Director, Digital Shelf Strategy

VML•Chicago, IL

1d•$75,000 - $180,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Digital Shelf Strategy & Content is a senior, client-facing strategist responsible for defining how brands optimize product content, discoverability, and shopper experiences across retailer and marketplace ecosystems. This leader combines CPG category knowledge, retailer expertise, digital shelf intelligence, and product content strategy to develop scalable approaches that improve product visibility, shopper engagement, conversion, and commercial performance. The Director translates consumer and shopper insights, retailer requirements, search behavior, competitive intelligence, and digital shelf analytics into clear content strategies, actionable creative briefs, and measurable optimization roadmaps. Serving as a strategic bridge between Commerce Strategy, Discoverability, Content, Creative, Analytics, and Retail Operations, this role ensures digital shelf recommendations translate into effective execution across retailer platforms. The role requires a strong understanding of product experience management (PXM), retailer-specific content requirements, and emerging product discovery behaviors, including AI-powered search and agentic commerce. It is a strategy leadership role, not a content production, syndication, or retailer portal operations position. VML is a global creative company combining brand experience, customer experience, and commerce. It is part of WPP. The position follows a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. Accommodations or flexibility can be discussed with the hiring team.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in digital commerce, digital shelf strategy, product content strategy, retail consulting, marketplace optimization, or related commerce disciplines.
Experience leading strategic engagements, developing client recommendations, and guiding cross-functional execution.
Strong experience working with CPG brands and major retailer ecosystems, particularly Walmart, Amazon, Target, and grocery or club retailers.
Proven ability to develop digital shelf and product content strategies that improve discoverability, shopper experience, and conversion.
Experience translating shopper insights, search intelligence, competitive analysis, and retail performance data into actionable content recommendations.
Demonstrated experience developing strategic briefs and guiding creative or content teams through execution and quality assurance.
Strong understanding of product information architecture, taxonomy, retailer content requirements, and product experience management principles.
Experience with digital shelf intelligence and analytics platforms such as Profitero, Stackline, CommerceIQ, Pacvue, or comparable solutions.
Excellent client-facing communication, presentation, strategic storytelling, and stakeholder management skills.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional workstreams and influence execution without direct ownership of every delivery function.
Deep understanding of how product content, retailer requirements, shopper behavior, and discoverability influence commercial performance.
Ability to translate business objectives and shopper insights into differentiated product content strategies and actionable creative direction.
Understanding of retailer search, taxonomy, structured product data, and the relationship between content optimization and organic product visibility.
Practical understanding of major retailer ecosystems, CPG category dynamics, and shopper decision-making.
Ability to develop scalable frameworks, methodologies, and best practices that improve digital shelf strategy quality and efficiency.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on or strategic experience with PXM/PIM platforms, particularly Salsify, Syndigo, or equivalent solutions.
Experience defining scalable content governance models, retailer-specific content standards, and product information frameworks.
Familiarity with retailer organic search algorithms, keyword optimization, and digital shelf discoverability methodologies.
Experience developing content strategies for enhanced product detail pages, A+ Content, brand stores, and retailer-specific rich media.
Understanding of how retail media, organic discoverability, product content, and conversion performance intersect.
Exposure to AI-powered product discovery, generative search, and emerging agentic commerce requirements.
Experience developing digital shelf strategy playbooks, capability frameworks, or managed service methodologies.

Responsibilities

Lead digital shelf strategies across major retailer and marketplace ecosystems, including Walmart, Amazon, Target, Kroger, Sam's Club, and Instacart.
Translate brand objectives, category dynamics, shopper insights, and retailer requirements into actionable product content strategies.
Define retailer-specific and cross-retailer approaches to product titles, descriptions, attributes, imagery, enhanced content, taxonomy, and product storytelling.
Identify opportunities to improve product discoverability, differentiation, engagement, and conversion throughout the digital shopping journey.
Establish strategic frameworks balancing brand consistency with retailer-specific optimization requirements.
Develop prioritized content optimization roadmaps based on business impact, competitive gaps, and implementation feasibility.
Define product discoverability strategies across retailer search, browse, category navigation, and emerging AI-powered shopping experiences.
Partner with Discoverability specialists to translate keyword intelligence, search trends, and organic ranking insights into product content recommendations.
Guide optimization of product titles, attributes, descriptions, taxonomy, and structured product information to improve search relevance and visibility.
Evaluate competitive product positioning, share of search, content quality, and organic discoverability to identify optimization opportunities.
Establish scalable discoverability methodologies and best practices, and monitor developments in retailer algorithms, AI-powered search, and agentic commerce.
Translate digital shelf strategies into actionable briefs for Content, Copy, Design, and Production teams.
Define requirements, strategic objectives, retailer considerations, and success measures for product detail pages, enhanced content, brand stores, and other digital shelf experiences.
Provide strategic direction through content development, ensuring creative outputs align with shopper needs, retailer requirements, and discoverability objectives.
Establish strategic quality assurance standards and review content deliverables, providing actionable feedback before final approval and implementation.
Partner with Digital Shelf Operations and PXM teams so strategic recommendations can be executed and maintained.
Provide strategic guidance on product content architecture, attribute completeness, taxonomy, and content governance across retailer ecosystems.
Partner with platform and operations specialists to translate strategies into structured, reusable, retailer-ready product information.
Identify opportunities to improve content consistency, reuse, efficiency, and scalability; define content standards, optimization guidelines, and governance frameworks.
Advise on content readiness and platform considerations without taking responsibility for day-to-day PXM administration or syndication execution.
Use digital shelf intelligence, retailer analytics, and competitive benchmarking to identify content and discoverability performance opportunities.
Evaluate content quality, search visibility, organic ranking, share of search, ratings and reviews, and conversion performance.
Partner with Analytics teams to assess content optimization impact and identify continuous improvement opportunities.
Turn performance findings into prioritized recommendations with commercial rationale and measurable objectives, connecting digital shelf performance with retail media, shopper experience, and omnichannel commerce strategies.
Develop insight-driven narratives for client business reviews, strategic recommendations, and optimization planning.
Serve as a senior strategic advisor to CPG clients on digital shelf content, product discoverability, and retailer-specific optimization.
Lead strategic workshops, digital shelf assessments, content planning discussions, and client presentations.
Collaborate with Commerce Strategy, Discoverability, Creative, Content, Analytics, Retail Media, Technology, and Retail Operations teams.
Translate recommendations into defined workstreams, deliverables, and execution priorities; provide guidance on retailer best practices and emerging commerce capabilities.
Build trusted client relationships through commercial judgment, strategic thinking, and actionable recommendations.
Develop and maintain digital shelf strategy frameworks, content optimization methodologies, briefing templates, and strategic QA standards.
Create repeatable retailer-specific content strategy approaches, best practices for translating shopper insights and discoverability intelligence into content, and internal education and enablement.
Identify opportunities to strengthen VML's digital shelf strategy offerings through methodologies, technologies, and service capabilities.
Mentor team members and elevate the strategic quality and consistency of digital shelf work across the practice.