Associate Director – Application Development

This role is part of the global IT organization and will be instrumental in driving the evolution of Staples US Retail technology capabilities. The leader will oversee teams responsible for development, support, enhancements, and new initiatives across multiple product PODs spanning – Print, Transaction & Payment systems, Tech Services, Merchandising systems, QA & Automation engineering, Data team operations.

The Associate Director will lead and scale the India-based US Retail GCC engineering team (20-50+ members), ensuring seamless collaboration with US-based engineering managers, architects, quality assurance and business stakeholders. This role requires a strong leader with excellent people leadership skills, technical expertise, delivery management, and strategic & future thinking focus.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

•        Lead and scale the India-based team (50+ members) within the GCC.

•        Align technology strategy with Retail Systems, Business & IT objectives.

•        Drive modernization of legacy systems and adoption of scalable, cloud-native platforms.

•        Contribute towards budget and financial decisions related to cloud, vendor and resource costs.

•        Use AI and data strategically for accurate decisions around project ROI.

•        Accelerate organizational growth by driving innovation, advancing new development capabilities, and embedding continuous improvement programs

Functional Oversight

•        Oversee systems supporting:

–       Print & Copy Systems - In-store and self-service print workflow platforms. Order capture, pricing, job orchestration, and fulfillment integration. High-availability store execution and queue management

–       Transaction & Payment Systems - Point-of-Sale (POS) transaction integration & publishing services. PCI-compliant payment flows across card, gift card, and alternative tenders. Integration with enterprise payment gateways

–       Retail Technology Services - Technology services selling platforms (device setup, protection plans, warranties). Integration with vendor systems and service delivery partners.

–       Merchandising & Pricing Systems – Pricing and promotion feeds across stores. Signage, Labor, visual merchandizing, inventory planning systems.

–       Quality Assurance & Automation Engineering.

–       Data analytics & reporting operations – Partner with data engineering teams to provide guidance on retail transactional data and reporting processes, ensuring efficient and reliable data operations.

Delivery & Operations

•        Ensure SLA adherence for store-facing systems.

•        Drive incident reduction, faster recovery, and production resilience.

•        Establish KPIs focused on transaction success rates, system availability, and operational efficiency.

Architecture & Systems Thinking

•        Lead modernization of legacy retail platforms to cloud-native, API-driven architectures.

•        Partner with architects to evolve POS-adjacent systems without store disruption.

•        Champion event-driven designs supporting near real-time retail execution.

•        Be a domain expert and connect the dots between various retail/ OMNI systems and corresponding data.

Modernization & Innovation

•        Lead transformation initiatives to modernize systems and infrastructure.

•        Evaluate and implement emerging technologies to enhance platform agility and resilience.

•        Drive adoption of DevOps, CI/CD, and automated QA practices.

•        Leverage event-driven, microservices-based architectures to build scalable and resilient systems.

AI-Native Engineering & Force Multiplication

•        Champion an AI-native mindset across the GCC engineering organization — leveraging tools like GitHub Copilot, AI-assisted code generation, and intelligent testing to accelerate delivery and elevate engineering quality.

•        Drive adoption of AI-driven SDLC practices across the team: AI-assisted design reviews, automated code analysis, intelligent documentation, and predictive quality assurance.

•        Embed AI tooling into everyday engineering workflows — not just coding, but requirements analysis, architecture exploration, incident resolution, and operational intelligence.

•        Act as a force multiplier by enabling engineers at all levels to leverage AI tools to amplify their impact, reduce toil, and focus on higher-order problem solving.

•        Establish best practices and governance for responsible AI tool usage across the engineering organization.

Stakeholder Engagement

•        Collaborate directly with US-based business stakeholders for respective areas/POD’s.

•        Partner with US engineering managers, product owners and architects to align roadmaps, priorities, and delivery cadence.

•        Partner with US-based vendors of platforms and IT services-based support teams globally

•        Serve as a trusted advisor on strategy and execution

Basic Qualifications

•        Proven leadership experience managing large teams (30+) in a GCC or similar setup.

•        Experience in large-scale retail environments supporting high-volume store operations and omnichannel systems.

•        Expertise in Java, Spring Boot, React/Angular, microservices architectures, and SaaS platforms.

•        Strong background in cloud platforms (Azure/GCP), system modernization, and automation

•        Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills with ability to engage directly with business teams.

•        Champion of AI-native engineering practices — demonstrated experience driving adoption of AI tools (GitHub Copilot, AI-assisted testing, intelligent code review) as a force multiplier across engineering teams.

•        AI-driven SDLC mindset: proven ability to embed AI tooling across the software development lifecycle to accelerate delivery, improve quality, and amplify team productivity

Preferred Qualifications

•        Experience in large-scale retail environments supporting high-volume store operations and omnichannel systems.

•        Direct experience with POS platforms, payment gateways, print/kiosk systems, or retail services platforms

•        Exposure to merchandising systems

•        Proven track record of modernizing legacy retail systems to cloud-native architectures

•        Experience leading QA automation, CI/CD adoption, and quality engineering practices at scale.

•        Familiarity with AI-driven engineering practices and working with vendors/partners in retail ecosystems