General Manager

Title: General Manager, New York Duty Free

Location: JFK International Airport – T4

The Opportunity

JFK T4 Retail Partners LLC trading as New York Duty Free at JFK Terminal 4, New York provides duty-free and specialty retail concessions for passengers at T4.

The General Manager is the senior onsite and business leader for New York Duty Free at Terminal 4, accountable for the full commercial, operational, and people performance of a complex airport retail operation comprising multiple stores and a large, diverse workforce.

The role provides end‑to‑end leadership across retail operations, commercial performance, finance, people, stakeholder engagement, and strategic execution.

The General Manager is responsible for delivering world‑class customer experience, strong financial results, operational excellence, and a high‑performance culture in a fast‑paced, security‑sensitive international airport environment.

Whoever You Are and Wherever You Are From…at NYDF You Are Welcome!

Key Responsibilities

The General Manager will lead NYDF’s future development to ensure that it maintains its position as a leading, innovative, world-class travel retailer.

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

Retail, Operations & Customer Experience

•Lead all aspects of terminal retail operations, ensuring consistent execution, presentation standards, service quality, and operational discipline across all stores.

•Ensure retail spaces are fully merchandised, appropriately signed, well stocked, and always maintained to brand and company standards.

•Deliver excellence in operational standards, safety, and security compliance within an international airport setting.

•Conduct regular business reviews, store walks, and operational audits to identify issues quickly and drive corrective actions.

•Create a culture of continuous improvement, operational excellence, and ownership across the business.

Commercial & Financial Performance

•Drive sales growth, Passenger Average Spend (PAS), and overall commercial performance through disciplined execution and innovation.

•Analyze daily, weekly, monthly, and annual business trends; implement plans to meet and exceed targets.

•Set KPIs across retail and support functions and monitor performance through structured governance and reporting.

•Maximize financial returns through people optimization, inventory control, merchandising effectiveness, and promotional execution.

Leadership & People Management

•Provide visible, engaged leadership to a large, multi‑layered workforce, setting clear expectations and driving accountability.

•Lead workforce planning, recruiting, onboarding, succession planning, coaching, and performance management in partnership with Human Resources.

•Develop and mentor managers and supervisors, building a strong leadership bench and sustainable succession pipeline.

•Champion talent management, learning, and development across the retail operation.

•Inspire teams to deliver the company’s vision, mission, values, and service standards through strong leadership and role modelling.

Strategy & Growth

•Translate corporate strategy into clear, measurable local objectives and execution plans.

•Contribute to the development and implementation of strategies that enhance long‑term growth, innovation, and competitiveness.

•Implement best‑in‑class retail disciplines including category management, space planning, customer segmentation, and data‑led decision‑making.

•Develop meaningful customer insights to inform assortment, layout, promotion, and experience design.

•Identify risks and threats to the business and develop mitigation strategies.

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Stakeholder & Partner Management

•Build and maintain strong working relationships with terminal management, airport authorities, airline partners, lounge partners, and other key stakeholders.

•Represent New York Duty Free at T4 with professionalism and credibility in all external engagements.

•Identify and develop partnership opportunities that enhance commercial performance and customer experience.

•Ensure full compliance with applicable local, state, federal, and airport regulatory requirements.

Key Experience & Background

•A senior professional with a proven track record in the development and operation of consumer focused retail operations (10 years’ experience)

•Proven experience in Travel Retail and managing large teams (100 employees)

•Strong financial and commercial acumen

•Experience in buying/supply chain operations desirable

•Significant stakeholder management experience

Key Skills & Competencies

•Commercially astute leader capable of balancing sales growth and disciplined cost control.

•Highly resilient, adaptable, and composed under pressure in a high‑volume, constantly changing airport environment.

•Strategic thinker with the ability to translate vision into clear priorities and executable plans.

•Data‑driven decision‑maker with strong judgment and problem‑solving capability.

•A confident, highly motivated individual with strong leadership and interpersonal skills

•Excellent communicator with the ability to influence cross‑functional teams and external stakeholders.

•Multilingual capability is a plus

•Ability to identify and evaluate opportunities and to implement change and innovation

•Ability to inspire and nurture an effective and diverse team in a result orientated environment