Visual Merchandising Manager - US East Coast

Warner Bros. Discovery•New York, NY

About The Position

The Visual Merchandising Manager – East Coast Retail is responsible for executing and contributing to the visual strategy for our Harry Potter stores, setting standards for brand presentation and in-store storytelling across multiple retail locations. This role ensures that product placement, seasonal displays and visual standards reflect the brand identity while driving commercial performance. The position requires a creative and detail-oriented leader who can translate brand standards set by the Senior Manager, Visual Merchandising – Worldwide Tours & Retail into compelling visual displays, partner cross-functionally with product teams to continually exceed expectations and guide and inspire store visual teams to deliver consistent, high-quality stores. The role will support all existing US Harry Potter shops and contribute to the growth of the region by supporting the Director in new projects and stores. The Visual Merchandising Manager will lead a small team of creative Visual Merchandisers to execute in-store projects and analyze sales data to inform decision making.

Requirements

4–6 years of visual merchandising experience with increasing responsibility, including multi-store or area leadership.
Proven ability to execute and adapt brand visual strategies across multiple locations while maintaining consistency and quality.
Strong understanding of retail merchandising principles, product placement, store layout planning and seasonal presentation.
Experience managing visual projects, timelines, budgets and cross-functional communication.
Demonstrated ability to lead, coach and develop teams in both creative and operational aspects of visual merchandising.
Strong communication and presentation skills, with experience influencing store leadership teams, support teams and leading teams whilst away from the store.
Proficiency in visual tools, retail systems and Microsoft Office.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in experiential retail, specialty retail or branded environments preferred.
Bachelor’s degree in Visual Merchandising, Design, Retail Management or related field preferred, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Execute the global visual merchandising strategy set across all East Coast Retail locations and future US stores in alignment with direction from the Senior Manager, Visual Merchandising.
Adapt central visual guidelines for local market while maintaining brand standards, product presentation and immersive storytelling through product and window displays.
Lead visual projects, product launch placement and execution, as well as any promotional displays across US stores, ensuring timely and accurate delivery of all visual requirements.
Remain up-to-date on knowledge of Harry Potter IP, trends in the market and observe guest expectations to inform visual decisions that enhance the in-store experience.
Be proactive in the approach, source opportunities for improvement, create action plans and execute with the Visual team to ensure commercial success and high presentation standards.
Actively contribute to new store projects in the US, providing design guidance, feedback from current store operations and taking a leading role in execution of store launches.
Oversee the implementation and installation of in-store POS and graphics will comply with strict brand guidelines.
Partner with Senior Manager, Visual Merchandising to develop weekly and monthly visual action plans for stores, outlining priorities, timelines and detailed lists of priorities for updates to Director.
Conduct regular store walks to assess visual standards, identify improvements and support leaders in maintaining consistent execution.
Oversee all visual merchandising logistics with Senior VM for all locations including display props, shipment coordination, fixture needs and seasonal changes.
Ensure stores meet required presentation and safety standards with visual setups, fixtures & displays.
Lead all in-store seasonal launches including holidays, new ranges, marketing activations and store refresh opportunities.
Manage timelines, resources and communication plans for all East Coast visual projects, partnering with Visual Merchandising team for execution.
Maintain clear documentation of visual standards, planograms and store layouts.
Ensure visual planning considers labor efficiency, installation costs and operational impact.
Monitor sales performance and product trends to ensure visual strategies support commercial results and improve guest engagement.
Identify visual merchandising opportunities that improve conversion, grow average transaction value and focus on ease of buying for all guests.
Provide recommendations to Merchandising and Store teams based on sales insights, guest behavior and layout observations.
Oversee store changes and movements, providing feedback in relation to revenue impacts, creating new action plans weekly for improvement.
Manage all budgets for visual projects and general expenses, collecting spending requirements, seeking out cost saving opportunities, and presenting for approval from Director.
Directly manage the visual teams in all stores, ensuring personal development, standards, creativity, morale and efficiency all remain a priority.
Ensure team are completing expectations on standards execution, presentation techniques, store layout and product storytelling.
Provide hands-on training for new visual team members and store leadership to build awareness of expectations and how to execute daily.
Offer feedback and follow-up support to improve visual consistency, creativity and operations.
Support personal development and growth in skills for all team to identify progression opportunities.
Perform regular, in-person 1:1 feedback sessions with team to highlight coaching and development.
Partner with Merchandising on product placement needs to ensure visual concepts drive commercial performance and inventory sell-through.
Work closely with the Director to align visual strategies and operations for commercial growth.
Collaborate with Marketing to support launches, in-store and out of store events as well as brand activations that rely on presentation and creative input.
Coordinate with Facilities teams for fixture updates, repairs and layout changes as required.