Director of Engineering, Strategic Initiatives & AI Enablement

Want to help pets live their best lives?

We're proud to be where the pets go and where the pet people go. If you want to make a real difference, create an exciting career path, feel welcome to be your whole self and nurture your wellbeing, Petco is the place for you.

Our core values capture that spirit as we work to improve lives by doing what's right for pets and people.

• Pet First - Protect & Empower. All pets should Live their Best Life. We put the needs of pets and pet parents at the center of everything we do.
• Foster the Fun - Connect & Bond. Our Passion for pets brings us together! We celebrate the journey of pet parenthood through district experiences, products, and services.
• Let's Go! Own & Commit. We are stronger as One Petco team. We bring our unique superpowers and champion authenticity in everyone to drive success.

We're proud to be "where the pets go" to find everything they need to live their best lives for more than 60 years - from their favorite meals and toys, to trusted supplies and expert support from people who get it, because we live it. We believe in the universal truths of pet parenthood - the boundless boops, missing slippers, late night zoomies and everything in between. And we're here for it. Every tail wag, every vet visit, every step of the way. We are 29,000+ strong and together we nurture the pet-human bond in more than 1,500 Petco stores across the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico, 250+ Vetco Total Care hospitals, hundreds of preventive care clinics and eight distribution centers. In 1999, we founded Petco Love. Together, we support thousands of local animal welfare groups nationwide and have helped find homes for approximately 7 million animals through in-store adoption events.

Director of Engineering, Strategic Initiatives & AI Enablement

Role Overview

This is a senior strategic leadership role that operates as the CTO's right hand-driving execution of the company's highest-priority technology initiatives across a $6B retail enterprise. You won't manage a single vertical; instead, you'll operate horizontally across engineering, product, data, and business teams to make sure the things that matter most actually get done.

Think of this role as equal parts strategist, operator, and change agent. You'll own the enterprise delivery model, lead the company's AI enablement strategy, stand up Centers of Excellence, and step into leadership gaps when continuity matters. This is a high-visibility, influence-driven role for someone who thrives on making complex organizations run better.

• Own and evolve the enterprise delivery model-how work gets planned, prioritized, funded, and measured across the technology portfolio.
• Lead cross-functional strategic initiatives that span engineering, product, data, and business teams, ensuring they ship on time and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Partner with IT Finance on technology financial management: budgeting, forecasting, cost optimization, and investment-to-value tracking.
• Establish operating rhythms, KPIs, and governance that improve delivery velocity and executive visibility without adding bureaucracy.

• Serve as the enterprise AI enablement leader-responsible for scaling AI adoption from pilot to production across business and technology teams.
• Define and maintain the enterprise AI roadmap, aligned to corporate strategy, risk posture, and measurable value creation.
• Lead or co-chair the AI Governance Council, driving prioritization, responsible-use standards, and effectiveness measurement.
• Enable engineering teams with AI-ready architectures, platforms, tooling, and repeatable patterns to accelerate safe innovation.

• Partner with Enterprise Architecture to define and enforce modern architectural standards focused on scalability, resilience, and composability.
• Champion an API-first approach across platforms and domains to drive reuse, development speed, and ecosystem integration.
• Ensure alignment between long-term architectural vision and near-term delivery priorities-bridging the gap between "ideal state" and "this quarter."

• Establish and mature Centers of Excellence in disciplines such as Quality Engineering & Test Automation, Performance Engineering, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE).
• Drive consistent engineering standards, tooling, and best practices across teams to improve reliability, performance, and end-user experience.

• Act as a change leader across the technology portfolio, identifying gaps in process, capability, or leadership-and actively closing them.
• Support enterprise transformations by aligning people, process, and technology to new operating models.
• Lead key communication forums-including all-hands meetings, leadership updates, and executive presentations-translating complex technical topics into clear narratives for non-technical audiences.

• Step into director-level leadership roles during transitions to maintain delivery momentum, team morale, and stakeholder confidence.
• Provide stability and continuity so that teams stay productive and strategic priorities don't stall during leadership changes.

• Enterprise delivery model is documented, adopted, and producing measurable improvements in predictability and throughput.
• AI roadmap is approved by the executive team with at least two initiatives in production or advanced pilot.
• At least one Center of Excellence is operational with defined standards, metrics, and adoption across engineering teams.
• You're recognized across the organization as the go-to person who makes cross-cutting initiatives actually land.

• 12+ years of experience in software engineering, technology leadership, or platform delivery, with at least 5 years in senior leadership roles (Director or equivalent).
• Track record of leading enterprise-scale initiatives in complex, matrixed organizations-preferably in retail, consumer, or omnichannel environments.
• Strong understanding of modern architecture patterns, cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), APIs, and engineering best practices.
• Hands-on experience drivingAI adoption, enablement platforms, or data/ML initiatives at organizational scale.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence without direct authority-comfortable operating in ambiguity and driving alignment across competing priorities.
• Exceptional communication skills with experience presenting to C-suite and board-level audiences.

• Experience in a strategic operations or transformation office role within a technology organization.
• Background in technology financial management (TBM/FinOps).
• Familiarity with retail technology stacks: POS, e-commerce, supply chain, or loyalty platforms.
• Experience standing up Centers of Excellence or shared-services functions from scratch.

This isn't a role where you manage a team and optimize a backlog. It's a role where you shape how an entire technology organization operates, adopts AI, and delivers on its most important commitments. You'll have direct access to the CTO, high visibility with the executive team, and the mandate to drive meaningful change across a large, complex enterprise.

If you're the kind of leader who gets energy from making things work-not just making things-this is your role.

#CORP

Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

The pay ranges outlined below are presented in accordance with state-specific regulations. These ranges may differ in other areas and could be subject to variation based on regulatory minimum wage requirements. Actual pay rates will depend on factors such as position, location, level of experience, and applicable state or local minimum wage laws. If the regulatory minimum wage exceeds the minimum indicated in the pay range below, the regulatory minimum wage will be the minimum rate applied.

Salary Range: $194,600.00 - $291,900.00

Hourly or Salary Range will be reflected above. For a more detailed overview of Petco Total Rewards, including health and financial benefits, 401K, incentives, and PTO - see https://careers.petco.com/us/en/key-benefits

Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or any other protected classification.

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