Search & Discovery Manager

Job description

The Search & Discovery Manager is responsible for defining and executing the enterprise search strategy across digital commerce experiences to improve product discoverability, customer engagement, conversion, and revenue within S-W.com & Pro App. This role owns on-site search performance, search merchandising, relevance optimization, governance, analytics, experimentation, and continuous enhancement of the customer search experience.

This leader serves as the organization's subject matter expert for on-site search and product discovery, partnering closely with Digital Merchandising, Product, Technology, Analytics, SEO, Content, and Marketing teams to shape the search roadmap and deliver measurable business results. Leverages search analytics, customer behavior insights, and experimentation to identify optimization opportunities, improve product discoverability, and reduce friction throughout the customer journey.

Owns search performance measurement, executive reporting, and business case development, translating insights into strategic recommendations that inform investment decisions, platform enhancements, and long-term growth initiatives. Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company’s staff, employees, and business relationships.

Role is eligible for employees to work from our Global HQ in Cleveland, Ohio or remote.

Responsibilities

Search Optimization & Merchandising Establish governance, standards, and best practices for search experiences, including management of search relevance, ranking logic, synonym management, keyword mappings, redirects, facets, filters, and search rules to improve product discoverability and customer experience. Develop and execute on-site search and search merchandising strategies aligned to customer needs, business priorities, and key customer segments, continuously optimizing the search experience based on performance data, customer behavior insights, and emerging trends.

Leverage type-ahead searches, trending search terms, customer query behavior, and voice-of-customer insights to identify unmet customer needs, optimize search relevance, and improve product discoverability and conversion. Monitor and reduce zero-result searches through query analysis, redirects/synonyms, taxonomy improvements to increase search conversion and engagement. Drive continuous improvement of search and product discovery experiences by leading testing and optimization efforts across search results, filtering, and facet navigation, leveraging performance insights to improve relevance, customer decision-making, and business outcomes.

Partner with Marketing, SEO, Content, and Digital Merchandising teams to leverage customer search insights, align on-site and organic search strategies, and balance customer relevance with business objectives to improve discoverability, engagement, and revenue. Collaborate with Product, Technology, and cross-functional stakeholders to prioritize and deliver search enhancements, optimization initiatives, and platform capabilities that improve customer experience, search performance, and business outcomes.

Evaluate, test, and implement AI-powered search and discovery capabilities, including natural language search, semantic search, generative experiences, and personalization features. Analytics & Performance Management Define, monitor, and report on key search performance KPIs, leveraging data analysis, customer behavior insights, and testing to identify optimization opportunities and measure business impact. Develop executive and cross-functional reporting, insights, and business cases that inform investment decisions, platform enhancements, and search optimization priorities, including search-attributed revenue, conversion, engagement, and zero-results performance.

Qualifications

Required

Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience 3-5 years of experience in eCommerce, search, digital merchandising, product discovery, or related disciplines. Strong analytical skills with experience utilizing search and behavioral data to drive decisions. Experience influencing cross-functional teams and delivering initiatives through matrixed organizations. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred

3-5 years of experience in eCommerce, search, digital merchandising, product discovery, or related disciplines. Experience managing enterprise search platforms such as Algolia, Adobe Commerce Live Search, Constructor, Bloomreach or similar technologies. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. Experience developing business cases and presenting recommendations to senior leadership. Travel 10-20%