Nordstrom)

FAO Schwarz • New York, NY

22h • Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Boutique Manager works in close partnership with the Boutique Manager to lead our Nordstrom Boutique, sharing ownership of the team, the standards, and the guest experience, and stepping into full leadership of the business when needed. This is not a support role. It’s a leadership role with real accountability for results. You’ll shape a team that performs with purpose, champion the standards that make the boutique unmistakably world-class, and create the kind of wonder that makes guests return again and again.

Requirements

• 3+ years of management experience in retail, hospitality, or a premium guest-facing environment, with a track record of building high-performing teams and developing people.
• Strong commercial acumen: confident making business decisions, reading performance data, and driving results with and through your team.
• Strong operational discipline: comfortable owning scheduling, inventory, SOPs, and store standards without losing sight of the guest experience.
• A skilled people leader: self-aware, adaptable, and able to get the best from a diverse team through deliberate development and clear expectations.
• The ability to build trusted relationships and communicate with confidence across a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Genuine enthusiasm for experiential retail, play, and the FAO Schwarz brand, and the ability to inspire that in others.
• Flexibility to work days, evenings, weekends, and peak retail periods.
• Ability to stand for extended periods and lift up to 25 pounds.
• A love of play is non-negotiable.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in experiential, flagship, or concession retail environments is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Experience: Set the standard on the floor through a consistent, visible leadership presence. Role-modelling the energy, pace, and guest engagement we expect from the team, and using time on the floor to coach, observe, and hold performance to a high bar. Champion both FAO Schwarz and Nordstrom brand standards across every touchpoint, ensuring the boutique feels cohesive and intentional. Uphold the standards for experience props, costumes, and uniforms, putting the right routines in place so the team maintains presentation quality consistently, and the magic of the boutique is never interrupted. Lead from the front, knowing when to step in, when to deploy, and when to re-zone, ensuring the guest experience is always protected, and the team consistently feels supported. Own the visual and commercial standard of the boutique, ensuring product placement tells a story, drives sales, and creates the sense of wonder that makes guests stop, engage, and buy.
• Lead the Team: Build a high-performing team through consistent observation, in-the-moment feedback, and deliberate development, growing individual and team capability with intention so that high performance becomes the norm and people are clear on what great looks like. Own the full employee lifecycle across your team, from hiring and structured onboarding that gets the team up to speed quickly, through coaching, management, and succession planning, ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right time. Develop your leads as people leaders in their own right, building a bench that’s ready to step up when the time comes. Set clear expectations, course correct quickly, and recognize great work, creating a team that knows where it stands, feels motivated to perform, and understands that standards are non-negotiable. Handle people challenges with confidence and care, managing performance concerns directly and partnering with the Store Manager and HR where needed.
• Run the Operation: Own scheduling, zoning, and floor coverage, deploying the team smartly to ensure the guest experience is never compromised, the team has adequate recovery, and every hour on the floor counts. Lead the day-to-day rhythm of the boutique, setting the team up for success throughout the day so the operation runs smoothly, the boutique is always guest-ready, and nothing is left to chance. Uphold the operational integrity of the boutique, ensuring SOPs, inventory management, shrink control, and register compliance are consistently upheld, protecting profitability and delivering a seamless guest experience every time. Take ownership of the physical environment by maintaining a safe, polished space for guests and the team, partnering with the right internal teams to resolve issues quickly, and ensuring nothing is ever compromised in the name of pace or performance. Run a tight back-of-house, maintaining stockroom organization, processing and receiving shipments efficiently, ensuring product is on the floor, and keeping the boutique fully stocked and visit-ready.
• Drive Business Performance: Drive the boutique's commercial performance with an entrepreneurial mindset, holding the team accountable to sales goals and KPIs, making confident commercial decisions, providing strategic oversight, and always knowing real-time results to inform business decisions. Deliver against the business strategy with focus and precision, building a boutique culture that sets the standard that every future FAO Nordstrom location aspires to. Ensure the team is fully trained and ready to deliver every experience to the highest standard, building the depth of expertise that makes every moment feel magical and every guest eager to engage and buy. Drive proactive guest engagement and sales, creating reasons for guests to discover, return, and buy rather than relying on traffic to convert sales. Gather and act on guest feedback, using insights to continuously improve the experience, inform coaching priorities, and ensure the team is attentive to the guest’s needs. Stay close to the local market and industry trends, using that knowledge to make informed commercial decisions while spotting opportunities and ensuring the boutique always feels relevant and ahead of the curve.
• Partner Across the Business: Represent FAO Schwarz within Nordstrom day-to-day, building trusted, productive relationships with partners at every level and ensuring the partnerships are mutually beneficial. Navigate the complexity of operating within a host store by understanding where Nordstrom’s rules apply, where FAO Schwarz standards lead, and embedding both so deeply in the team’s routines that every guest interaction feels seamless and intentional. Keep the team informed and aligned by communicating goals, events, and expectations so everyone knows what’s expected of them and reinforcing why it maters. Communicate proactively and with transparency, keeping stakeholders across the business informed, surfacing challenges early, and ensuring the right people always have the information they need to make good decisions. Own the on-the-ground execution of launches, activations, and special events, working with the Store Manager and relevant partners to ensure seamless execution, ensuring the guest experience is never interrupted.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed