Solution Architect - Merchandise Operations & Planning - Full-time / Part-time

Are you ready to explore the corporate side of retail? Then try TJX on for size. You’ll join a Fortune 100 company and the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the U.S. and worldwide. At TJX, we are proud that, for 40 years, we have been providing amazing value to our customers, but the merchandise we sell is just part of our story. We believe our Associates bring our business to life, and we aim to support them by making TJX a terrific place to work. We are committed to leveraging the differences among our Associates, and believe that the diverse skills, experiences and background that they bring into the organization will help us continue to succeed.

Our retail chains include TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Sierra Trading Post and Homesense, as well as tjmaxx.com and sierratradingpost.com in the U.S.; Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls in Canada; TK Maxx in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands, as well as Homesense and tkmaxx.com in the U.K.; and TK Maxx in Australia. In 2016, we had over $33 billion in sales, more than 3,800 stores, and 235,000 Associates. As a retailer committed to growth, success is always in style at TJX!

A Solution Architect (SA) is a strategic position that partners with key stakeholders in the organization to create leading edge, well-defined solutions that are aligned to the TJX IT Strategy. This role will be focusing on our merchandise operations & planning applications. A background in retail merchandising operations management and planning is a must have.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Helps guide the business and IT on architectural alternatives by clearly articulating the implications of each, short and long term, solution
• Identifies and communicates risks (business, application, technical) associated with component or application implementation at the business level, and enterprise level (working with Enterprise Architect)
• Participates in business and architecture planning sessions and anticipates future business and architecture changes and strategies
• Develops an understanding of market positioning, visioning and solution value add
• Responsible for devising solutions, solution architecture descriptions, and subsequent monitoring and governance of their implementation
• Designs and implements business solutions that link disparate processes and application systems
• Evaluates the business process architecture and ensures it is flexible enough to support incremental development, ongoing maintenance, and future enhancements to the system architecture
• Works with Strategic Planner to provide architecture input into strategic roadmap
• Translates business objectives and processes into a conceptual architecture that describes key functional and non-functional requirements
• Works with Enterprise and Application Architects to ensure business process is considered during technical design
• Accountable for quality of the solution through the SDLC process.
• Documents the “as-is” business process and use business process reengineering techniques to identify and unclog process bottlenecks
• Provides essential input as Subject Matter Expert (SME) to any major business process or business product-altering project
• Works with the Solution Delivery Lead to communicate the business process strategy and vision; facilitates business process review meetings with the business stakeholders
• Develops analysis tools to evaluate existing and future business architecture for compatibility with TJX standards and vision

Required Skills & Experience:

• A background in retail merchandising operations management and planning is a must have.
• Previous experience as a lead architect on multiple retail projects
• Experience with a full lifecycle implementation of Oracle Retail/SAP Retail/JDA package at a large retailer.
• Experience with key architecture frameworks (e.g. TOGAF), patterns (e.g. Gang of Four) & methods (e.g. ATAM)
• Broad knowledge of and experience with a wide variety of application technologies, platforms, and tools including web-based systems, databases, middleware/integration technologies, security, and infrastructure.
• Proven track record of building technical and business relationships with senior executives and growing wallet share in large or highly strategic accounts
• Proven track record of driving decisions collaboratively, resolving conflicts and ensuring follow through
• Problem-solving mentality leveraging internal and/or external resources, where and when needed, to do what’s right for the customer and for the organization (i.e. think through workarounds, evaluate risk of various deployment options, etc.)
• Strong consulting leading and mentoring skills along with excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Technology design experience which includes Performance, Security, Availability, as well as Operations, Monitoring and Support
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills
• Excellent analytical and technical skills

Desired Competency Areas:

• Discipline Areas : Strategic and Tactical Planning, Enterprise Architecture, Domain Architecture, Vendor Evaluation, Systems Integration.
• Solution Areas: Merchandise Operations Management (Purchase Order, Inventory management, Stock Ledger), Price Management, Merchandise Financial Planning, Merchandise Planning (Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Middle-Out), Invoice Matching, Sales Audit, Allocation, Assortment Planning
• Application Packages: Merchandising Systems, Merchandise Planning Systems (MOLAP based e.g. RPAS), Assortment Planning, Allocation, Demand Forecasting, Price Management
• Technologies : Major Platforms (Unix/Linux, AS/400 etc.), RDBMS (Oracle, MySQL etc.), NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra etc.), Technology Stacks (.NET, Java etc.), Middleware, SOA, RPAS

Minimum Experience:

• 8+ years of experience enterprise systems
• 3-6 years of retail experience in application, technology and systems design roles.
• Experience with a full lifecycle implementation of Oracle Retail Merchandise Operations Management/SAP Retail/JDA package at a large retailer.
• Experience with an implementation of Oracle Retail Predictive Application Server package at a large retailer.

Minimum Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

What's In It For You?

TJX has campuses conveniently located off the Mass Pike and Route 495. With us, you'll not only enjoy working for an industry leader, but we also strive to provide a competitive salary and benefits package.

TJX considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity and expression, marital or military status, or based on any individual's status in any group or class protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. TJX also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and applicable state and local law.

Nearest Major Market: Boston
Job Segment: Solution Architect, Architecture, Operations Manager, Merchandising, Technology, Engineering, Operations, Retail