Senior Director Fresh & Convenience Operations

With a career at HMSHost, you really benefit! We Offer

• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Generous paid time off (vacation, flex or sick)
• Holiday pay
• Meal and Transportation Benefits
• *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
• Benefits may vary by position so ask your recruiter for details.

Advertised Compensation: $139,600.00 to $180,100.00

Purpose: Responsible for shaping and providing Avolta's food, beverage, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) merchandising strategies, with a primary focus on accelerating growth in the respective categories business model. This role drives strategic planning, store standards, fresh product implementation, and strong collaboration with category management and marketing within the Duty Paid/F&B lines of business to elevate consumer engagement and deliver measurable revenue and margin improvements.

Essential Functions:

• Provides merchandising strategies, revenue growth opportunities, acceleration of product placement with the intention to maximize revenue growth, suggestions to CORE category management teams for F&B
• Leads fresh food innovation and product launches, establishing store standards for fixtures, merchandising, pricing, and product sell-thru to drive food sales as a percentage of total store sales for both F&B and Duty Paid Operations in partnership with category management of ESL
• Partners with Category Management & Marketing to develop and ensure execution of innovative storytelling strategies that deepen brand connection and drive incremental sales
• Partners with Category Management, Supply Chain, Culinary, Operations, and Finance teams to analyze program performance, challenge status quo, and suggest strategies that maximize revenue and profitability in operations
• Establishes and enforces consistent merchandising standards to ensure efficiency and deliver premium customer experience across all locations
• Optimizes product placement programs to enhance visibility, accelerate sales growth, to strengthen vendor-supported product placement strategies
• Directs planning and execution of seasonal initiatives for Fresh category that create a differentiated and premium retail experience
• Supports planning initiatives to category management team pertaining to F&B CORE as well as ESL product lines.
• Leverages customer insights and analytics to understand shopping behaviors, optimize the customer journey, and provide actionable recommendations through comprehensive performance and financial reporting
• Oversees sales and cost-of-sales budgets for Fresh category F&B and Duty Paid, guaranteeing alignment with ROI targets and brand objectives
• Identifies new revenue streams, initiatives for Fresh category for F&B and Duty Paid to include but not limited to rebate opportunities alongside Revenue Generation Department within airport F&B initiatives to expand convenience sales and rebate opportunities

Reporting Relationship: The Senior Director of Fresh & Convenience Operations reports to the Vice President of Culinary

Minimum Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Work Environment:

• The combination of education and professional experience must exceed 10 years:

• In a leadership role: Requires 5 years of experience leading a team of professionals engaged in retail merchandising, CPG, or food service operations

• In a technical role: Requires 10 years of experience engaged in retail merchandising, CPG, or food service operations

• A bachelor's degree in a program related to the functional area can count for 3 of the ten-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 ten-year requirement

• In the industry: 5-7 years of Hospitality, F&B and/or Retail experience

• Specialized Training: Training that leads to an expert level of retail merchandising strategies, product placement, and consumer packaged goods

• Specialized Skillset/Competencies/Traits: Demonstrated experience driving revenue growth and margin improvement in retail or food service operations

• Strong vendor relationship management and negotiation skills

• Financial acumen including budget management, P&L analysis, and cost-of-sales optimization

• Proficiency in consumer insights, data analysis, and using analytics to drive strategic decision-making

• Excellent leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills with ability to influence senior leadership

• Innovation mindset with ability to identify and implement new revenue opportunities

• Advanced business acumen and also has the strategic mindset required to understand the long-term implications of merchandising decisions and to advance the organization's goals

• Demonstrated history of anticipating the needs of the business and complex stakeholders

• Demonstrated history of creating and maintaining positive work environments through coaching, developing, and leading teams to achieve common goals

• Demonstrated experience exhibiting a continuous improvement mindset with the ability to optimize work processes and achieve positive results

Location/Travel:

• This role is located at the North America Support Center in Bethesda, MD.
• This role may require up to 50% travel

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").