Retail Operations Manager (Evanston)

PetSmart does Anything for Pets – JOIN OUR TEAM!

Retail Operations Manager

About Life at PetSmart

At PetSmart, Anything for Pets begins with our people. Every associate plays a vital role in creating meaningful experiences for pets and their families, and we empower our teams with the tools, resources, and opportunities to grow and succeed. This posting reflects an existing vacancy, and we are actively seeking candidates for this role.

Benefits that benefit you

• Paid Weekly
• Health & Wellness Benefits*
• 401k Plan with company match
• Paid Time off for full-time associates
• Associate discounts
• Tuition Assistance
• Career pathing
• Development opportunities

Job Summary

PetSmart’s Process Leader (Retail Operations Manager) has shared responsibility to drive operational excellence in our stores while upholding the company’s vision, mission, values, and strategy. This role is accountable for merchandising and inventory management, pet care operations, opening and/or closing the store, leading associates, financial outcomes and maintaining a safe and organized environment.

Essential Responsibilities

Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following and may vary depending on store characteristics and needs:

People Leadership:

• Participates in employment decisions such as recruiting, interviewing, and coaching.
• Facilitates the associate experience and supports associate development; including but not limited to ensuring associates are appropriately trained across the store, onboarding, associate reviews, labor management, mentoring, succession planning, and coaching for accountability.
• Address and administer associate complaints and grievances.
• Prioritize, delegate, and validate daily tasks for associates to meet business and pet parent needs.
• Lead and coach associates on proper operational processes to ensure pets in our care are safe and healthy.
• Coordinates staffing coverage for process activities in pivotal areas of the store (pet care maintenance, hotel cleaning, salon cleaning, etc.)
• Validates completion of assigned operational messages and engagement video compliance.
• Effectively communicates company information and priorities to associates to ensure alignment and deliver on expectations.
• Recognizes and celebrates associates driving overall associate engagement.

Overall Store Experience:

• Accountable for and provides oversight for the healthcare of store owned pets, including pet care maintenance, receiving new store owned pets, commitment standards (feeding, watering, and cleaning) for all pet habitats (bird, reptile, small animal, cricket, and fish aquariums), and care for sick store-owned pets.
• Accountable for, provides oversight, and validates proper execution of inventory management and pricing processes, including, but not limited to, inventory accuracy, receiving, stocking/re-stocking, inventory counts (live and non-live), product rotations and planner/planogram sets in a timely and organized manner.
• Evaluates operations and seeks opportunities to continuously improve experiences and services.
• Maintains vendor relationships, backroom standards, and communication boards.
• Oversight of the processes related to the Buy Online and Pick Up In Store and Ship From Store programs.
• Identifies and reacts to sales trends through analysis and merchandising activities.
• Responsible for making sound merchandising decisions with respect to discretionary space and discontinued merchandise.
• Maintains store standards (compliance and cleanliness) and leads a culture of empowerment by ensuring compliance to our Policies & Procedures (P&Ps) and Code of Ethics.
• Ensures a safe environment for our associates, pets, and pet parents.
• Responsible for taking immediate action and reporting when a sick/injured pet is identified in store.
• Shared responsibility with store opening and closing procedures to ensure we uphold our brand promise as well as responding to general and escalated pet parent concerns.

Expense Management:

• Drives and identifies opportunities to grow the business and holds associates accountable in achieving store P&L expectations such as sales and shrink targets.
• Analyzes inventory management reporting to identify trends, opportunities, and root causes.
• Manages expenses such as labor and supplies, as well as any other relevant store metrics.
• Leverages Home Office partners and resources to submit and follow up on store related work orders and purchase card allocation.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of retail leadership or experience in a customer-focused environment.
• Full-time availability required, flexibility in schedule, able to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed.