The Deployment Project Manager will lead deployment of retail technologies with our store environment. The position will have a strong track record in leading and delivering concurrent deployment releases, which involves influencing across various IT stakeholders within company, as well as external delivery partners. The ideal candidate will be someone with a breadth of expertise and skills who possesses the desire to use their strong process and analytical skills to empower a mission-driven company aimed initiatives that set the standards in food retail; a company who also embraces their purpose to co-create a world where each of us, our communities, and our planet can flourish.

Responsibilities:

• Understand project stakeholder goals and expectations and assess impact to overall release management strategies.
• Adhere and utilize WFM Program’s Delivery governance structure and processes.
• Plan, in conjunction with delivery leadership, the overall solution operational readiness and release/delivery approach based on the program business and technical objectives. Integrate deployment activities from each project work plan team and clearly capture key deployment milestones and dependencies.
• Provide day to day activities related to all deployment or operational readiness activities (e.g. Change Enablement & Operational Readiness, Service Introduction, Deployment and post Deployment support).
• Manage project teams comprised of team members and contractors. Define team member roles and expectations for rollout. 
• Manage relationships and coordinate work between different teams at different locations. Manage relationships with all relevant suppliers and subcontractors. Monitor their progress and adherence to the contract/delivery expectations.
• Build and maintain relationships with IT teams within other programs. Work to identify dependencies between different large programs and manage cross-program resource allocations.
• Assess program deployment risks, issues and impact on overall solution delivery commitments, objectives, etc.
• Assess options to address the risks and issues and improve the program delivery performance.
• Manage/Lead the creation of multiple release schedules and release management plans based upon planned Whole Foods Retail Systems release cycles.
• Mitigate deployment risks.
• Support the issue escalation and resolution.
• Provide weekly release/delivery status reports and participate in broader leadership status meetings.

Basic Qualifications:

• 3 to 5 years of leading Retail enterprise-level applications implementations.
• Proven track record in leading planning and execution deployment of POS Releases, leveraging a matrixed team within a large, complex and critical portfolio. This includes adherence to SLDC deliverables and change management/operational readiness activities.
• Demonstrated strength to build and maintain strong business and IT relationships across teams. This includes ability to hold teams accountable and influence critical business outcomes across a complex organization.
• Must possess professional confidence and credibility with the presence and communication skills to represent IT effectively across a diverse audience ranging from technical teams to senior business and technical leadership.
• Exhibit the flexibility necessary to effectively manage change and thrive in an evolving organization.
• Ability to balance work between immediate demands and long term objectives. 
• Know when, where and how to use processes appropriate for the initiative at hand.
• Possess great problem solving and analytical skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working on complex projects with multi-tier architecture in a global and regional environment.
• Experience in linking cross-functional applications between disparate business units and systems.
• Experience operating within a large program, managing multiple priorities in a fast paced and date driven environment.
• Strong knowledge of system and software delivery/deployment best practices and methodologies.
• Experience in working with retail engineering teams as well as retail support principles and practices.
• Experience with POS hardware and peripherals.
• Experience delivering enterprise-minded, holistic solutions within the store systems space. 

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.