Director, Implementation

• Serve as an executive sponsor and escalation point for strategic customer implementations.
• Build trusted relationships with customer sponsors, operational leaders, IT stakeholders, and executive teams.
• Ensure customer objectives, adoption goals, and success metrics are clearly defined and achieved.
• Guide implementation teams through complex deployments, organizational change initiatives, testing, launch activities, and post-launch adoption.
• Lead risk identification, mitigation planning, and issue resolution efforts across the implementation portfolio.
• Partner closely with Customer Success to ensure smooth transitions from implementation to long-term customer adoption and value realization.
• Collaborate with Sales and Solution Consulting to ensure customer expectations, implementation strategies, and success criteria are aligned from project inception.

• Own implementation delivery standards, methodologies, playbooks, and best practices across the organization.
• Drive consistency across project planning, discovery, solution design, configuration, testing, training, launch, and hypercare activities.
• Capture lessons learned and continuously improve implementation frameworks and operational processes.
• Ensure implementations are delivered on time, within scope, within budget, and aligned to customer business outcomes.
• Establish governance models that improve visibility, accountability, risk management, and delivery quality.
• Partner with PMO leadership to improve delivery governance, forecasting, resource planning, and project execution.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that reduce implementation timelines while maintaining exceptional customer outcomes.

• Maintain deep knowledge of Upshop's platform architecture, data structures, integrations, and implementation requirements.
• Provide guidance on solution architecture, data migration, system configuration, integration strategy, and technical deployment approaches.
• Support complex integrations involving ERP, forecasting, inventory, ordering, POS, DSD, EDI, eCommerce, and other retail technology ecosystems.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to improve implementation tooling, onboarding workflows, automation capabilities, and customer enablement resources.
• Develop organizational expertise around modern cloud technologies, data platforms, integration frameworks, and scalable implementation approaches.
• Maintain working knowledge of Microsoft Azure technologies, including Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, APIs, data integration patterns, and cloud-based application architectures.
• Champion the use of AI-enabled tools to improve project delivery, testing, documentation, training, knowledge management, customer onboarding, and internal operational efficiency.
• Leverage data and analytics to identify trends, improve delivery performance, and enhance customer outcomes.

• Monitor implementation portfolio health through operational, financial, and customer success metrics.
• Oversee implementation forecasting, staffing, utilization, and capacity planning.
• Support Statement of Work reviews, implementation estimates, change requests, and delivery commitments.
• Ensure resource allocation aligns with strategic priorities and customer commitments.
• Provide executive reporting on implementation performance, customer health, delivery risks, and organizational trends.
• Partner across Product, Support, Customer Success, Sales, and Professional Services to continuously improve the end-to-end customer experience.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Retail Operations, and/or related field/experience.
• 5+ years of experience leading enterprise software, SaaS, or technology implementations.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience managing implementation, consulting, delivery, or professional services teams.
• Proven experience leading customer-facing delivery organizations supporting enterprise customers.
• Demonstrated success building, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong knowledge of SaaS implementation methodologies and software deployment practices.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent implementations and complex customer engagements.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, executive presentation, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.

• Grocery retail, food retail, convenience retail, or store operations experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with forecasting, ordering, inventory, supply chain, fresh operations, DSD, merchandising, workforce management, or store execution solutions strongly preferred.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure technologies, including Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, cloud data platforms, and enterprise integration architectures.
• Strong understanding of data architecture, system integrations, APIs, EDI, and enterprise application ecosystems.
• Experience leveraging AI-enabled tools, automation platforms, or emerging technologies to improve operational efficiency and customer outcomes.
• Working knowledge of SQL, databases, Excel, and analytical tools.
• Experience with Salesforce, Zendesk, Jira, Wrike, or similar enterprise platforms.
• Experience scaling implementation organizations within high-growth SaaS environments.

The successful candidate:

• Is a people-first leader who develops teams, mentors future leaders, and creates a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Builds trust with customer executives and serves as a strategic advisor throughout the implementation journey.
• Understands grocery and retail operations and can translate customer objectives into scalable implementation strategies.
• Balances strategic leadership with hands-on execution when customer success requires it.
• Uses metrics and data-driven decision making to improve delivery performance and customer outcomes.
• Embraces innovation and continuously seeks opportunities to modernize implementation practices through automation, AI, and scalable delivery frameworks.
• Drives cross-functional alignment while maintaining a relentless focus on customer value realization.