Director of Retail Operations

Director of Retail Operations

We are seeking a strategic, hands‑on retail leader to build the operational foundation for a growing retail business. This role will oversee the day‑to‑day success of the existing store while shaping the systems, team structure, and processes needed to support future locations, pop‑ups, and brand activations.

Job Description

Director of Retail Operations

We are seeking a strategic, hands‑on retail leader to build the operational foundation for a growing retail business. This role will oversee the day‑to‑day success of the existing store while shaping the systems, team structure, and processes needed to support future locations, pop‑ups, and brand activations.

This is a highly visible role partnering with leadership and cross‑functional teams including marketing, creative, inventory, ecommerce, finance, and customer experience. The ideal candidate brings strong operational discipline, a customer‑first mindset, and experience scaling retail operations from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct a full operational audit of the existing store, including POS systems, inventory management, loss prevention, security tagging, and store flow.
• Build and implement retail playbooks, store standards, policies, workflows, and SOPs that support consistency and scalability.
• Oversee daily store operations and serve as the primary operational connection between the store and headquarters.
• Train, develop, and manage store leadership with clear KPIs, performance expectations, and feedback cadences.
• Create scalable training and hiring frameworks for future store teams.
• Develop and maintain the retail operating P&L, including profitability, labor performance, operating expenses, risks, and growth opportunities.
• Build weekly and monthly reporting that provides leadership with clear, actionable store‑level performance insights.
• Lead planning and operational execution for retail pop‑ups, events, and future store openings.
• Create a documented store launch toolkit to support efficient expansion.
• Partner with merchandising, marketing, and creative teams to deliver a strong in‑store customer and brand experience.

Qualifications

• 5–10+ years of retail operations experience, ideally within a DTC, lifestyle, apparel, or consumer brand.
• Experience owning and presenting a store‑level P&L.
• Proven background opening, restructuring, or scaling retail locations.
• Strong hands‑on experience with POS systems, inventory, loss prevention, and store‑level operations.
• Experience leading store managers and frontline retail teams.
• Background creating operational playbooks, training frameworks, and SOPs.
• Comfort working across marketing, creative, finance, ecommerce, and inventory functions.
• Pop‑up or event‑based retail experience strongly preferred.
• Willingness to travel, including for planned New York retail activations.

Profile

• Strategic and hands‑on builder.
• Strong leadership, accountability, and operational judgment.
• Comfortable working in an evolving, high‑growth environment.
• Focused on creating scalable systems without losing sight of the customer experience.