Position Summary...What you'll do...Sam's Club Connect is the retail media business of Sam's Club, a closed-loop media network built on the first-party purchase data of one of the country's most loyal membership bases. We connect suppliers to members through advertising that's measurable, relevant, and grounded in what members actually buy. It's one of the fastest-growing parts of the company.
About the RoleThis is the senior strategy leadership role for the Sam's Club Connect business. You'll lead a small, high-impact Strategy team and serve as a key strategic advisor to Sam's Club Connect leadership, helping define where the business goes next, where future growth and monetization will come from, and how Sam's Club Connect differentiates as retail media continues to evolve.
This role brings an external, future-focused perspective to the business, helping Sam's Club Connect anticipate industry shifts, identify emerging opportunities, and define where the organization should invest and differentiate over time.
You'll bring an outside perspective to retail media, commerce, advertising, and adjacent ecosystems, while building the strategic capabilities, insights, and partnerships that position Sam's Club Connect for its next phase of growth. This is a builder's role. The business is scaling quickly, the category is evolving in real time, and much of what you'll help create does not exist yet.
What You'll Do- Lead the long-range strategic direction for Sam's Club Connect, including annual and multi-year planning processes that define the business's priorities, growth vectors, and investment areas
- Bring an outside view of the retail media, commerce, and advertising landscape, helping Sam's Club Connect anticipate industry shifts, competitive dynamics, and emerging trends
- Build and operationalize a competitive intelligence capability across retail media networks, ad tech platforms, commerce ecosystems, and emerging entrants
- Identify adjacent opportunities, emerging business models, and whitespace areas that could shape Sam's Club Connect's next phase of growth and differentiation
- Translate ambiguity, market signals, and evolving industry dynamics into clear, actionable recommendations for senior leadership
- Partner closely with Product, Sales, Finance, Data Science, and Marketing leaders to align strategic priorities across the organization
- Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with Walmart Connect U.S. and International Connect strategy leaders to accelerate learning, innovation, and shared capabilities across markets
- Lead high-priority strategic initiatives, including market assessments, growth opportunity evaluations, partnership strategies, and executive-level decision support
- Build and lead a high-performing strategy team and establish the operating rhythms that sustain long-term strategic planning and insight generation
What You'll Bring - 10+ years of experience, including significant time in advertising, media, commerce, or retail media strategy. This is required, not a nice-to-have.
- Experience in corporate strategy, business strategy, management consulting, or investment banking, ideally combined with operating exposure to retail media, digital advertising, e-commerce, or ad tech
- A track record of owning long-range planning or enterprise strategy definition, not just contributing analysis, but shaping direction and influencing major business decisions
- Strong commercial and analytical instincts. You can build and pressure-test models, but also know where qualitative judgment matters most.
- Deep understanding of the retail media and digital advertising ecosystem, including advertiser behavior, measurement, monetization models, and the evolving competitive landscape
- The ability to synthesize ambiguity into a clear point of view and communicate complex ideas simply to senior executives
- Strong cross-functional leadership and influence skills. Much of this role depends on aligning teams and driving decisions without direct authority.
- Experience building, leading, and developing teams
Why This RoleRetail media is being defined in real time, and Sam's Club is building from a genuinely differentiated position: a membership model, high-frequency purchase behavior, and first-party data rooted in real member relationships.
This role offers the opportunity to shape the future direction of one of the most strategically important growth businesses at Sam's Club, helping define not just how Sam's Club Connect grows, but where the retail media industry goes next.
Minimum Qualifications...Outlined below are the required minimum qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no minimum qualifications.
Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Business, Statistics, Social Science, Communications, or related field and 7 years' experience in retail merchandising, operations management, or related area OR 9 years' experience in retail merchandising, operations management, or related area. 3 years' supervisory experience.
Preferred Qualifications...Outlined below are the optional preferred qualifications for this position. If none are listed, there are no preferred qualifications.
Working on cross-functional teams or projects
Masters, Masters: Computer Science, Masters: Supply Chain, Masters: Transportation
Primary Location...2101 Se Simple Savings Dr, Bentonville, AR 72712-4304, United States of America
