Technology Director, Search and Recommendations

Position Purpose:

The Technology Director is responsible for leading the technical strategy, roadmap, architecture, and delivery of the company’s .com and Mobile App products. Partner with functional and technical leaders to identify and plan capabilities necessary to meet short and long-term business needs. Develop and execute strategic plans in support of key objectives in a timely and fiscally responsible manner. Informs and drives strategic alignment and partnerships with functional and technical peers and leaders. Connect the dots across multiple levels and related functions to understand the business holistically. Evaluate research and market analysis, meet with third party vendors, and maintain knowledge of industry innovations and technology platforms to inform strategy. Establish and nurture strategic vendor relationships; influences vendors to align to domain, portfolio, and enterprise strategic objectives. Drive growth for the business by applying technical and domain expertise to provide thought leadership and translate vision into action. Define and communicate value propositions, success metrics, and outcomes. Document, review and ensure that all quality and change control standards are met. Develop, plan, and implement sustainable, repeatable, and reliable processes; oversees process improvement. Drive operational excellence to create internal customer satisfaction and meet operational metrics while prioritizing external customer needs. Understand and articulate the value creation and business proposition to teams and functional partners. Manage and coordinate strategic direction for staff. Attract, retain, develop, and motivate top talent. Conduct annual and mid-year reviews, reviewing individual development plans and providing performance feedback.

Key Responsibilities:

• 40% Strategy & Planning:
• Partners with functional and technical leaders to identify and plan capabilities necessary to meet short and long-term business needs
• Develops and executes strategic plans in support of key objectives in a timely and fiscally responsible manner
• Informs and drives strategic alignment and partnerships with functional and technical peers and leaders
• Connects the dots across multiple levels and related functions to understand the business holistically
• Evaluates research and market analysis, meets with third party vendors, and maintains knowledge of industry innovations and technology platforms to inform strategy
• Establishes and nurtures strategic vendor relationships; influences vendors to align to domain, portfolio, and enterprise strategic objectives
• Drives growth for the business by applying technical and domain expertise to provide thought leadership and translate vision into action
• 40% Delivery & Execution:
• Defines and communicates value propositions, success metrics, and outcomes
• Documents, reviews and ensures that all quality and change control standards are met
• Develops, plans, and implements sustainable, repeatable, and reliable processes; oversees process improvement
• Drives operational excellence to create internal customer satisfaction and meet operational metrics while prioritizing external customer needs
• Understands and articulates the value creation and business proposition to teams and functional partners
• 20% People:
• Provides leadership, mentoring, and coaching to direct reports
• Manages and coordinates strategic direction for staff
• Attracts, retains, develops, and motivates top talent
• Conducts annual and mid-year reviews, reviewing individual development plans and providing performance feedback

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:

• Typically reports to Sr. Director or Vice President.

Travel Requirements:

• Typically requires overnight travel 5% to 20% of the time.

Physical Requirements:

• Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.

Working Conditions:

• Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Must be eighteen years of age or older.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications:

• End ‑ to ‑ end ownership of Search, Personalization & Recommendations platforms — leads high‑traffic e‑commerce systems spanning relevance and ranking, query understanding, personalization logic, and large‑scale experimentation, with direct accountability for conversion, engagement, revenue lift, and customer satisfaction across Pro and DIY journeys.

• Business ‑ aligned technical strategy and roadmap execution — defines and drives multi‑year platform strategies tightly coupled to product and enterprise outcomes across merchandising, marketing/CRM, retail media, supply chain, and finance, continuously re‑prioritizing based on growth, efficiency, and customer impact.

• Experimentation, data, and ML at production scale — establishes experiment‑first operating models (A/B testing, incrementality measurement, multi‑armed bandits) and oversees ML‑powered ranking and recommendation systems, including unified behavioral data pipelines, real‑time inference, feature stores, latency optimization, and resilience guardrails.

• Builder and scaler of senior engineering organizations — recruits, develops, and retains senior managers and staff/principal engineers; builds inclusive, high‑trust teams; and institutionalizes modern engineering and SRE practices (CI/CD, trunk‑based development, test automation, DevOps) to improve delivery speed, quality, and reliability.

• Executive influencer with strong governance and financial ownership — partners with VP+ leaders across Product, UX, Data Science, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Risk, and InfoSec; owns platform budgets and vendor strategy; and ensures strong data privacy, security, compliance, and responsible experimentation and ML governance.

• Leading at a Sr. Manager level or above within a fast‑paced, multi‑division, national company

• Defining, communicating, and driving value propositions, success metrics, and outcomes

• Shaping, aligning, and guiding execution of strategic direction for a domain or significant portfolio segment

• Communicating, building influence, and developing relationships with functional and technical leaders, with high‑level vendor partners, and across all levels in the organization

• Selecting and leading strategic vendor relationships or acting as the primary point of contact for strategic partnerships

• Managing and developing direct reports with their own span of control

• Utilizing deep market and industry knowledge for a related portfolio segment or domain to achieve strategic objectives

Minimum Education:

• The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.

Preferred Education:

• No additional education

Minimum Years of Work Experience:

• 8

Preferred Years of Work Experience:

• No additional years of experience

Minimum Leadership Experience:

• None

Preferred Leadership Experience:

• None

Certifications:

• None

Competencies:

• Attracts Top Talent: Attracting and selecting the best talent to meet current and future business needs
• Builds Effective Teams: Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals
• Business Insight: Applying knowledge of business and the marketplace to advance the organization’s goals
• Collaborates: Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
• Courage: Stepping up to address difficult issues, saying what needs to be said
• Cultivates Innovation: Creates new and better ways for the organization to be successful
• Customer Focus: Builds strong customer relationships and delivering customer‑centric solutions
• Decision Quality: Making good and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward
• Develops Talent: Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals
• Drives Engagement: Creating a climate where people are motivated to do their best to help the organization achieve its objectives
• Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances
• Drives Vision and Purpose: Painting a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to action
• Financial Acumen: Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions
• Organizational Savvy: Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related organizational dynamics
• Persuades: Using compelling arguments to gain the support and commitment of others
• Plans and Aligns: Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals
• Situational Adaptability: Adapting approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations
• Strategic Mindset: Seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies
• Tech Savvy: Anticipating and adopting innovations in business‑building digital and technology applications