Sr Mgr, Product Engineering

Grainger Businesses • Lake Forest, IL

2d • $146,200 - $243,600 • Hybrid

About The Position

This role will join the Grainger Technology Group (GTG) in the department of Product Engineering. GTG builds powerful digital capabilities and advances technology-driven outcomes. It focuses on delivering compelling, value-added MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations) solutions by investing in three core areas: Team Member Tools, Information Assets, and Customer Experiences. These areas are built and improved through cycles of experimentation and innovation. An Engineering Manager in Product Engineering plays a critical leadership role in driving high-impact outcomes across the GTG organization. Engineering Managers partner closely with Product Management, UX, Machine Learning, and other cross-functional stakeholders to build and evolve platforms, applications, and services that power the Grainger customer and team member experience. These teams span a diverse range of problem domains, from search and navigation to personalization, product content, pricing, and beyond. We are united by a shared mission: to deliver scalable, reliable, and performant solutions that enable Grainger’s digital and operational excellence. We are seeking an accomplished Sr. Engineering Manager to lead two pivotal teams within our Product Information Management (PIM) organization: Supplier Gather and Core. These teams play a crucial role in powering Grainger.com, enabling our extensive product assortment and delivering high-quality visual assets that drive business success. As a Senior Engineering Manager, you will oversee cross-functional, distributed teams of software and quality engineers (up to 20 people), fostering a collaborative environment across engineering, product, architecture and machine learning. The ideal candidate is a proven problem solver, an innovator, and a results-driven leader who thrives in fast-paced settings. You bring a modern technical perspective, a people-first leadership style and a passion for building scalable systems. This highly visible role offers the opportunity to make a significant impact at Grainger. You will report to the Director of Engineering, Product Information Management, and work on a hybrid schedule based in downtown Chicago (8 days per month onsite).

Requirements

• 7+ years of work experience in a technical capacity
• 3 or more years of people management or team leadership.
• A bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related study or equivalent project-related experience.
• Ability to weigh multiple facets to make strong decisions in an enterprise environment with a diverse set of stakeholders
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to conduct effective performance conversations.
• You bring a track record of putting AI and machine learning to work inside your teams, championing agentic development tools, AI-assisted coding, and automation that lift delivery velocity and engineering quality.
• You have partnered closely with Machine Learning teams to integrate and deploy models into platform capabilities, turning ML potential into shipped, measurable business impact.
• You lead engineers through AI adoption with a people-first approach, building a culture of continuous learning that turns emerging AI capabilities into practical, scalable team practices.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills ensuring effective collaboration with team members, stakeholders, and vendors.
• Experience working with onshore/offshore contractors and managing vendors

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple cross-functional team supporting our supplier gather systems and syndication touchpoints.
• Identify and drive the building and support of a unified foundation of shared components that enable product teams to move faster with confidence across all of PIM.
• Support the integration of and deployment of Machine Learning models into current platform capabilities within PIM and supplier gather assets.
• Shape the roadmap in close partnership with Product, Architecture, and Machine Learning.
• Ensure Grainger’s PIM systems are modern, resilient, and delivering measurable business impact.
• Manage and mentor a group of engineers of all levels.
• Build a strong, inclusive, and high-performing culture grounded in psychological safety, continuous learning, and technical excellence.
• Drive clear goals, accountability, and autonomy for your teams.
• Support hiring, onboarding, career growth, and succession planning.
• Strengthen agile practices, engineering quality, observability, and operational rigor.
• Use metrics to assess system health, delivery velocity, and customer outcomes.
• Partner with peers across the organization to remove blockers, align strategy, and prioritize wisely.
• Champion your teams’ DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud-native best practices (containers, serverless, IaC, etc.).

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment
• 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)
• 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: Manager
• Education Level: Associate degree