Director, Merchant Acquisition & Success - Strategy & Operations

DoorDash, Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 197,000 - 290,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan with employer matching

Paid parental leave

Wellness benefits

Commuter benefits match

Paid time off

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

11 paid holidays

Disability and basic life insurance

Family-forming assistance

Mental health program

Job summary

DoorDash is seeking a Merchant Strategy & Operations Director to own acquisition, onboarding, and early success for merchants. You will lead cross-functional efforts across product, engineering, sales, and operations to scale merchant growth and profitability.

In this role you’ll translate customer empathy into analytics-driven strategies, run experiments, and drive measurable impact while shaping the merchant experience and roadmap. This is a high-visibility leadership position.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher required.
• 10+ years in consulting, strategy, operations, banking, tech.
• Experience leading large, cross-functional transformation initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead merchant acquisition and onboarding strategy across cross-functional teams.
• Design experiments to improve merchant success and profitability.
• Analyze data to inform product and experience roadmaps.
• Collaborate with marketing, design, product, engineering, analytics, sales, and operations.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Analytical thinking

Data-driven decision making

Communication skills

Owner mindset

SQL

Excel

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher

Tools

SQL

Excel

Job description

About the Team

Today, DoorDash empowers over 500,000 local businesses (“merchants”) by connecting them to customers. On the Merchant Team, we’re building the easiest, most profitable way for merchants to grow. We aim to sign up every merchant, onboard them instantly, represent their brand and products fully, ensure every interaction with DoorDash is seamless, and drive them consistent profitable growth.

About the Role

As a Merchant Strategy & Operations Director at DoorDash, you will lead the acquisition, onboarding and early success for our merchants, owning both the strategy & execution. In this role, you’ll help acquire merchants by diversifying our go-to-market approach, ensure merchants onboard seamlessly to the DoorDash marketplace and help set them up for success. You’ll match deep customer empathy with analytical rigor to uncover insights, reduce friction, and design strategies to up-level the merchant experience. Success in this role requires strong cross-functional leadership and the ability to drive impact across product, engineering, sales, and operations.

You're excited about this opportunity because you will…

Strategize – From first principles, you’ll develop the optimal strategy for best serving our customers.

Experiment. You’ll transform strategies into operational experiments that create measurable and actionable outcomes, informing the broader product and experience roadmap.

Analyze. You’ll assess the operational and financial impacts of your decisions, and iterate based on data.

Lead and collaborate. You’ll work with a cross-functional team, including marketing, design, product, engineering, analytics, sales, and operations to build this experience.

We're excited about you because…

• You have a Bachelor’s degree or higher
• You bring 10+ years of experience in consulting, strategy, operations, banking, technology, with time spent leading transformation in fast-paced or complex environments
• You have experience managing large teams and driving large-scale, cross‑functional initiatives
• Proven ability to create clarity and focus in complex and ambiguous problem spaces, and you can articulate that vision to cross‑functional partners
• You are an owner, meaning you take responsibility for outcomes, have experience being in the driver’s seat, and want to shape the vision and direction of the company
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to translate complex ideas into clear, compelling narratives—written, verbal, and visual
• Strong business acumen—assessing risks, opportunities, and trade‑offs to support short‑term needs and long‑term goals
• You’re naturally curious – You always look for ways to innovate and improve
• You’re a problem solver – You approach problems from first principles and thoughtfully challenge the status quo
• You’re analytical – You rely on data to guide decisions, and are comfortable pulling your own data in SQL or modeling in Excel.
• You’re persuasive and a relationship‑builder – You communicate clearly and effectively, adapting your style to collaborate and build alignment across teams and levels.

Compensation

The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within the pay range listed below and is determined based on job‑related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market‑dependent and may be modified in the future.

In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes opportunities for equity grants.

DoorDash cares about you and your overall well‑being. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package to all regular employees, which includes:

• 401(k) plan with employer matching,
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave,
• wellness benefits,
• commuter benefits match,
• paid time off and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable laws (e.g. Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act),
• medical benefits,
• dental benefits,
• vision benefits,
• 11 paid holidays,
• disability and basic life insurance,
• family-forming assistance,
• a mental health program, among others.

See below for paid time off details: For salaried roles: flexible paid time off/vacation, plus 80 hours of paid sick time per year. For hourly roles: vacation accrued at about 1 hour for every 25.97 hours worked (e.g. about 6.7 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 3.4 hours/month if working 20 hours/week), and paid sick time accrued at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (e.g. about 5.8 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 2.9 hours/month if working 20 hours/week).

The national base pay range for this position within the United States, including Illinois and Colorado. $197,200 - $290,000 USD

About DoorDash

At DoorDash, our mission to empower local economies shapes how our team members move quickly, learn, and reiterate in order to make impactful decisions that display empathy for our range of users—from Dashers to merchant partners to consumers. We are a technology and logistics company that started by enabling door‑to‑door delivery, and we are looking for team members who can help us go from a company that is known as the place you order food to a company that people turn to for any and all goods.

DoorDash is growing rapidly and changing constantly, which gives our team members the opportunity to share their unique perspectives, solve new challenges, and own their careers. We’re committed to supporting employees’ happiness, healthiness, and overall wellbeing by providing comprehensive benefits and perks including premium healthcare, wellness expense reimbursement, paid parental leave and more.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We’re committed to growing and empowering a more inclusive community within our company, industry, and cities. That’s why we hire and cultivate diverse teams of people from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that true innovation happens when everyone has room at the table and the tools, resources, and opportunity to excel.

Statement of Non-Discrimination

In keeping with our beliefs and goals, no employee or applicant will face discrimination or harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital/domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or veteran status.

Above and beyond discrimination and harassment based on “protected categories,” we also strive to prevent other subtler forms of inappropriate behavior (i.e., stereotyping) from ever gaining a foothold in our office. Whether blatant or hidden, barriers to success have no place at DoorDash.

We value a diverse workforce – people who identify as women, non‑binary or gender non‑conforming, LGBTQIA+, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, differently‑abled, caretakers and parents, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Thank you to the Level Playing Field Institute for this statement of non‑discrimination.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and any other state or local hiring regulations, we will consider for employment any qualified applicant, including those with arrest and conviction records, in a manner consistent with the applicable regulation.

If you need any accommodations, please inform your recruiting contact upon initial connection.