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 Sales & Experience Lead will coach our team of Experience Associates to deliver a theatrical and memorable visit to each of our guests. This role will elevate the theatrical nature of the store by assisting in the development of scripting and character bios to create engaging, immersive environments unique to each experience, as well as assist in driving a sales culture that helps us meet our exceed our daily sales and KPI goals.

The Sales & Experience Lead will perform daily checks to ensure all store experiences are performing to our operational standards, and will collaborate with store leadership to escalate concerns and improvements as needed. This role will assist with maintaining stock levels, merchandising standards, and ensure experience equipment & technology are maintained throughout the day to seamlessly fulfill experience orders.

Reporting to: Sales & Experience Manager

What You’ll Do

Guest

•       Ensure the DNA of the store selling vision exists in each experience by holding the team accountable to established guidelines per each experience.

•       Coach the team to deliver a high level of engagement and theatricality across in-store experiences and demonstrations to continually wow and delight our guests.

•       Complete regular observations of each experience, providing objective feedback to team members to enhance the guest experience.

•       Assist in driving standards within each experience from a costume, scripting, and prop perspective to deliver a consistent guest experience.

•       Show an understanding of effective zoning and make adjustments to the daily plan as needed.

•       Embody a “guest before task” mentality and make decisions focused on maximizing the guest experience.

•       Escalate guest feedback to the appropriate parties and take action to address opportunities to improve in a positive and constructive way.

Team

•       Check in with your team across all experiences, taking time to understand how to adapt your leadership style to suit a diverse range of people.

•       Help oversee team of toy demonstrators and ensure the vision of the brands is realized on the sales floor.

•       Assist in monitoring uniform stock levels and escalate any uniform issues as needed.

•       Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the team to build connections, understand their needs, and support their development goals and individual growth.

•       Assist in sharing key communications across the experience and demonstration teams.

•       Build a culture of accountability within the team, communicating clear expectations and managing individual performance when expectations are not met.

•       Assist in delivering specific training needs across the team, including training for cash register, steps of service, store selling vision, and experience character scripting and bios.

•       Escalate employee concerns and feedback to senior leadership.

Store

•       Be an active presence on the sales floor to lead by example and ensure our standards are being met consistently.

•       Have an understanding of sales goals and be able to speak to factors affecting the performance of each experience. 

•       Assist in monitoring stock levels across the experiences, identifying opportunities to prevent out of stock items and check that store on-hands match predicted sales plans.

•       Build relationships with our third-party vendors and serve as an experience liaison to support their needs.

•       Have knowledge of the operations of the store at large and support where needed.

•       Support the development of new experiences in the store.

What You Have

§  2+ years experience in a leadership role within a fast-paced premium retail, Theater/Performance, or experience-based environment.

§  Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal ability.

§  Strong business acumen with the ability to use commercial reporting to drive decision-making.

§  Excellent critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

§  Flexible availability in line with a Flagship Retail environment across days, evenings and weekends.

§  Capable of lifting up to 25 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