Head Seamstress / Alterations Department Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Lakewood, NJ | $100,000–$120,000/year

Busy gown rental and sales store specializing in formal gowns for children, teens, and young adults is seeking a highly experienced Head Seamstress / Alterations Department Manager to take full ownership of our fitting and alterations department.

This is NOT an entry-level position. Applicants must have many years of professional experience with formal gowns and dresses and be highly skilled in fitting, pinning, garment construction, and difficult or delicate alterations.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the entire alterations process from fitting through final pickup
• Track weddings, fittings, orders, and deadlines
• Professionally fit and pin customers and determine necessary alterations
• Assign, supervise, and follow up on work given to our other seamstresses
• Personally handle difficult or advanced alterations
• Inspect completed gowns and handle final adjustments
• Ensure every gown is completed correctly and on time
• Keep the department organized and running smoothly

Customer Service Is Essential

This is a highly customer-facing position, and excellent customer service skills are essential .

Customers are often preparing for important weddings and events and may be particular, stressed, demanding, or difficult to satisfy. You must be able to remain patient, composed, respectful, and professional while confidently handling concerns and finding solutions—even during extremely busy periods.

Owner/Manager Mentality

This is much more than a sewing position. We are looking for someone who takes genuine ownership of the department and can eventually run it independently without constant follow-up from the business owner. Reliability is extremely important. Because weddings and customer deadlines cannot simply be postponed, the person managing this department must plan personal appointments, days off, and other commitments responsibly around the needs of the business whenever reasonably possible.

This is not a position where the manager can routinely give short notice that she will be unavailable the following day because of a personal appointment, leaving the department and its deadlines uncovered. Just as the business owner must make arrangements and ensure the business is taken care of when personal obligations arise, we expect the department manager to have that same sense of responsibility and accountability. Of course, genuine emergencies and unavoidable circumstances happen. What matters is the overall mentality: “This is my department. I will make sure it is taken care of.” That may mean delegating work, rearranging priorities, personally handling difficult alterations, coming in earlier, staying later, or otherwise doing what is reasonably necessary to make sure gowns are completed and customers' deadlines are met. The high salary for this position reflects this level of expertise, reliability, responsibility, and ownership.

Experience Required

• Many years of professional sewing and alteration experience
• Extensive experience with formal gowns and dresses
• Advanced sewing, fitting, pinning, and garment-construction skills
• Ability to independently perform complicated alterations
• Management, delegation, and organizational skills
• Excellent customer-service and communication skills
• Ability to remain calm and effective under significant pressure
• Exceptional reliability, initiative, accountability, and problem-solving ability

Please do not apply if you have only basic or beginner alteration experience.

Schedule & Workload

This is a salaried management position , so the schedule is based on the needs of the department rather than a fixed number of hours. The store is open to customers Sunday–Thursday, 1:00–7:00 PM , and availability during most customer-facing hours is required. Workdays will generally begin earlier so you can oversee and coordinate the work of our other seamstresses. During our typical busy periods, you should generally expect approximately 9–10 hours per day, Sunday through Friday. This is the normal expectation during busy periods—not simply an occasional possibility. Although the store is closed to customers on Friday , Friday is generally a working day during busy periods because alteration work, organization, and preparation still need to be completed. The exact hours will depend on the workload. Some days or Fridays may be shorter when there is less work, while especially busy periods or approaching deadlines may occasionally require additional time.

Our business is busy considerably more often than it is quiet , so applicants should expect the busy-period schedule to be the more typical experience. However, we do have quieter periods throughout the year. When the department is caught up and the workload is light, the flexibility works in your favor: hours may be significantly reduced, schedules can be more flexible, and these quieter periods are generally the best times to coordinate vacations and planned time off .

And Saturday is the official day off. No work is expected on Saturdays.

Compensation

$100,000–$120,000 per year , depending on experience and qualifications.

This compensation reflects that we are not simply hiring another seamstress. We are looking for an experienced alterations expert, customer-service professional, problem-solver, and department manager in one person who can ultimately take full responsibility for this side of the business.

If you have extensive gown-alteration experience, are excellent with customers, can manage other seamstresses, thrive in a very busy environment, and are the type of person who takes ownership and makes sure the job gets done, we would love to hear from you.