Associate Director – Application Development

Staples India; Chennai; On-site; INR 6,000,000 - 9,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Staples India Business Innovation Hub Private Limited is seeking an Associate Director – Application Development to lead a GCC engineering organization in India, shaping strategy for multiple product PODs spanning Print, Transaction & Payment, and Merchandising systems.

You will collaborate with US stakeholders, oversee large teams, and drive modernization focused on cloud-native platforms and AI-enabled delivery.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience managing large teams (30+).
• Experience in large-scale retail environments supporting omnichannel systems.
• Expertise in Java, Spring Boot, React/Angular, microservices, and SaaS platforms.
• Strong background in cloud platforms (Azure/GCP) and modernization/automation.
• Excellent stakeholder management and AI-native engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale India-based GCC engineering team (20-50+).
• Align technology strategy with Retail Systems, Business & IT objectives.
• Drive modernization to cloud-native, API-driven architectures; enable AI-enabled delivery.
• Oversee Print, Transaction & Payment, Retail Tech, Merchandising, QA & Data analytics systems.
• Ensure SLA adherence, incident reduction, and operational KPIs across store-facing systems.
• Foster DevOps, CI/CD, automated QA and AI-driven SDLC practices.

Job description

Staples India Business Innovation Hub Private Limited | Permanent

Associate Director – Application Development

This role is part of the global IT organization andwill be instrumental in driving the evolution of Staples US Retail technologycapabilities. 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), ensuringseamless 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 ofscalable, cloud-native platforms.
• Contribute towards budget and financial decisionsrelated to cloud, vendor and resource costs.
• Use AI and data strategically for accurate decisionsaround project ROI.
• Accelerate organizational growth by drivinginnovation, advancing new development capabilities, and embedding continuousimprovement 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, andalternative tenders. Integration with enterprise payment gateways
• RetailTechnology Services - Technology services selling platforms (devicesetup, protection plans, warranties). Integration with vendor systems andservice delivery partners.
• Merchandising& Pricing Systems – Pricing and promotion feeds across stores.Signage, Labor, visual merchandizing, inventory planning systems.
• QualityAssurance & Automation Engineering.
• Data analytics & reporting operations – Partnerwith data engineering teams to provide guidance on retail transactional dataand reporting processes, ensuring efficient and reliable data operations.

Delivery & Operations

• Ensure SLA adherence for store-facing systems.
• Drive incident reduction, faster recovery, andproduction resilience.
• Establish KPIs focused on transaction success rates,system availability, and operational efficiency.

Architecture & Systems Thinking

• Lead modernization of legacy retail platforms tocloud-native, API-driven architectures.
• Partner with architects to evolve POS-adjacentsystems without store disruption.
• Be a domain expert and connect the dots betweenvarious retail/ OMNI systems and corresponding data.
• Lead transformation initiatives to modernize systemsand 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-basedarchitectures to build scalable and resilient systems.
• Champion an AI-native mindset across the GCCengineering organization — leveraging tools like GitHub Copilot, AI-assistedcode generation, and intelligent testing to accelerate delivery and elevateengineering quality.
• Drive adoption of AI-driven SDLC practices across theteam: AI-assisted design reviews, automated code analysis, intelligentdocumentation, 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, andfocus 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 ownersand architects to align roadmaps, priorities, and delivery cadence.
• Partner with US-based vendors of platforms and ITservices-based support teams globally
• Serve as a trusted advisor on strategy and execution

Requirements

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
• 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