Senior IT Project Manager - Retail Technology

WHSmith North America is looking for an experienced Senior IT Project Manager to lead the delivery of technology projects across our North American retail estate.

This is a hands-on delivery role requiring strong experience of technology within physical retail environments. The successful candidate will understand what it takes to open, change, refresh and close stores and will be comfortable coordinating multiple technology suppliers, internal IT teams, retail operations and other business stakeholders.

The role will be based in Las Vegas but will support projects across North America, including stores within airports and other travel locations., * Lead IT projects from initial requirements and planning through implementation, cutover, handover and closure.

• Manage technology delivery for new store openings, store refurbishments, relocations and store closures.
• Develop and maintain project plans, budgets, RAID logs, dependencies, milestones and delivery reporting.
• Coordinate internal IT teams, business stakeholders, third-party technology vendors, contractors and service providers.
• Own the technology readiness plan for store openings and ensure all technology is installed, configured, tested and operational before opening.
• Manage store decommissioning, including removal or redeployment of technology assets, service termination and secure disposal where required.
• Manage multiple concurrent projects across geographically dispersed locations.
• Work closely with Retail Operations, Store Development, Construction, Finance, Loss Prevention and other functions to coordinate store delivery.
• Manage technology cutovers and provide clear go/no-go criteria for store launches.
• Ensure appropriate operational handover to support teams following implementation.
• Identify project risks and issues early and drive them through to resolution.
• Manage third-party suppliers against agreed deliverables, dates and service expectations.
• Ensure project documentation, technical standards and governance requirements are followed.
• Provide clear project status reporting to senior IT and business stakeholders.
• Continually improve the standard approach, templates and processes used for retail technology deployments.

Retail Technology Experience

Candidates should have practical experience delivering technology into physical retail locations and understand the interdependencies between store technology components such as:

• Point of Sale (POS)
• Payment terminals and payment services
• Store LAN, WAN and Wi-Fi
• Internet and telecommunications circuits
• Back-office systems
• PCs, tablets and mobile devices
• Printers and peripheral devices
• Handheld scanners and inventory devices
• Stock and inventory systems
• Digital signage
• CCTV, EAS and other technology supporting loss prevention
• Store servers and edge technology where applicable
• Device configuration and deployment
• Structured cabling
• Technology asset management
• Remote support and store support models

The candidate does not need to be a technical engineer but must understand these technologies sufficiently to challenge suppliers, identify dependencies and manage successful implementations., The Senior IT Project Manager will create predictable, repeatable technology delivery across the WHSmith North America estate and provide clear ownership of IT delivery throughout the store lifecycle.

The successful candidate should be comfortable owning the IT workstream for a store opening, including:

Design Procurement Connectivity Installation Configuration Testing Cutover Opening Hypercare Handover

They should understand issues such as circuit lead times, equipment delivery, site access, construction dependencies, POS configuration, payment testing, stock-system readiness and opening-day support.

Store Closure Experience

Experience should also include management of store closures, including:

• Technology shutdown planning
• Asset identification and recovery
• Equipment redeployment
• Network and telecom service termination
• POS and payment device removal
• Data/security considerations
• Supplier coordination
• Asset disposal
• Updating configuration and asset-management records, * Minimum 5 years’ experience delivering IT projects.
• Retail experience is essential.
• Demonstrable experience delivering technology into physical stores.
• Experience managing new store openings, store closures and/or store refurbishment programmes.
• Experience managing multiple projects concurrently.
• Experience managing third-party technology vendors.
• Strong understanding of retail IT infrastructure and applications.
• Strong project planning, financial management, risk management and governance skills.
• Experience working with both technology and operational business teams.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced operational retail environment.
• Willingness to travel regularly throughout North America.

Highly Desirable

Experience within any of the following would be particularly valuable:

• Travel retail
• Airport retail
• Convenience retail
• Multi-site retail
• Hospitality
• High-volume retail environments
• POS replacement programmes
• Network/Wi-Fi deployments
• Payment technology
• Retail infrastructure refreshes
• Large-scale store rollout programmes

Experience working within airports would be particularly advantageous due to the additional complexity of airport access, installation windows, landlords, concession partners and operational restrictions.

Project Management Skills

Candidates should demonstrate strong capability in:

• Project planning and scheduling
• Budget management
• RAID management
• Vendor management
• Stakeholder management
• Change control
• Dependency management
• Project governance
• Executive reporting
• Cutover planning
• Operational readiness
• Lessons learned and continuous improvement

PMP, PRINCE2, Agile or equivalent project-management qualifications would be beneficial but are less important than proven delivery experience.