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