Lead Research

84.51° Overview
84.51° is a retail data science, insights and media company. We help The Kroger Co., consumer packaged goods companies, agencies, publishers and affiliates create more personalized and valuable experiences for shoppers across the path to purchase.

Powered by cutting-edge science, we utilize first-party retail data from more than 62 million U.S. households sourced through the Kroger Plus loyalty card program to fuel a more customer-centric journey using 84.51° Insights, 84.51° Loyalty Marketing and our retail media advertising solution, Kroger Precision Marketing.

Join us at 84.51°

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Lead Research and Development Strategist (G3) P2188
LOCATION: Chicago or Cincinnati
Summary
The Lead Research and Development Strategist plays a pivotal role in driving business-focused innovation and validating research through a business lens. This position is essential for ensuring the LABS's innovation pipeline continues to deliver significant returns by generating tangible business value and focusing on opportunities for strategic transformation. The role involves combination of product discovery, project management, business development, and relationship building with stakeholders, fostering an environment where innovation thrives, and strategic transformation is realized. In close partnership with LABS leadership and with key stakeholders, the Lead Strategist identifies high-impact research areas that align with business needs and explores how disruptive sciences and technology can drive value across various domains. Subsequently, Lead strategist leads LABS' R&D teams in demonstrating technical feasibility and potential for generating business value via creation of functional prototypes and conducting in-market testing.

Why Join Labs
The Labs team is 84.51°'s innovation engine – we come up with, develop, and test the next generation of algorithmic capabilities for one of the largest retailers in the world. We thrive in ambiguity, push the boundaries of science and engineering, and collaborate deeply to make innovation real. This is a space where you can take on high-risk, high-reward ideas and prove out the vision. If you enjoy blue-sky thinking, love to learn and partner with subject matter experts, and are ready to roll with the ups and downs of R&D, this is the team for you

Responsibilities

• Drive discovery sessions to uncover high-risk, high-reward problem statements and engage with key stakeholders to understand challenges and explore how disruptive sciences can drive value.
• Lead research and development by collaborating with LABS' R&D teams to create functional prototypes and conduct in-market testing that demonstrates technical feasibility and potential for generating business value.
• Translates business desires/requirements into effective research and development initiatives
• Lead and manage projects, tasks, and stakeholders to ensure that projects are delivered on time. Work with LABS LT to ensure sufficient resource allocation
• Coordinate regular project check-ins to ensure stakeholders and team members are on the same page and there is sufficient communication and understanding of all project aspects
• Think creatively when building analytics solutions to bring the most value to the user, balancing transformation ability of the research and practicality.
• Help LABS Lead continuously evaluate research portfolio against the backlog and emerging opportunities.
• Develop stakeholder connection and conduct discovery sessions for prioritized initiatives. Help with value estimation in early phase research.
• Keep a pulse on emerging technology areas. Identify high-risk-high-reward opportunities areas that are transformational to the business, either through market research or stakeholder engagement.
• Deep understanding of the business domain, stakeholders, business processes and constraints in which your product(s) play
• Deep understanding of customers/users problems, how they think and operate and the platforms/technology they use
• Understand and communicate organization objectives, strategies and solution needs to the team to facilitate results (where collaborative/as colleague)
• Manage and communicate dependencies and risks. This may include drafting memos, talking points, briefings, strategic communications, and other materials as needed

Qualifications, Skills, And Experience

• Stakeholder management – experienced in building and managing stakeholder relationships to influence and drive change
• Skilled in working with cross-functional data science development teams (scientists and technologists with diverse skillsets) in an agile environment
• Experience defining goals, user stories, and prioritizing machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions
• Experience gathering user requirements for data science solutions
• Experience building and delivering sophisticated systems that leverage various machine learning algorithms or technologies that integrate well with other organization-wide systems and are able to scale optimally.
• Experience in designing, developing, and launching ML/ AI solutions that become widely adopted across the enterprise.
• Skilled in managing business priorities against design/user needs while delivering against product roadmaps
• Stakeholder management skills – experienced in building and managing stakeholder relationships to influence and drive change
• Problem solving, critical thinking and analytical skills
• Planning, organizational and time management skills
• Comfort with ambiguity – remains confident, positive and resourceful in the face of ambiguity and unexpected results; recovers quickly from setbacks
• Exhibits qualities of and have proven to be a great teammate
• Verbal and written communication skills, ability to translate between business and technical
• Technical acumen – grasps the technical details of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
• At least 6 years relevant experience in data science capability development
• Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Pay Transparency And Benefits

• The stated salary range represents the entire span applicable across all geographic markets from lowest to highest. Actual salary offers will be determined by multiple factors including but not limited to geographic location, relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and alignment with market data and cost of labor. In addition to salary, this position is also eligible for variable compensation.

• Below is a list of some of the benefits we offer our associates:

• Health: Medical: with competitive plan designs and support for self-care, wellness and mental health. Dental: with in-network and out-of-network benefit. Vision: with in-network and out-of-network benefit.

• Wealth: 401(k) with Roth option and matching contribution. Health Savings Account with matching contribution (requires participation in qualifying medical plan). AD&D and supplemental insurance options to help ensure additional protection for you.
• Happiness: Hybrid work environment. Paid time off with flexibility to meet your life needs, including 5 weeks of vacation time, 7 health and wellness days, 3 floating holidays, as well as 6 company-paid holidays per year. Paid leave for maternity, paternity and family care instances.

Pay Range

$91,000—$218,750 USD