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Whole Foods Market attracts people who are passionate—about great food, about the communities they live and work in, about how we treat our planet and our fellow humans—and who want to bring their passion into the workplace and make a difference. The Whole Foods Market Accounting Team is looking for people who also want to bring their expertise and passion for accounting and technology to drive innovation and support Whole Food’s strategic vision.

The Executive Leader of Product Management for Accounting leads and develops multiple teams - Product Management, Configuration and Master Data in defining accounting solutions for the company, including all functions within the accounting domain. The individual is responsible for leading the teams in both defining the vision and measuring the effectiveness and success of the solutions. The leader is responsible for setting strategic direction across the entire portfolio and is empowered to make necessary decisions to bring the strategy to fruition. This person is an expert in Product Management and can develop, lead, and inspire the team to the highest standards of deliverables and in collaborating effectively with of end-users, customers, engineers, architects, and senior leadership. They will design, develop, and manage activities for a specific product or group of products from product definition and planning through production, release, and end of life. This role serves as the central resource with design, process, manufacturing, test, quality, and marketing as the product(s) move to production and distribution. Involvement lasts throughout all stages of a product’s lifecycle including modification, upgrades, and maintenance of the product or product line.

In annual strategic planning cycles the Executive Leader will work closely with Tech engineering and accounting leaders to develop a portfolio strategy that aligns with the strategic objectives of the company, delivers high financial returns, and creates value for the organization. They will develop and implement processes that enable the team to deliver and successfully execute the portfolio strategy while continuing to raise the bar for future success.

Ideal candidates will think big and have a strong bias for action, while earning trust through their desire to learn and be curious, invent and simplify, dive deep, insist on highest standards and work back from the customer. Given the complexity of the portfolio, it will also be important to be operationally strong – managing many relationships, dependencies, and timelines across many teams and projects.

Responsibilities:

Team Leadership

• Leading and developing a team of highly specialized Product Managers, Configuration and Master Data teams.
• Ensures team objectives and activities align and support broader technology and organization-wide objectives.
• Identifies and drives process improvement initiatives within the team as well as across the broader accounting organization.
• Ensures effective succession, replacement, and individual/team development within the team.
• Planning, estimating, staffing, organizing, and monitoring significant project activities.
• Defines strategies and approaches to empower and equip the team to be effective in interactions with internal and external stakeholders.

Product Management

• Contributes to and influences the long-range strategic planning for the accounting portfolio.
• Identifying net new capabilities or architectural investments needed to support and accelerate expansion and working with engineering technology services teams to ensure we create scalable and repeatable solutions.
• Developing accounting capability and technology product roadmaps spanning 3+ months to 3 years, including influencing Amazon and third-party vendor roadmaps to achieve goals.
• Driving the creation of business cases for all proposed roadmap initiatives, inclusive of detailed costs, ROI valuations, development of success metrics and alignment to strategic company goals.
• Managing and meeting the needs of senior stakeholders, including conducting executive leadership proposal or program reviews in the form of written Word documents, publishing post-launch metrics, and escalating to drive decision-making.
• Developing deep, credible relationships with senior-level executives, both inside and outside current areas of responsibility.
• Engaging with senior-level stakeholders to define, clarify and resolve issues arising through project design, development, execution, or implementation.
• Setting up mechanisms for receiving feedback and adjusting priorities to ensure the right customer, technology, and engineering outcomes.
• Monitoring industry and the competition for technical and process changes and advances.
• Provides strategic guidance in partnership with leadership to identify and address evolving business needs.

Qualifications:

• BA/BS degree and 10+ years of relevant experience in business and product management
• 5+ years leading highly functioning teams of skilled professionals.
• 5 or more years implementing or using accounting systems preferred.
• Experience within the large program delivery and grocery business areas a plus.
• Strategic technology planning and execution experience as well as policy development and maintenance
• Ability to effectively drive people, process, and technology change in a dynamic and complex operating environment.
• Fearless — not afraid to suggest or back big ideas.
• Tenacious — able to push back and focus the discovery process.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills. This includes the ability to explain system concepts and technologies to business leaders, as well as business concepts to technologists, and the ability to sell ideas and processes internally at all levels and especially to senior leadership.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills; ability to use hard data and metrics to back up assumptions, recommendations, and drive actions.
• Strengths in problem solving, issue-resolution, ability to work in a deadline-driven work environment, high attention to detail, and ability to multitask.
• Experience collaborating with engineering leadership to create an effective delivery organization.
• Expert at creating "working backwards documents" and plans.
• Experience effectively managing a portfolio of products and programs simultaneously.
• Able to “connect the dots” across groups and programs to identify interdependencies and capitalize on long-term opportunities.
• Leading-edge knowledge and experience with custom and packaged/SaaS software design tools and development methodologies and ability to mentor junior team members.

This position is based in Austin; domestic relocation assistance is available. 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.

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.