Senior Manager, Guest Experience and Retail Excellence

Senior Manager, Guest Experience & Retail Excellence Position Summary

We are seeking a Senior Manager, Guest Experience & Retail Excellence to help develop and scale the guest experience strategy for a growing IP and experiential retail business in the U.S.

This newly created role will focus on building customer experience programs, retail training systems, service standards, and operational playbooks that can be consistently implemented across multiple locations. The ideal candidate has experience creating engaging brand experiences and developing frontline employees into effective brand ambassadors.

• Develop and implement guest experience and service excellence strategies across retail locations.
• Create scalable training programs, service standards, operational playbooks, and employee development programs.
• Translate IP, characters, storytelling, and brand values into engaging in-store customer experiences.
• Develop frontline employees into knowledgeable and engaging brand ambassadors.
• Establish and monitor customer experience and service quality metrics and identify improvement opportunities.
• Support new store openings and multi-location expansion through consistent training and operational standards.
• Partner with Retail Operations, Marketing, Merchandising, HR, and Store Leadership on guest experience initiatives.
• Collaborate with U.S. and Japan-based stakeholders to adapt retail concepts and brand standards for the U.S. market.
• Lead projects related to retail innovation, operational excellence, and customer experience improvement.
• Travel domestically as needed for store openings, training, audits, and operational support.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Retail Management, Hospitality, Marketing, Human Resources, Organizational Development, or a related field preferred.
• 7+ years of experience in customer/guest experience, experiential retail, retail operations, training/L&D, hospitality, or service excellence.
• Experience supporting multi-location retail, entertainment, hospitality, attractions, or other customer-facing businesses.
• Experience developing employee training programs, service standards, or operational playbooks.
• Strong project management, cross-functional leadership, and communication skills.
• Experience with experiential or entertainment-focused retail and employee development is highly preferred.
• Understanding of Japanese and U.S. business cultures is highly valued.
• Japanese language proficiency is preferred but not required
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• Ability to travel as business needs require.