Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives

Walmart is seeking a Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives to lead corporate sustainability efforts across various categories. This role involves integrating sustainability into sourcing and merchandising strategies, driving progress on sustainability goals, managing supplier relationships, and influencing executive leadership. The position requires collaboration with stakeholders to develop long-term strategies and innovative solutions while ensuring accurate ESG disclosures. The role is based in Bentonville, AR.
Position Summary...
Are you passionate about making sustainability a source of resilience and competitive advantage in the retail industry and leveraging business as a force for good? As Senior Director of Corporate Sustainability – Business Acceleration Team (General Merchandising, Fashion, Consumables, Health & Wellness) at Walmart, you’ll lead efforts to integrate sustainability practices into sourcing and merchandising strategies across a wide variety of categories. You’ll drive progress on Walmart’s ambitious sustainability goals (across our climate, nature, waste, and people in product value chains priorities), activate supplier engagement, build external partnerships, and deliver business value while helping to shape a more sustainable food future.

As a member of the Senior leadership of the Sustainability team, this high-impact role will own long-term strategy development, embed sustainability into business planning, advance innovation through scalable pilots, manage key relationships with suppliers and stakeholders, and support ESG disclosures.

What you'll do...
• Accelerate progress on sustainability goals and deliver business value by integrating sustainability practices into merchandising and sourcing strategies across General Merchandising, Fashion, Consumables, Health & Wellness categories for Walmart US, Sam’s Club and international markets. Develop and implement Business Unit-specific strategies and build programs to attain sustainability goals while creating business value (e.g via specifications, certifications, supplier capacity building, partnerships, industry consortia, policy advocacy, place-based pilots, tech innovation, new tech/systems, data/validation, etc.).
• Lead Long Rang Planning and Annual Operating Plans integration to align sourcing and merchandising business plans with long-term sustainability strategies. Activate and engage suppliers to achieve corporate goals: Differentiate our private brands on EDLP and sustainability standards; and galvanize regen approaches with National Brands & NGOs partners.
• Test innovative solutions from incubation to embedding into the business through pilots, scaling successful models across categories. For example, on initiatives such as Customer Energy Solutions, place-based projects, supply chains traceability, and advancing the more sustainable sourcing of key commodities such as Pulp, Paper, Timber (PPT) or more sustainable textile fibers.
• Influence the development of sustainability tools and metrics that ensure consistent measurement and accountability (both external aspirations and short-term internal leading indicators, aligned with business stakeholders, to drive progress on long-term goals). Provide ESG claims and reporting support, ensuring accuracy and transparency in disclosures.
• Manage relationships with key internal and external stakeholders: influence executive leadership and align various stakeholders, sometimes with diverging opinions, on targets, strategies and initiatives. Represent Walmart externally through speaking, engaging in forums, supporting ESG disclosures to demonstrate thought leadership, shape the field and accelerate progress in industry sustainability.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team by managing a team of sustainability professionals, providing coaching, feedback, and professional development opportunities. Set clear goals, establish accountability, and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration. Align team resources to high-impact opportunities, ensuring progress on both short-term deliverables and long-term strategic priorities.

What you’ll bring:
• Strong business acumen and strategy develop