Senior Manager - New Store Openings

With a career at Hudson, you really benefit! We Offer:

• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Generous paid time off (vacation, flex or sick)
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Company paid life insurance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Employee assistance program
• Training and exciting career growth opportunities
• Referral program – refer a friend and earn a bonus

Compensation: [[salaryMin]] to [[salaryMid]] 

Purpose: The Senior Manager of New Store Openings (NSO) supports the execution of the end-to-end new store opening process for Food & Beverage and Retail locations across North America. This role ensures operational readiness, coordinates opening timelines, and supports on-site execution to deliver successful store launches that meet company standards.  

Essential Functions:

• Supports the NSO process for F&B and Retail store openings across North America; implements standardizes opening methodology and guarantees adherence to established timelines and quality standards
• Coordinates project activities and maintains day-to-day communication with cross-functional teams to maintain adherence to opening timelines, critical path milestones, and budgets; escalates risks and issues to Director as needed

• Serves as liaison between corporate support teams and local Operations leadership during the opening process; provides on-site support during critical opening phases from turnover through day one of service
• Executes pre-opening activities in coordination with culinary, retail, and brand teams to ensure service culture, training, and operational setup align with guest expectations and brand requirements; verifies layout execution, product flow, labor planning, and inventory controls meet standards
• Facilitates delivery of hospitality training programs at new locations, including service sequencing, digital guest engagement, and retail service expectations; delivers training materials and manuals effectively and provides post-opening feedback to enhance training effectiveness
• Assists in developing and maintaining proprietary brand training materials and operational standards; gathers field feedback to support continuous improvement of training content and delivery methods
• Supports Operations during pre-opening planning phases to implement guest experience goals, training plans, and operational strategies; ensures locations are prepared for successful launches
• Assists in documenting guest incident response procedures and labor standards for new locations
• Collects and reports KPI data from new openings; provides analytical insights on operational performance, training effectiveness, and improvement opportunities to support strategic decision-making

Reporting Relationship: This role reports to the Director of New Store Openings

Minimum Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Work Environment:

• Education and Experience: The combination of education and professional experience must exceed 6 years:
  • In a leadership role: Requires 2 years of experience leading F&B, Retail, or hospitality Operations professionals engaged in developing and executing new store opening/development, training, or guest experience programs
  • In a technical role: Requires 6-8 years of experience engaged in developing and delivering new store opening/development, training, or guest experience programs 
    • A bachelor’s degree in a program related to the functional area can count for 3 of the six-year requirement
    • An MBA or a master’s level degree in a program related to the functional area can count for an additional 2 years of the six-year requirement
  • In the industry: 3-5 years of Hospitality, F&B and/or Retail experience
• Specialized Skillset/Competencies/Traits:
  • Strong operations background and knowledge of service delivery, team training, guest engagement, and store performance analytics
  • Demonstrated success supporting cross-functional teams in a multi-unit environment
  • Strong project coordination experience; demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining operational quality
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; confident presenter and relationship builder
  • Detail-oriented with ability to identify potential issues and escalate appropriately
  • Advanced business acumen and has the strategic mindset required to understand the long-term implications of new store opening decisions and to advance the organization’s goals
  • Demonstrated history of anticipating the needs of the business and stakeholders, the employee population, and individual circumstances
  • Demonstrated history of creating and maintaining positive work environments through coaching, developing, and leading teams to achieve common goals

• Location/Travel:
  • This position may be remote; must be in close proximity to a major airport
  • This position requires up to 20% travel to airport locations

Disclaimer:

Avolta, including Dufry, HMSHost Corporation, Hudson, and affiliates (“the Company”), is an equal opportunity employer. It is the Company’s policy to ensure equal employment opportunity in all aspects of employment and to comply with anti-discrimination laws and regulations. The Company prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and provides equal opportunities to applicants and team members without regard to actual or perceived race, color, creed, age, religion, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions and lactation), gender identity or gender expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, national origin, disability, military service and veteran status, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, protected medical condition as defined by applicable state or local law, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state or local laws and ordinances (referred to as “protected characteristics”).