Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Sur La Table is a community-focused culinary retailer seeking a Director of AI Analytics to lead their analytical efforts across various business functions. In this foundational leadership role, you will define analytical standards, govern AI-enabled workflows, and ensure the organization operates from a unified view of performance.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary analytics leader across eCommerce, Marketing, Finance, Retail, Merchandising, Inventory Planning, and Operations
- Own problem definition for analytics — determining which business questions matter and what decisions insights should inform
- Move analysis beyond "what happened" to "why it happened," "how it happened," and "what we should do next."
- Proactively mine data to identify risks, opportunities, inefficiencies, and performance drivers
- Influence senior leaders through clear implications and actionable recommendations
- Own the integrity, governance, and usability of core commerce, customer, and operational datasets across platforms (eCommerce, POS, CDP, email, data warehouse)
- Validate insights using business context and commercial logic — not just technical correctness
- Define, document, and continuously evolve company-wide KPI frameworks in partnership with Finance and functional leaders
- Identify and resolve cross-functional metric misalignment to ensure a single, trusted understanding of performance
- Establish standards for data quality, documentation, and analytical transparency across the organization
- Leverage AI as a core component of advanced analytical work, including hypothesis generation, exploratory analysis, pattern detection, insight synthesis, and narrative development
- Design, operationalize, and scale repeatable AI-assisted workflows that support recurring company-level decisions (growth, margin optimization, inventory productivity, forecast alignment)
- Establish validation frameworks to pressure-test AI-generated outputs against source data, historical performance, customer behavior, and commercial logic
- Embed AI-enabled insights into planning, forecasting, and executive performance reviews
- Promote responsible, explainable, and outcome-driven AI usage across analytics workflows
- Own web and digital analytics strategy using Heap, including funnel performance, customer journey analysis, and conversion optimization
- Ensure tracking integrity and event schema accuracy, including review of structured data formats (e.g., JSON, data layers) in partnership with Product Engineering
- Translate behavioral data into commercial implications that influence merchandising, marketing, inventory, and operational decisions
- Ensure behavioral insights are aligned with downstream systems and financial realities
- Reconcile demand, margin, inventory, and operational perspectives into cohesive performance narratives
- Support planning, forecasting, and performance alignment across Finance, Retail, Merchandising, and Operations
- Challenge assumptions and reframe business narratives using data-backed insight
- Serve as a connector between commercial strategy and operational execution
- Establish analytical standards that prioritize clarity, trust, commercial relevance, and decision impact
- Reduce reactive ad hoc work by building scalable, decision-focused reporting and automation frameworks
- Design the structure, workflows, and expectations for the analytics function
- Hire, mentor, and develop junior analytics talent once foundational systems are established
- Champion a modern, insight-driven analytics culture across the company
Skills
- 8+ years of experience in Analytics, Strategy, or Data Leadership roles
- Demonstrated experience leading analytics across multiple business functions
- Strong experience in commerce-driven businesses (retail, eCommerce, CPG, marketplace)
- Comprehensive knowledge of all traffic acquisition channels and their downstream impact on site behavior, using that expertise to develop reliable forecasts that drive strategic decision-making
- Advanced SQL and strong analytical modeling capabilities
- Demonstrated experience designing and governing AI-enabled analytics workflows
- Strong capability to pressure-test AI-generated insights against data, customer behavior, and commercial logic
- Hands-on expertise with Heap or similar event-based web analytics platforms
- Comfort working with structured data formats (e.g., JSON), event schemas, and data instrumentation
- Experience defining KPI frameworks and resolving cross-functional metric misalignment
- Proven ability to translate complex data into clear, compelling stories that inform and influence executive decision-making — moving leadership from insight to action with confidence and conviction
- Track record of proactive insight generation, not reactive reporting
- Ability to work standard Eastern Time business hours
- Experience with dbt, Looker, or similar modern data stack tools
- Proficiency in Python for analytical modeling or automation
- Prior experience building or scaling an analytics function from an early-stage foundation
- Familiarity with CDP platforms (e.g., Segment, Klaviyo) and their integration into analytics workflows
- Experience presenting to C-suite or board-level stakeholders in a retail or eCommerce context
Benefits
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) with company match
- Generous PTO
- Employee discounts across Sur La Table and CSC Generation brands
- Access to cooking classes
Company Overview
Sur La Table is an online store that sells table tops, cookware, bakeware, ovens, and kitchen tools for domestic use and gifting purposes. It was founded in 1972, and is headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana, USA, with a workforce of 1001-5000 employees. Its website is https://www.surlatable.com.