Senior Manager, Data Science - Search

The Home Depot; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

The Home Depot is seeking a Senior Manager, Data Science, Search, to lead a team of data scientists building retrieval and ranking models powering our search engine. You will leverage LLMs to enhance the intelligent shopping experience and guide strategic decisions with business partners.

Ideal candidates will have 10+ years in BI/analytics, deep expertise in predictive modeling, data mining, and data analysis, and a track record of translating strategy into actionable data initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a related field.
• 10+ years in BI/analytics with leadership experience.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into actionable projects.
• Experience with predictive modeling, data mining and data analysis.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a data science team focused on search-related models.
• Define and drive retrieval, ranking models and LLM-driven features.
• Partner with stakeholders to align data science with business goals.
• Oversee program management and deliverables across initiatives.

Skills

Predictive modeling

Data mining

Data analysis

Team leadership

Strategic execution

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

Tools

Google BigQuery

SQL

Tableau

NLP

Prescriptive modeling

Search/IR

Job description

Position Purpose

Product search is the heart of any e-commerce experience, and at The Home Depot, search is how doers find the things they need to get their projects done. From appliances to lumber to mulch to power tools and beyond, our search engine touches billions of dollars of sales each year. As Senior Manager, Data Science, Search, you will lead the team of data scientists building the retrieval and ranking models powering our search engine and leveraging LLMs to build the intelligent shopping experience of the future.

Position Purpose

Product search is the heart of any e-commerce experience, and at The Home Depot, search is how doers find the things they need to get their projects done. From appliances to lumber to mulch to power tools and beyond, our search engine touches billions of dollars of sales each year. As Senior Manager, Data Science, Search, you will lead the team of data scientists building the retrieval and ranking models powering our search engine and leveraging LLMs to build the intelligent shopping experience of the future.

Key Responsibilities

• 50% People Management & Team Leadership - Provide leadership, mentorship and coaching to direct reports and evaluate performance, execution, and contribution; Support Data Science Director in establishing a clear vision for the team and influencing reach with business partners; Attract, retain and develop top talent to build an effective and high performing teams; Support team in development of business knowledge and technical skills with clear plans and regular assessment of progress; Develop onboarding and training plan for both technical and soft skills that will ensure high level of capabilities within the team; Foster collaboration and alignment between different data science roles to develop a supportive and engaged team; Ensure best practices and world-class techniques are leveraged in the solutioning for business problems and future team reach; Drive team's results and celebrate accomplishments
• 15% Program Management - Prioritize and assign projects by striking a balance between a variety of factors, like funding, return on investment, innovative or challenging work, among others; Manage programs for the team to ensure consistency of execution, balance of resources and quality solutions; Collaborate with program managers and business partners to align on objectives and expectations and ensure project teams deliver against them; Serve as escalation point for any issues or difficulties with specific projects; Provide executive updates to leaders at all levels of the organization on program effectiveness, team accomplishments, summary of findings and recommended solution, and explain internal and external impacts; Be a champion and advocate for the team's capabilities, expertise, and needs
• 25% Strategy & Business Development - Leverage extensive business knowledge and relationships to seek out new business opportunities to leverage data science and advocate for team's skills; Effectively develop trust and collaboration with internal customers and cross-functional teams; Ensure alignment with IT support model, collaboration, tools and governance to enable data scientists to be most effective in executing their roles; Collaborate with other data science managers across the organization to lead the efforts of developing high level strategy and optimizing talent management
• 10% Technical Exploration & Development - Seek further knowledge on key developments within data science, technical skill sets, and additional data sources; Participate in the continuous improvement of data science and analytics by developing replicable solutions (for example, codified data products, project documentation, process flowcharts) to ensure solutions are leveraged for future projects; Ensure best practices and vision for data analysis and model productionalization are leveraged

Direct Manager/Direct Reports

• This position reports to Director or above
• This position has Direct Reports and manages programs

Travel Requirements

• Typically requires overnight travel 5% to 20% of the time.

Physical Requirements

• Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.

Working Conditions

• Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Minimum Qualifications

• Must be eighteen years of age or older.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
• Demonstrated proficiency in predictive modeling, data mining and data analysis
• Proficient managing and growing team members in a professional setting
• Proficiency in guiding more junior team members through Data Science fundamentals in a professional setting
• Demonstrated experience with translating high level strategy to tactical execution

Preferred Qualifications

• 11+ years of experience in business intelligence and analytics
• Previous people or project team management experience
• Demonstrated expertise in predictive modeling, data mining and data analysis
• Mastery running queries against data (preferably with Google BigQuery or SQL)
• Proficient with data visualization software (preferably Tableau)
• Mastery utilizing statistical techniques to identify key insights that help solve business problems
• Proficient in Prescriptive Modeling like optimization, computer vision, recommendation, search or NLP

Minimum Education

• The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.

Preferred Education

• No additional education

Minimum Years Of Work Experience

• 10

Preferred Years Of Work Experience

• No additional years of experience

Minimum Leadership Experience

• None

Preferred Leadership Experience

• None

Certifications

• None

Competencies

• Attracts Top Talent: Attracting and selecting the best talent to meet current and future business needs
• Builds Effective Teams: Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals
• Builds Networks: Effectively building formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization
• Business Insight: Applying knowledge of the business and the marketplace to advance the organization's goals
• Communicates Effectively: Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences
• Develops Talent: Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization's goals
• Directs Work: Provides direction, delegating and removing obstacles to get work done
• Drives Engagement: Creating an environment where people are motivated to do their best to help the organization achieve its objectives
• Drives Vision and Purpose: Painting a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to action
• Instills Trust: Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people
• Organizational Savvy: Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related organizational dynamics
• Persuades: Using compelling arguments to gain the support and commitment of others
• Strategic Mindset: Seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies