Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience

The-New-York-Botanical-Garden; New York (NY); On-site; USD 48,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

15 Vacation Days

13 Paid Holidays

12 Sick Days

Health and Dental Insurance Coverage

401K

Pension Plan

Job summary

The New York Botanical Garden is seeking an Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience to elevate the Shop’s visitor journey and drive service excellence. Reporting to the Director, Retail, you will train frontline staff, define service standards, and partner with cross-functional teams to enrich the Garden experience.

In this role you will lead a team on the shop floor, translate feedback into training, and design engaging in-store programming that highlights our horticultural merchandise.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of retail experience with 1–2 years in a supervisory or management role.
• Proven ability to lead a retail floor in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience coaching, training, and developing team members.
• Experience translating customer feedback into service standards or coaching.
• Experience designing or delivering staff training and onboarding.
• Proficiency with POS systems (Shopify preferred) and Microsoft Office.

Responsibilities

• Own the Shop's visitor journey from entry to post-purchase and identify friction points.
• Monitor customer feedback and coach staff on improvements.
• Set and drive customer-service behaviors and standards aligned with business goals.
• Refine service recovery and escalation approaches for in-person and email channels.
• Design and deliver training and onboarding for customer-facing staff shop-wide.
• Coordinate with Membership, Admissions, Guest Services, Education/Public Programs to integrate the Shop experience.
• Develop and lead visitor-facing education and engagement programming with subject-matter staff.
• Model standards on the shop floor and provide day-to-day coaching.
• Handle other related duties as assigned.

Skills

Retail leadership

Staff coaching

Customer service

Communication

Problem solving

Data awareness

Tools

Shopify

Microsoft Office

Job description

NYBG Job Description

Title

Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience

Reports to

Director, Retail, NYBG Shop

Position Summary:

The Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience supports and continuously improves the Shop's visitor experience by enhancing the customer journey, establishing and delivering on service standards and behaviors that support business objectives, and the visitor-facing education and engagement programming that brings the Shop's assortment to life. Working under the direction of the Director of retail, The role is the Shop's liaison to NYBG's broader visitor-facing functions and the primary driver of training for customer-facing staff.

The Associate Manager works along side other Associate Managers leading Operations and Merchandising.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

• Assume responsibility for the Shop's visitor journey — entry, browsing, checkout, and post-purchase — identifying friction points and leading improvements across all touchpoints.
• Monitor customer feedback across all channels, identify trends, and translate them into concrete service improvements and staff coaching.
• Set and drive the customer-service behaviors and standards that support the business's goals.
• Maintain and refine the Shop's service recovery approach — how staff handle complaints and escalations across in-person and email channels — and serve as the escalation point for complaints requiring managerial judgment.
• With the support and oversight of the Director, design and deliver training and onboarding for customer-facing staff shop-wide, building product and service confidence through curricula, new-hire onboarding, coaching, and floor walks.
• Serve as the Shop's liaison to NYBG's visitor-facing functions (Membership, Admissions, Guest Services, Education/Public Programs), ensuring the Shop experience is integrated with the Garden-wide visitor journey.
• With the support and oversight of the Director, develop and lead visitor-facing education and engagement programming — care guides, in-store tips, workshops, seasonal events — partnering with subject-matter staff for technical accuracy on plant and horticultural content.
• Model NYBG's customer service standards as a visible, engaged floor leader, and provide day-to-day coaching and functional guidance to the team.
• Other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• 4+ years of retail experience, including at least 1–2 years in a supervisory, lead, or management role.
• Proven ability to lead a team and manage a retail floor in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated experience coaching, training, and developing team members, including in areas outside one's own initial expertise.
• Experience translating customer feedback (reviews, direct comments, observed patterns) into service standards or coaching is strongly preferred.
• Experience designing or delivering staff training and onboarding is strongly preferred.
• Excellent communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills, with a professional, solutions-oriented approach to problem-solving.
• Proficiency with POS systems (Shopify preferred) and Microsoft Office.
• Knowledge of or genuine enthusiasm for horticultural and botanical products is strongly preferred; deep horticultural expertise is not required.

You Might Thrive in This Role If…

• You're as comfortable with data and feedback trends as you are on the floor.
• You see customer service as a strategic system, not just individual interactions.
• You enjoy building training and onboarding that scales beyond yourself.
• You take ownership of ambiguous or difficult service situations.
• You build genuine partnerships across departments outside your direct control.
• You translate visitor feedback into concrete, coachable behaviors.

Physical Demands & Work Environment:

Regular on-site, on-floor presence is required. The role includes periodic outdoor work in a variety of weather conditions, assisting with and unloading stock deliveries, climbing ladders, and lifting/moving up to 30 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

Baseline Work Schedule:

35 hours/week; Wednesday–Sunday, rotating between 9am–5pm and 11am–7pm shifts; occasional evenings and/or holidays required based on NYBG's events and programming schedule.

Salary: $57,000

Benefits:

• 15 Vacation Days
• 13 Paid Holidays
• 12 Sick Days
• Health and Dental Insurance Coverage
• 401K
• Pension Plan

EOE