Program Manager, Worldwide Grocery Stores (WWGS) Labor Forecasting

The WWGS Workforce Management Team is seeking a Program Manager to play a central role in shaping and advancing the WWGS Labor Forecasting domain. This position contributes to forecasting strategy, roadmap execution, and delivery - supporting capacity planning and operational decision-making across 500+ stores and 100,000+ associates.

The ideal candidate is a systems thinker with deep expertise in workforce forecasting, a bias for simplification, and the ability to drive alignment across Finance, Engineering, and Operations stakeholders. This role is critical to rebuilding operator trust in labor targets and enabling the organization to plan and operate with confidence.

Key job responsibilities

Forecasting Ownership & Accuracy:

• Contribute to the strategy, methodology, and planning accuracy of the WWGS labor forecasting domain, partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to drive improvements and ensure forecasting processes are well-defined, repeatable, and operationally grounded.
• Define and document a repeatable weekly process to review the volume forecast(s) and establish variance thresholds that trigger deeper evaluation
• Establish clear criteria for how to evaluate and override system generated forecasts.
• Monitor short-range volume forecasting within our third-party system (UKG Pro), ensuring stability, accuracy, and continuous improvement of near-term demand signals
• Track and review forecast accuracy across our multiple forecast solutions, establishing a consistent measurement framework
• Simplify and reduce forecast systems.

Strategy & Roadmap:

• Define forecasting methodologies and drive improvements in model performance across tools, processes, and capabilities
• Lead the transition away from budget-adjusted labor forecasting (BALF) toward demand-based, operationally grounded targets
• Incorporate management of holiday and discard events into the forecasting framework as appropriate

AI & Technology:

• Leverage AI and Machine Learning technologies to improve forecast accuracy and automate existing manual processes
• Identify opportunities to enhance predictive models and reduce manual intervention across the forecasting lifecycle

Financial Planning Alignment:

• Partner closely with Finance to support long-range forecasting and financial planning, including operational planning cycles (OP1, OP2, QG)
• Ensure alignment between workforce plans and financial targets, serving as the connective tissue between operational demand and financial guidance
• Collaborate with Finance to define evaluation mechanisms and decisioning criteria for forecast overrides

Documentation & Process Excellence:

• Create comprehensive methodology documentation, establishing a single source of truth for all forecasting processes
• Develop internal SOPs for ongoing forecast and financial guidance operations
• Improve and refine cross-team protocols and handoff procedures across Operations Finance, Workforce Planning, and OBS