Vice President, Data Architecture, Engineering & AI

Role Specific Information

Job Description

About the Role

The VP, Data Architecture and Engineering is accountable for the vision, strategy, and execution of the enterprise data platform and engineering capabilities that enable business growth, operational efficiency, and customer centric innovation. This leader partners closely with business and technology teams to elevate data into a durable and scalable enterprise asset. In alignment with the VP of A.I and Transformation, who defines enterprise A.I strategy and prioritizes business use cases, this role owns the data architecture, platforms, and engineering foundations required to operationalize, scale, and reliably run A.I solutions in production across the enterprise.

What You’ll Do

• Define and own the data product and technical data science strategy, aligning with enterprise technology and business priorities

• Lead the design, development, and lifecycle management of data products that support business operations, customer insights, and innovation

• Build and scale data science capabilities, including machine learning, AI-driven solutions, and advanced analytics to optimize retail operations and customer engagement

• Partner with business units, analytics, engineering, and product management to prioritize high-value use cases for both data products and data science applications

• Oversee data governance, stewardship, and metadata management to ensure accuracy, compliance, and trust

• Champion modern data and AI architectures, including cloud-native platforms, APIs, data streaming services, and real-time analytics

• Drive data democratization, ensuring business users can easily discover, access, and leverage insights

• Foster a product mindset and a research-to-production pipeline for data science solutions, ensuring scalability and usability

• Manage, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of data product managers, architects, engineers, and data scientists

• Define and monitor KPIs for both data products and data science initiatives, ensuring outcomes translate into tangible business impact

• Represent data strategy at the executive level, influencing enterprise decisions and advocating for innovation

• Additional tasks may be assigned

What Skills You Have

Required

• 12+ years of experience in data leadership roles, including data product management, data platforms, and data science

• Proven track record of building and scaling data products and machine learning/AI solutions in large, complex organizations

• Strong expertise in modern data and AI/ML architectures, including cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), data lakes/warehouses, and governance frameworks

• Exceptional executive communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across business and technology functions

• Demonstrated success in leading cross-functional teams spanning data science, engineering, and product management

Essential Functions

The requirements listed below are representative of functions you will be required to perform, however you may be required to perform additional functions. Kohl’s may revise this job description from time to time. To perform this job successfully, you must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions, absent undue hardship.

• Ability to perform the accountabilities listed in the “What You’ll Do” Section

• Ability to maintain prompt and regular attendance as set by the company

• Ability to work at least 8 hours per day, occasionally longer when necessary to meet business needs, 5 days per week

• Ability to comply with dress code requirements

• Ability to learn and comply with all company policies, procedures, standards and guidelines

• Ability to give direction and receive, understand and proactively respond to direction from leadership and other company personnel

• Ability to work as part of a team and interact effectively and appropriately with others

• Ability to maintain composure and work in a fast paced environment while accomplishing multiple tasks within established timeframes

• Ability to satisfactorily complete company training programs

• Perform work in accordance with the Physical/Cognitive Requirements section

Physical/Cognitive Requirements

• Ability to use a personal computer for tasks such as communicating, preparing reports, etc.

• Ability to plan, prioritize and monitor activities across business units

• Ability to complete or oversee the completion of assigned projects in a timely manner

• Ability to comply with health and safety standards