Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience

NYBG Job Description

Title

Reports to

Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience

Director, Retail, NYBG Shop

Position Summary:

The Associate Manager, Retail Customer Experience supports and continuously improves the Shop's visitor experienceby 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 liason 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
  
  

If you require an accommodation for any part of the application process, please notify the Human Resources department at HR@nybg.org.

If you are interested in applying for a position at the New York Botanical Garden, please go to http://www.nybg.org/employment to submit your application.

EOE