Associate Vice President, Head of Commerce Practice

Perficient•Chicago, IL

About The Position

Perficient is seeking an Associate Vice President to lead its Commerce practice, a global consulting business that builds and runs commerce and order management platforms for retail, consumer goods, automotive, and industrial enterprises. The practice works across B2C and B2B commerce, order management, and emerging agentic operations and commerce readiness. Its platform ecosystem includes Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce and Order Management, Shopify, VTEX, Kibo, Fluent Commerce, and IBM Sterling. The leader will own the practice’s strategy, growth, financial performance, go-to-market approach, delivery, alliances, talent, and utilization. The role calls for a commercial leader who can originate new programs, build client and partner relationships, lead major pursuits, and shape commerce as an integrated model spanning direct sales, channel and partner sales, and digital channels. The leader will also define the practice’s AI-first commerce position and develop offerings that address agentic operations and agentic commerce readiness. The position oversees delivery quality, margin, client satisfaction, recovery of troubled programs, forecasting and capacity, rate and discount discipline, and investment decisions. It also includes developing and retaining talent, managing skills transitions and adoption of Perficient’s AI-led delivery lifecycle, cultivating C-suite relationships, and representing the practice at industry events and with analysts. The role requires travel up to 50% and the candidate must be located near an existing Perficient office, preferably Chicago, New York, or Houston.

Requirements

At least five years at vice president, associate vice president, or practice lead level, with direct accountability for a revenue or bookings target.
At least ten years in the commerce ecosystem at a systems integrator, agency, commerce platform vendor, or large enterprise commerce organization.
A record of carrying and achieving an annual target, with ownership of utilization and delivery margin across a services business.
A record of originating new programs and building, rather than inheriting, a pipeline.
Experience delivering commerce or order management for both B2C and B2B clients.
Generative or agentic AI running in production in a commerce or order management environment, with results that can be substantiated to a client CFO.
Active senior relationships within at least one major commerce platform vendor and a record of converting those relationships into pipeline.
Delivery leadership across multiple geographies and time zones.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
Willingness to travel up to 50% for client engagements, partner meetings, business development, and team leadership.
Must be located near one of Perficient’s existing offices; Chicago, New York, or Houston is preferred.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on familiarity with Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce, or Shopify, and at least one order management platform.
Commerce delivery experience for retail and consumer goods, and for automotive or industrial manufacturers selling through dealers and distributors.
Experience working inside a commerce platform vendor and understanding how field leadership and partner organizations allocate attention.
An established market voice through a published point of view, conference presentations, or standing analyst relationships at Forrester and Gartner.
Experience selling commerce alongside Salesforce, service, or data capabilities on the same account.
A record of recruiting senior talent into a practice that was still being built.

Responsibilities

Run the Commerce practice across sales, go-to-market, presales, delivery, alliances, talent, and utilization.
Own the practice’s bookings, revenue, utilization, and growth targets.
Lead the practice’s go-to-market motion and align sales, presales, and delivery to convert opportunities into revenue.
Originate pipeline and sell new commerce programs at new and existing accounts.
Lead the practice’s most consequential commerce pursuits and serve as the senior client executive when stakes are highest.
Develop the agentic operations takeover and agentic commerce readiness offerings from initial point of view through commercially viable client offerings.
Manage the commerce platform and partner portfolio, prioritizing platforms with market demand and retiring offerings that no longer sell.
Convert commerce alliances into pipeline in partnership with the Alliances Director.
Build an industry blueprint for Retail and Consumer Goods and develop how the practice sells and serves in that industry.
Grow accounts in coordination with Perficient’s Salesforce, Service, Data, and AI-First Marketing practices.
Maintain delivery quality, delivery margin, and client satisfaction across commerce and order management programs.
Lead client and program recovery when delivery goes off track.
Plan presales architecture capacity against pipeline and ensure pursuits are not dependent on a single architect.
Plan delivery capacity against forecasts and staff for demand while managing bench levels.
Maintain rate integrity and discount discipline, and manage pyramid mix and subcontractor spend.
Develop investment cases for initiatives requiring funding before generating revenue.
Establish career paths and make promotion decisions for practitioners in the practice.
Lead skills transitions from platform implementation to optimization, order management, and agentic delivery.
Drive adoption of Perficient’s AI-led delivery lifecycle across the practice.
Retain senior architects, strategists, and sellers, and recruit and develop commerce leaders.
Manage resource utilization for Commerce delivery teams.
Define the practice’s AI-first commerce position and market agenda.
Build and sustain senior relationships with Adobe, Salesforce Commerce, and order management partners across field leadership and partner organizations.
Build durable C-suite relationships across major commerce clients and provide candid counsel on platform strategy, order management, channel strategy, and total cost of ownership.
Publish and present the practice point of view at Adobe Summit, Connections, and industry events, and brief industry analysts.
Travel up to 50% for client engagements, partner meetings, business development, and team leadership.