General Manager

We are looking for a New York General Manager who already moves like a leader and runs a floor like a conductor — and who is hungry to be molded into the operator we will build together over the next several years. You will own Alba’s nightly experience, the front-of-house team, and the standard of service that defines this room.

Who you are

• A natural leader. People follow you because they want to, not because they have to. You set tone before you set rules.
• An owner, not a passenger. When something goes wrong on your floor, the first sentence out of your mouth begins with “I.” Forget blame is not a slogan to you — it’s a reflex.
• A critical eye. You see the bread basket that’s missing. You see the smudge on the glass before the guest does. You can’t un-see a slow handoff. Details are not a chore to you — they are the work.
• A service operator at the core. Your happiest hours are on the floor at 7:45pm on a Saturday. You know how to read a four-top before they’ve ordered, and you know what to whisper to a server to fix a table without a guest ever feeling the friction.
• Coachable and hungry. You don’t pretend to know things you don’t. You ask, you watch, you read, you take notes. You will be molded — and you want to be.
• Direct, warm, and unsentimental. You can deliver hard feedback to a senior server without anesthetic and without cruelty. Conflict is not something you avoid; it’s something you handle quickly so the team can get back to work.

What you’ll own

• The floor and the service standard. Pre-shifts, floor walks, table touches, recovery moments. Every shift, every night, you set the bar.
• The front-of-house team. Hiring, training, scheduling, coaching, and — when needed — letting people go. You will build a service team that people in New York want to work for.
• The guest experience for our regulars. You will know their names, their tables, their dietaries, their kids. You will personally answer for any regular who has a less-than-perfect night.
• Operating cadence on the floor. Daily pre-shift, weekly service notes, monthly team review. Documentation is part of the job.
• Partnering with the kitchen. FOH/BOH is a marriage. You will be the diplomat-in-chief between the pass and the floor.

What we will teach you

If you do not yet have deep experience with all of the below, that is the point. Coming in, we expect you to be eager to learn:

• Weekly P&L reads, labor and food cost targets, comp tracking, and the operating dashboard.
• Long-range planning, budgets, and forecasting.
• HR documentation, write-ups, and the legal side of people management.
• Vendor relationships, beverage program rigor, and inventory discipline.
• The PSH way of structuring a leadership team — AGM, FOH leads, captains — and how to develop your bench.

First 90 days

• Days 1–30 — Listen and observe. Work every section, every shift, every station the FOH touches. Build rapport with each team member. Know every regular by name.
• Days 31–60 — Find the friction. Bring me a written list of the ten things that are breaking the standard, and a point of view on which three you want to fix first.
• Days 61–90 — Run a full week. Own pre-shifts, own the floor, own the service feedback loop, own one weekly KPI you’ve picked. Your weekly write-up will land in my inbox every Monday morning.

Hard requirements

• 3+ years in a senior FOH leadership role (AGM, GM, or service director) at a high-volume, high-standard restaurant.
• Hands-on, on-the-floor leader — not someone who has spent the last few years primarily in an office.
• Demonstrable stories of building or rebuilding a service team — hires made, talent developed, hard conversations had.
• New York instincts: knows the city, knows the guest, knows what “regular” means here.
• Comfortable being coached — references will be asked specifically about coachability and ego.
• Your desire and commitment to being a part a growing team where you will become a partner.