Senior Solution Architect - Distribution Center Operations & Platforms

Grainger Businesses • Lake Forest, IL

16d • $146,200 - $243,600 • Hybrid

About The Position

W.W. Grainger, Inc., is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products and solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. Known for its commitment to service and award-winning culture, the Company had 2024 revenue of $17.2 billion across its two business models. In the High-Touch Solutions segment, Grainger offers approximately 2 million maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products and services, including technical support and inventory management. In the Endless Assortment segment, Zoro.com offers customers access to more than 14 million products, and MonotaRO.com offers more than 24 million products. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.

Grainger is seeking a Senior Solution Architect to evolve the processes, information flow, and technology ecosystem that enable a network of large-scale, highly automated distribution centers supporting 100,000+ daily customer shipments. SAP EWM on S/4HANA is the core WMS platform, and this role works closely with the OT Architect to design how EWM integrates with the broader distribution center ecosystem, including yard management, WES, WCS, conveyance/ASRS, and robotics, to optimize efficiency, storage density, throughput, and visibility.
Location: Chicago or remote
Travel: Up to 10% within North America
Role Overview
This role requires strong architectural judgment, deep SAP EWM expertise, and strong distribution center operations knowledge. The role defines the distribution center domain architecture and roadmap across yard, receiving, storage, put-away, picking, packing, and shipping. It also guides capability placement decisions by evaluating trade-offs between standard SAP EWM functionality, clean-core extensions to EWM, and complementary COTS or custom-built services outside EWM, using domain-driven design approaches.

Requirements

• Deep, hands-on SAP EWM on S/4HANA expertise in complex distribution center operations.
• Strong architectural judgment with a proven ability to evaluate trade-offs and recommend solutions across standard capabilities, extensions, and complementary platforms.
• Strong practical knowledge of distribution center operations, especially in highly automated warehouses and hybrid human/automation environments.
• Working knowledge of integration design using APIs and event-driven architecture; ability to reason about synchronous vs asynchronous patterns and operational latency/throughput needs.
• Familiarity with data modeling and designing domain-aligned data products that support operational visibility and analytics.
• Ability to think beyond a single system and understand the role each system plays in the distribution center ecosystem.
• Strong communication skills, including leading requirements and design workshops and influencing both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to mentor and guide SAP technical teams.
• Familiarity with SAP clean-core principles and domain-driven design.
• Growth mindset with continuous learning orientation.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with warehouse execution systems (WES) and automation orchestration.
• Experience supporting multi-site WMS transformations or migrations (platform changes, phased rollouts, cutover strategy, operational readiness).
• Understanding of IT/OT integration, network considerations, and security in industrial environments.
• Familiarity with other WMS platforms (e.g. Manhattan) is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary solution architect for distribution center operations by creating end-to-end solution designs for initiatives, ensuring alignment with broader Supply Chain architecture direction and accounting for impacts to process, people, data, and technology.
• Define the future-state target architecture and transition roadmap for distribution center operations, including process, platforms, automation, integration, and information flow.
• Design and govern integrations between SAP EWM and surrounding systems such as WES, OT control systems, TMS, YMS, fulfillment planning, and analytics platforms.
• Evaluate architectural options and recommend where functionality should reside, including EWM standard capabilities, clean-core extensions, and complementary COTS or custom-built services.
• Ensure solutions meet requirements for resiliency, scalability, security, and operational stability.
• Provide architectural leadership and mentorship to EWM business analysts and delivery teams.
• Promote modern architecture practices including event-driven and API-based information flows and domain-aligned data products to enable operational execution, real-time visibility, and analytics.
• Promote SAP clean-core practices across delivery teams.
• Communicate architectural options and trade-offs to architecture and engineering teams, and present major decisions and investment considerations to the CIO and Supply Chain leadership.
• Partner with OT, network, and security architects to ensure effective orchestration between human labor and automated material handling systems.
• Collaborate with product managers and distribution operations leaders to identify process and data flow improvements that advance business objectives.
• Work with project and product portfolio managers and delivery teams to ensure solutions are feasible, delivered on time, adhere to standards, and advance the domain roadmap.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
• 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
• 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
• Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
• Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed