Zakir Syed
Product Management Leader
Metro Atlanta,GA
Summary
VISIONARY PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, PROCESS ENGINEERING AND INNOVATIONS LEADER Result-driven executive leading teams and driving transformative change at scale Accomplished digital strategist with expertise in driving agile workstreams among multiple product experiences and customer backed capabilities. Proven track record for building innovative solutions, iterative value driven outcomes from ideation to launch by leveraging data analytics, qualitative and quantitative research. Trusted mentor, strong executive presence, exceptional communicator, able to convey complex concepts concisely and clearly. Experienced team leader with ability to manage 100+ sized organization with multifaceted arrangement of remote, in-office and offshore environments.
Overview
26
26
years of professional experience
Work History
Technology Consultant
COLUMBUS CONSULTING INTERNATIONAL
Atlanta, GA
01.2024 - Current
- Leveraging my 20+ years of retail, technology and analytics expertise to help build curated, next generation solutions for the Fortune 500 clients' need
- Lead customer backed journey mapping, identify key opportunities to set strategic priorities, champion program management, and deliver measurable outcomes
- Build presale project proposals with exceptional storytelling for executive level audience to gain multi-million new sales contracts
- Lead discovery sessions to assess opportunities and created recommendations for the leadership with measurable business impact
- Partner with onshore and offshore development teams, key stakeholders, and end users to build short- and long-term solutions
Director of Data Science & Technology
THE HOME DEPOT
Atlanta, GA
11.2022 - 12.2023
- Champion 3 strategic disciplines (data science, technology, and training) to support broader Assortment Planning organization to accelerate data-driven decision making, create operational excellence, and seamlessly onboard and train new talent
- Manage offshore Business Intelligence team, based in China to deliver omni-channel analytics, reporting, and insights for all merchandising departments, covering $150B+ in annual sales volume
- Built new strategic vision and operational model for offshore team that drove 100% productivity increase year over year
- Launched an AI powered category health dashboard to streamline analysis process, reducing a week of work to minutes
- Led 3rd-party technology research for 'off the shelf' solutions, which accelerated development cycle from 3 years to 1 year
- Created multi-year, AI/ML technology roadmap by leading customer research and in partnership with UX, IT, and Big-3 consulting firm that served as a blueprint to drive $50M in enterprise capital spend decisions
Director of Assortment Planning & Analytics
THE HOME DEPOT
Atlanta, GA
01.2019 - 01.2022
- Led dual roles by managing 2 different, on and offshore teams totaling 30 associates
- Local, onshore team responsible for assortment planning analytics and insights for $45B annual sales, Décor portfolio that included flooring, paint, appliances, bath / kitchen, and storage / organization
- Offshore team included data science experts to drive omni-channel merchandising strategies and assortment decisions for all merchandising departments
- Built automated tools and reporting capabilities to enable better insights on category performance, exception-based monitoring, and streamlining cross-functional collaboration
- Drove 15-30% sales growth among Décor categories during the highly volatile, pandemic period while working from home by leveraging consumer insights, sales trends, and proactively identifying strategic opportunities
- Developed new analytical processes to assess forecast vs
- Actuals after execution, expanding category coverages from 5% to 60%
- Operationalized Direct Fulfillment Center (DFC) assortment strategy and process to unlock $25B GTM sales opportunity by identifying relevant SKUs, delivery SLA, and overall supply chain network optimization
- Achieved 95% score in the annual Voice of the Associate (VOA) survey while managing 90% attrition from promotions by giving curated coaching to enrich talent development, hosting townhall meetings for feedback
Director of Product Management
THE HOME DEPOT
01.2018 - 01.2019
- Head of Product Management for Merchandising that included 5 strategic business areas: enterprise pricing, assortment planning, space management, supplier experience, and product catalog
- Managed team of 95 associates and contractors with responsibility of $75M annual capital expenses
- Partnered with IT and UX teams to lead DevOps model for short- and long-term strategies, gained alignment and communicated with business stakeholders, including monthly leadership updates to SVPs, EVPs, and CEO
- Built new agile product team by defining 3-year strategic roadmap with OKRs and accelerated speed to market, creating strategic vision to drive operational efficiency
- Launched a new merchandise offering platform, generating $300M sales and $125M profit within first 6 months by offering new 'multi-SKU bulk' ordering program that gave dynamic discounts to customers based on order quantity and recommended additional products based on purchase behavior
- Worked with Loyalty and B2B teams on developing a 'Pro Customer Experience' GTM framework with +$17B sales target in 3 years, establishing next generation shopping for the 'pro' customers that synchronized data from multiple capabilities of merchandise offering, pricing, curated promotions, and discounts into one seamless experience
- Developed channel agnostic SKU architect for efficient vendor onboarding and $100M supply chain cost savings, consolidating SKU creation to single master key and ability to share information across the organization for efficiency and streamlined fulfillment
Senior Director of Category Management & Analytics
WALMART
01.2016 - 01.2018
- Expanded supervision in strategic business units: electronics, entertainment, toys, seasonal, and celebration with 25K SKUs and covering $30B in sales volume
- Analyzed performance trends, space productivity, and insights to build assortment strategies, optimize inventories, demand planning to achieve sales and profit goals
- Supervised operational execution in 4,800 stores, leading a team of 70+ associates and 3rd-party category advisers
- Collaborated daily with Senior Vice President leadership on strategic programs and generated reports to illustrate trends and recommendations
- Partnered with ecommerce and marketing teams to develop and align omni-channel strategies to create seamless digital / physical shopping experiences
- Oversaw $40M store labor expenses, achieving $6M savings through process reengineering and optimization
- Created category-specific GTM strategies and influenced assortment decisions, which drove consistent 5-10% topline sales
- Partnered with Asset Protection team to build a new shrink prevention program, resulting in $55M+ savings
- Championed establishing a Center of Excellence (COE) knowledgebase for insights research, leading to 80% in time savings
Director of Category Management & Analytics, Merchandise Operations
WALMART
01.2013 - 01.2016
Senior Manager II, Real Estate Product Management
WALMART
01.2012 - 01.2013
Senior Manager, Real Estate Analytics & Insights
WALMART
01.2009 - 01.2013
Manager, Direct Import & Sourcing
WALMART
01.2007 - 01.2009
Multimedia Producer, Supply Chain
WALMART
01.2005 - 01.2007
E-Learning Developer, Supply Chain
WALMART
01.2004 - 01.2005
Founder & CEO
SYED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
01.2000 - 01.2004
Manager
BURGER KING RESTAURANT
01.1999 - 01.2003
Education
MBA -
Webster University
Fayetteville, ARBachelor of Science - Computer Graphics Technology, Computer Science
Purdue University
West Lafayette, INSkills
- Microsoft Office Suite
- SharePoint
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Alteryx
- ArcGIS
- Tableau
- GCP/GBQ
- SQL
- Python
- Pandas
- R
Websites
Timeline
Technology Consultant
COLUMBUS CONSULTING INTERNATIONAL
01.2024 - Current
Director of Data Science & Technology
THE HOME DEPOT
11.2022 - 12.2023
Director of Assortment Planning & Analytics
THE HOME DEPOT
01.2019 - 01.2022
Director of Product Management
THE HOME DEPOT
01.2018 - 01.2019
Senior Director of Category Management & Analytics
WALMART
01.2016 - 01.2018
Director of Category Management & Analytics, Merchandise Operations
WALMART
01.2013 - 01.2016
Senior Manager II, Real Estate Product Management
WALMART
01.2012 - 01.2013
Senior Manager, Real Estate Analytics & Insights
WALMART
01.2009 - 01.2013
Manager, Direct Import & Sourcing
WALMART
01.2007 - 01.2009
Multimedia Producer, Supply Chain
WALMART
01.2005 - 01.2007
E-Learning Developer, Supply Chain
WALMART
01.2004 - 01.2005
Founder & CEO
SYED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
01.2000 - 01.2004
Manager
BURGER KING RESTAURANT
01.1999 - 01.2003
MBA -
Webster University
Bachelor of Science - Computer Graphics Technology, Computer Science
Purdue University
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