Job DescriptionJoin us in shaping the future of retail at Whole Foods Market! We're seeking a dynamic Principal Program Manager to lead our Assortment Capabilities initiatives as part of our ambitious 10-year Growing with Purpose strategy. This is your opportunity to make a significant impact at the intersection of merchandising, technology, and innovation.
As a Principal Program Manager, you'll serve as a key thought leader and subject matter expert in Merchandising, driving transformational change across our organization. You'll collaborate with senior leaders from Whole Foods Market and Amazon to develop industry-leading capabilities in assortment planning, pricing, promotions, and space planning.
This role is based in our Austin, Texas office with the requirement of being onsite 5 days a week.
What You’ll Do:
- Serves as Merchandising subject matter expert (SME) and thought leader to represent business needs across all merchandising categories.
- Represent Merchandising business needs through Process Design, Tool Development, Tool Testing, and Success Criteria Assessment.
- Serves as onboarding support Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Category Merchant tool testing efforts.
- Supports the development, execution, and iteration of the Assortment capabilities and process.
- Contributes to the strategic roadmap to deliver value through unparalleled and industry leading capabilities.
- Collaborate with business partners across WFM and Amazon to represent business needs and develop the long-term value creation expansion roadmap.
- Owns specific capability project completion that ladder up to total program success.
- Identifies and escalates project risks, opportunities, and contingency plans.
- Contributes to regular Merchandising leadership and E-Team Business Updates.
- Supports content creation for training and onboarding practices for end users.
- Serves as a change agent to support end user adoption during training sessions.
- Serves as a thought-leader within the merchandising team and broader organization.
- Ensures alignment between projects and streams.
- Act as an agent of change, championing a data driven approach for merchandising decision making, focused on assortment planning.
What You'll Bring:
- BA/BS degree with 6-8 years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination
- Proven experience in Category Management or enterprise-level retail operations
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and data analysis
- Strong understanding of merchandising, store operations, distribution, and marketing
- Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills
- Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive change in a complex organization
- Track record of successfully leading cross-functional initiatives
Why You'll Love Working Here:
- Highly visible role with direct impact on company strategy
- Opportunity to work with cutting-edge retail technology
- Collaboration with industry leaders across Whole Foods Market and Amazon
- Platform to drive innovation in the natural and organic foods retail sector
At Whole Foods Market, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all Team Members and candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Whole Foods Market hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.
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