Sr. Director - Tech Products (Sales and Merchandising ) - Specialty

Scope :

Develop and lead the end-to-end product team to set the tone, establish partnership with engineering leadership and define product development and digital strategy for upcoming innovative products. Carry strategic responsibility for the performance, efficiency and leadership of the product teams. Collaboratively create and foster product vision, drive product strategy, discovery, design, research, and experimentation as well as agile project development and enablement. As a senior executive, strive to be a role model to our global colleagues , nurturing a positive culture helping them bridge the gap between start-up and enterprise mindsets. Work directly with executive leadership as the Global Head of Product representing the entire team.

Essential Functions :

Strategic Management

Provide strategic leadership for present and future product development efforts for the product team. Direct the design, development, and enhancement of new and existing products. Drive business cases for the Digital Commerce team for AGP and LRP planning.

Partner with Engineering to set product and development strategy and vision with an eye towards balancing productivity and customer experience.

Lead the product team with a focus on deeply understanding the needs of our customers (internal as well as external) through both quantitative and qualitative data and provide them with overwhelming value.

Understand the competitive landscape for Sysco Corporation and overall trends in the food distribution industry, using these insights to shape our digital product strategy.

Work with executive leadership to hold them accountable to strategic direction and product standards. Prepare and drive Steering Committee meetings e.g. Shop working closely with Sysco executives and their leadership teams.

Display executive presence in all internal and external interactions, setting up the tone for other colleagues and building credibility when talking and / or presenting to all types of audiences, especially to our c-level stakeholders. Represent Digital Commerce for all product development activities including engineering. SRE, and data workstreams that affect customers and sales consultants.

Market Digital Commerce products, acting as the lead evangelist for the product portfolio. Meet and interact directly with current and prospective internal and external customers. Relay Digital Commerce products' value and benefits while simultaneously sourcing feedback and assessing their reception and experience with the products.

Leverage data as a key tool for making strategic decisions with analytics and experimentation . Lead Continuous Improvement for major components of Digital Commerce and Presence.

Tactical Management

Lead, drive, and manage the product lifecycle from inception to release as the Head of the Product , UX Design , UX / Competitive Research , Agile Project Management , Product Operations , and Product Enablement teams. Oversee the implementation of Product design and development policies, objectives, and initiatives.

Lead, drive, and manage the Product team including prioritization process, converting input from customers, prospects, partners, sales, engineering, external market trends and competitors into a cohesive set of "features and functions" that are market-driven and can be feasibly delivered through internal development or relationships with third parties.

Lead, drive, and manage UX Design, Research / Competitive Analysis to capture the voice of the customer (VOC) and develop insights. Develop and enhance the digital customer experience through conceptual designs, proof-of-concepts (POC), experiments, and development of design patterns and standards.

Lead, drive, and manage Agile Project Management with Product Operations during development phases ensuring the delivery of product initiatives including the smooth hand-off from product teams to engineering from discovery to development. Create cross-functional projects plans and agile reports.

Lead, drive, and manage Go-To-Market activities to internal and external customers, close the feedback loop, and manage customer and executive communications.

Oversee multiple parallel work streams in fast-paced, agile environment, align them with business priorities & deadlines, and help continuously raise the bar on execution including intake, discovery, research, experiments, solutions architecture, design, feature, continuous improvement, defect escalations, data, and more.

People Management & Ways of Working

Champion the technical and functional development of global team including Product, UX Research & Design, Agile Project, and Go-To-Market teams.

Coach leaders, managers, and key individual contributors across global teams in Product, UX Research & Design, Agile Project, and Go-To-Market in their technical and professional development including identifying and coordinating training needs.

Recruit, retain and develop exceptional product talent. Cultivate a positive company culture that values cross team collaboration and trust.

Lead and manage cross-functional Ways of Working in close partnership with engineering to continuously optimize team and development processes. Define policies, processes, and standards.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in computer science, business administration, information systems or related, or equivalent work experience.

10 years' experience in management role leading a team of product managers.

12 years' experience in product management, business consulting or related field.

6 years' experience in product development.

Experience in agile environment.

Executive experience in Fortune 100 multinational companies.

Proven strong skills in stakeholder management and internal evangelism. Ability to inspire and motivate the various teams and stakeholder groups and get everyone moving in the same direction.

Achieve great buy-in and product adoption across the company as a result of amazing communication, training and marketing materials delivered appropriately to each different set of stakeholder audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

Domain experience in the food distribution business.

Technical software development knowledge encompassing modern cloud technologies such as Kafka, BFF and MFE.

Practical experience in applying Design Thinking principles to create enterprise solutions.

Experience with global digital platform deployments.

Experience in building and managing offshore product management and product design teams.

Experience in managing large contractor / consulting engagements for staff augmentation, flexible capacity and fixed bid initiatives.