Search Experience Manager

DigiKey•Bloomington, MN

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Search Experience Manager is the business owner for search and product discovery across DigiKey’s digital experiences. The role defines, optimizes, and evolves how customers find products and information, aiming to help them identify the right electronic component quickly, confidently, and with minimal effort. It owns the search and discovery roadmap and prioritization of capabilities, including search relevance, ranking and sorting, query understanding, autocomplete, faceted navigation, filtering, content discovery, AI-assisted experiences, vendor evaluation, and continuous optimization. Working with Product, Engineering, UX, Analytics, Data Science, Merchandising, and technical subject matter experts, the manager identifies ways to reduce customer effort and improve decisions throughout research and purchasing. The role develops the long-term discovery vision and considers AI and large language models alongside other methods for improving how customers find, evaluate, and select products. This is a hybrid position requiring regular weekly onsite attendance.

Requirements

At least 8 years of experience in eCommerce, search, merchandising, customer experience, B2B distribution, electronic components, or a related field.
Strong understanding of electronic components, engineering workflows, and how engineers research, evaluate, and select products.
Knowledge of how customers discover products through search, navigation, filtering, technical content, tools, and other digital experiences.
Demonstrated ability to identify customer pain points and opportunities to improve digital experiences.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to use data, customer feedback, and business insights to inform decisions.
Experience working cross-functionally with business, technical, and customer-facing teams.
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to balance customer needs, business objectives, and technical considerations when making recommendations and prioritization decisions.
Curiosity and a continuous improvement mindset focused on making complex customer experiences simpler and more intuitive.
Associate degree (two-year degree) in business, engineering, marketing, or a related field.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Marketing, or a related field is required in the preferred qualifications section.
Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without current or future employment-based immigration sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

At least 12 years of experience in eCommerce, search, merchandising, customer experience, B2B distribution, electronic components, or a related field.
Experience with site search, product discovery, navigation, or digital merchandising.
Experience using search analytics, customer behavior data, or experimentation to improve customer outcomes.
Familiarity with search relevance, recommendation engines, personalization, or AI-assisted search experiences.
Experience owning or contributing to a product roadmap, backlog, or digital optimization program.
Understanding of UX principles, usability testing, and customer research methods.
Experience evaluating third-party technology platforms or digital tools.
Background in electronics distribution, manufacturing, engineering, or technical product industries.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Marketing, or a related field.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain the strategic roadmap for DigiKey’s search and discovery experience.
Establish a long-term vision for how customers find products, technical information, tools, and supporting resources.
Champion initiatives that reduce customer effort and improve findability across digital experiences.
Monitor market trends, customer behavior, and industry best practices related to search, discovery, and eCommerce.
Advocate for customer-centric solutions that simplify the journey from problem identification to product selection.
Identify and evaluate opportunities to improve product discovery through search relevance, UX enhancements, navigation, personalization, content integration, and AI-assisted experiences.
Lead DigiKey’s strategy for incorporating natural language search and emerging technologies where they improve customer outcomes.
Partner with UX, Analytics, and Engineering teams to design, test, and validate new discovery experiences.
Develop experimentation plans and success metrics for new search and discovery capabilities.
Identify opportunities to leverage external solutions that improve customer outcomes and accelerate innovation.
Define and maintain search quality standards, including relevance, recall, precision, and result effectiveness.
Partner with Analytics and Data Science teams to develop measurement frameworks and ongoing monitoring.