Principal Program Manager, Assortment Capabilities

Join 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.Whole Foods Market works with job sites like Indeed, LinkedIn, and ZipRecruiter to promote opportunities at our company. Please be aware that other career sites may not be accurate or up to date and may even be fraudulent. We encourage and recommend all candidates to apply via our site.