Senior Program Manager - RFID Enterprise Capabilities (Hybrid - Seattle, WA)

Nordstrom•Seattle, WA

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

Since 1901, Nordstrom has been committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences, with a relentless focus on exceeding expectations. As a leading fashion retailer in a digitally connected world, Nordstrom continues to invest in the capabilities that allow us to move faster, operate smarter, and serve customers across both physical and digital channels. Within this context, Inventory Operations plays a critical role in optimizing how we order, place, move, track, and exhaust inventory across the enterprise—acting as a bridge between Merchandising, Supply Chain, and Stores to deliver speed, accuracy, and financial integrity. The Inventory Visibility & Controls (IV&C) team was established to strengthen enterprise‑wide inventory transparency, traceability, and controls by scaling data, analytics, and foundational capabilities, such as RFID , enabling proactive decision‑making, preventing loss and unsellable inventory, and increasing confidence in inventory across the full lifecycle. We are hiring a Senior Program Manager to support RFID Enterprise Capabilities within Inventory Visibility & Controls. In this role, you will lead the execution and scaling of RFID as an enterprise inventory integrity platform —moving it beyond store counting to a foundational capability embedded across supply chain, stores, fulfillment, asset protection, and customer-facing workflows. You will be responsible for translating RFID enterprise strategy into executable programs, ensuring work is well-sequenced, dependencies are actively managed, and cross‑functional teams remain aligned as capabilities scale. This includes advancing vendor tagging standards , driving supplier compliance, and expanding the number of vendors, categories, and flows brought into both RFID scope and program , while maintaining accuracy and data integrity. This role plays a critical coordination function across Operations, Product, Technology, Stores, Supply Chain, Finance, and Asset Protection—balancing speed, risk, and long-term enterprise value. As RFID continues to mature from episodic accuracy toward continuous, serialized inventory truth, this role ensures standards, governance, adoption, and change management are in place, so new capabilities can deliver measurable improvements in accuracy, shrink, productivity, and customer confidence. This role is ideal for a senior program manager who thrives in complexity, operates comfortably at the intersection of operations and technology, and is motivated by building durable enterprise capabilities that translate strategy into sustained operational impact.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or relevant Master’s degree a plus.
5+ years of experience in program management, product management, management consulting, strategy, or operations , with progressively larger responsibility supporting cross‑functional teams.
Knowledge of RFID and experience in inventory operations, supply chain, store execution, and/or asset protection in a retail environment.
Demonstrated success leading complex, enterprise‑scale programs in ambiguous, fast‑paced environments.
Strong ability to lead through influence , aligning senior stakeholders across multiple functions without direct authority.
Experience translating strategy into execution , including roadmap development, sequencing, dependency management, and delivery of measurable outcomes.
Comfort partnering with product, engineering, analytics, and operations teams to deliver technology‑enabled capabilities.
Strong business acumen, with the ability to understand operational, financial, and risk considerations and incorporate them into program decisions.
Excellent written, verbal, and executive‑level communication skills, with a proven ability to synthesize complexity into clear narratives and decisions.
Highly organized with strong judgment, able to balance competing priorities while maintaining delivery focus.

Responsibilities

Own and lead enterprise‑wide RFID programs across the inventory lifecycle, from strategy and roadmap definition through execution, launch, and adoption.
Translate RFID enterprise strategy into executable plans, breaking down large, ambiguous initiatives into sequenced workstreams with clear milestones, dependencies, and success metrics.
Lead supplier tagging programs, including defining and evolving tagging specifications and standards, partnering with vendors on onboarding and compliance, and establishing escalation mechanisms to address gaps in data quality or execution.
Oversee RFID coverage and compliance operations, partnering with business and technology teams to triage defects, drive root‑cause resolution, and inform category and vendor expansion strategies as standards mature (including embedded tagging approaches).
Drive delivery of new RFID‑enabled capabilities, including pilots, business‑case validation, and the development of repeatable scale plans in close partnership with Product, Technology, and Operations teams.
Ensure strong program governance and execution discipline, including intake, prioritization, dependency management, risk tracking, and executive‑level status communication across cross‑functional partners.
Partner with data and analytics teams to ensure RFID execution telemetry, compliance reporting, and shrink/support analytics are available through scalable, self‑service tools that reduce manual data work and accelerate decision‑making.
Serve as the primary coordination point across Stores, Supply Chain, Merchandising, Product, Engineering, Finance, Store Technology, and Asset Protection to align priorities and resolve trade‑offs.
Work with external partners, including industry groups (e.g., GS1), academic partners, other retailers, and specialist advisors to inform standards evolution, accelerate learning, and reduce risk.
Anticipate adoption and change‑management needs, ensuring RFID capabilities are supported with clear standards, operational workflows, training, and readiness as they scale.
Navigate ambiguity and competing priorities, effectively landing decisions that balance customer experience, operational impact, and financial integrity.
Flex across IV&C initiatives as needed, supporting the highest‑impact enterprise priorities tied to inventory accuracy, shrink reduction, productivity, and customer confidence.