Director, Data Science - Search & Recommendations

With a career at The Home Depot, you can be yourself and also be part of something bigger.

Position Purpose:

The Search and Recs Data Science team is responsible for the core machine learning engines powering product search and recommendations across The Home Depot's digital channels, including the homepage, mobile app and email.
This team's work is essential in helping our Pro and DIY customers find the products they need to complete their projects, and is an important contributor to the success and growth of THD's eCommerce business.
This uniquely high-impact role requires a combination of technical depth and business acumen, as it will include managing a large team of talented scientists, and partnering with Product, IT and Merchandising to continue to improve product findability and discoverability.

Key Responsibilities:

• 35% People Management & Team Leadership - Provide leadership, mentorship and coaching to direct reports and evaluate performance, execution, and contribution; Establish a clear vision for the team and influence reach with business partners; Attract, retain and develop top talent to build an effective and high performing teams; Support team in development of business knowledge and technical skills with clear plans and regular assessment of progress; Develop onboarding and training plan for both technical and soft skills that will ensure high level of capabilities within the team; Foster collaboration and alignment between different data science roles to develop a supportive and engaged team; Ensure best practices and world-class techniques are leveraged in the solutioning for business problems and future team reach; Drive team's results and celebrates accomplishments
• 30% Data Science Advocacy - Collaborate with business leaders to align on objectives and expectations; Serve as escalation point for any issues or difficulties with specific projects or initiatives; Champion data science capabilities and new skills to continually identify ways to impact the business; Define effective metrics to understand the high level performance against business goals
• 35% Strategy & Business Development - Leverage extensive business knowledge and relationships to seek out new business opportunities to leverage data science and advocate for team's skills; Ensure a successful operating model and cost structure for Data Science is developed and leveraged across the enterprise to standardize ROI calculations and project/team funding; Effectively develop trust and collaboration with internal customers and cross-functional teams; Support data science research and innovation efforts that can serve as competitive advantage for the enterprise; Develop an integrated data science vision and end-to-end strategy; Drive adoption of leading-edge data science techniques and methods, both predictive and prescriptive

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:

• This position typically reports to Senior Director or above
• This position has Direct Reports and manages programs

Travel Requirements:

• Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% 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.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 11+ years of experience in business intelligence and analytics
• Previous people or project team management experience
• Expertise in predictive modeling, data mining and data analysis
• Demonstrated mastery running queries against data (preferably with Google BigQuery or SQL)
• Proficient with data visualization software (preferably Tableau)
• Demonstrated mastery utilizing statistical techniques to identify key insights that help solve business problems
• Proficient in Prescriptive Modeling like optimization, computer vision, recommendation, search or NLP
• Proficient in predictive modeling, data mining and data analysis
• Proficient in communicating, building influence, and developing relationships with functional and technical leaders, with high-level vendor partners, and across all levels in the organization
• Proficient in selecting and leading strategic relationships or acting as the primary point of contact for strategic partnerships
• Proficient in managing and developing direct reports with their own span of control

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:

• 10

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
• Builds Networks: Effectively building formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization
• Business Insight: Applying knowledge of the business and the marketplace to advance the organization's goals
• Communicates Effectively: Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences
• Develops Talent: Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization's goals
• Directs Work: Provides direction, delegating and removing obstacles to get work done
• Drives Engagement: Creating an environment where people are motivated to do their best to help the organization achieve its objectives- Drives Vision and Purpose: Painting a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to action
• Instills Trust: Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people
• 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
• Strategic Mindset: Seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies