Job Description

Grainger is North Americas leading Maintenance Repair & Operating provider and we are the 10th largest North American E-commerce player with over 50% of our revenue coming from online transactions. We deliver technology solutions across the enterprise including our call centers, branch network, sales, and our various digital channels. The team supports over 1000 applications across the network and operates in an agile environment to deliver complex solutions quickly and seamlessly.

*This role is typically located in our downtown Chicago office, but due to COVID-19 will be fully virtual until further notice. Once this office location has a return to work plan, the team member will be required to be on-site.

This role is essential in the digital transformation efforts for Grainger. The Director of Engineering Effectiveness will be leading a team to drive changes in the way we deliver business value to our stakeholders. This role will focus on running practices and programs that provide opportunities and paths for continuous improvement for the entire engineering staff of Grainger. This person will be a leader of various engineering Practices and the sponsor of Centers of Enablement and Communities of Practice. They will also partner with Engineering leaders and Human Resources to make sure that new job postings, interview materials, and career progression paths correctly reflect the required skills for a modern technology organization.

Engineering Team Health responsibilities:

* Monitoring Team Health Metrics: The Director will, with the help of Engineering Managers and other Engineering leadership, monitor team level metrics related to the effectiveness of engineering teams. These metrics will be used to find areas of improvement for the team, as well as feedback to the Director on the impact of current programs, practices, and training that they are responsible for.
* Anti-Pattern reduction: Using feedback from teams, managers, and stakeholders, the Director, along with practice leaders, will create training materials or programs to reduce anti-patterns of good. engineering practices. If consistent problems persist, the Director will take steps with the stewards of operating models and governances/standards to reduce or remove the impacts of said antipatterns.
* Role Based Coaching: When required, the Director will do some direct coaching for team-members or leaders.
* Upskilling: Teams or Team Members that are lacking the skills necessary to complete their work will engage with the Director (or the practice leaders under the Director) to come up with a plan to improve their skills.

Engineering Organization responsibilities:
* Practice Leadership: The Director will directly manage a team of Practice Leaders who are responsible for focusing on organizational continuous improvement based on their practice. (i.e., A Quality Engineering Practice Leader would focus on improving the skills and practices of all engineers within the organization.) It would also be the Directors responsibility to identify gaps where a new practice should be built and would be responsible to make the case for this practice to the business.
* Training Programs: The Director will identify, create, and implement training programs for upskilling members of the engineering organization. These programs should use SMART goals and include a variety of methods to maximize potential impact.
* Domain Modeling: The Director will be informed and contribute to conversations about skills needed for any new domains or changes to the existing domains.
* Continuous Improvement Strategy: The Director is responsible for keeping the strategy, goals, and principles behind Graingers Engineering Continuous Improvement up to date and visible to the entire Engineering organization. They will work with Engineering Managers and other leaders to evaluate and improve the strategy over time.
* Launch immersion initiatives to re-skill, coach and mentor talent (e.g. Dojos).
* Ensure that accountability is driven to the right levels across the organization.
* Ensure that CICD, Cloud, Resiliency, Testing and other modern practices are followed.

Preferred Education & Experience:

* Requires a bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems or a related study or equivalent project-related experience. MA, MS, MBA preferred.
* Exposure to multiple diverse technologies, engineering practices, and methods of code delivery.
* Experience creating upskilling programs for engineering practices.
* Extensive experience with coaching and mentoring technical people.
* Demonstrated excellence with written and verbal communication skills.
* Demonstrated ability to lead and develop high-performing teams.
* Exceptional interpersonal skills, including teamwork, facilitation and negotiation.
* Comprehensive knowledge of best engineering practices.
* Extensive knowledge of the IT industry and information technologies at a high and detailed level.

Grainger is an Equal Opportunity Workplace and an Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.