Chapter Area Lead – Operations and Checkout Tech

Company Description About us

Passion for food. Hunger for tech. We make METRO digital.

Today technology is driving the world. And at METRO.digital we are driving the technology for one of the leading international wholesalers specializing in food – METRO. From e-commerce to checkout, to delivery software, we work on a wide range of products to make each day a success for our customers and colleagues. With passion and ownership, we build the future of wholesale.

Are you driven to create smart solutions for customers around the globe? You want to grow in a flexible environment? Let the right career opportunity find you and join us!

Purpose of the role

The Chapter Area Lead for Operations and Checkout Tech drives functional excellence and capability development across all four Chapters in its area – spanning in-store operations technology, checkout systems engineering, and solution management for customer invoice and payment. They ensure alignment with METRO’s strategic goals, standards, and ways of working. Acting as a key enabler with deep technical knowledge in retail operations and checkout domains, they support the Platform Leads of the Operations Platform and the Customer Invoice and Payment Platform with expert advice and emphasize the value of cross-functional collaboration between business, tech, and countries.

As Chapter Area Lead, you will oversee a large community of professionals, both internal and external FTEs organized across four Chapters and two Business Platforms:

• Platform Operations – covering in-store operations technology, stock management, and operational processes
• Platform Customer Invoice and Payment – covering checkout engineering, payment flows, and invoicing solutions

How you will make an impact

As Chapter Area Lead for Operations and Checkout Tech, you shape the engineering and solution management backbone of METRO’s in-store experience. Your work directly enables METRO’s stores in 20+ countries to operate efficiently – from the moment goods arrive in the store to the moment a customer pays at checkout.

You will lead four Chapters that build and maintain the technology powering:

• In-store operations platforms: stock visibility, ordering, inventory, and store execution tooling used daily by METRO store staff
• Checkout and payment systems: POS engineering, self-checkout technology, and checkout flow optimization across METRO’s global markets
• Customer Invoice and Payment solutions: end-to-end invoice generation, payment processing, and financial document management for B2B wholesale customers
• Cross-cutting solution management: end-to-end coordination with external partners and internal squads for outsourced operational solutions

You unify these Chapters under a coherent technical direction, remove functional blockers, and ensure that your Chapter Leads and their teams can deliver with speed, quality, and alignment to METRO’s Grand Slam objectives.

Job Description Lead the Chapter Area – Operations and Checkout Tech

• Be accountable for the continuous development and functional mastery of all four Chapters within your Chapter Area: Operations Engineering, Checkout Engineering, Operations \& Checkout Engineering, and Operations \& Checkout Solution Management
• Ensure the Chapter Area adheres to METRO-wide standards in tooling, methodology, and governance, aligned with ABR/QBR processes
• Translate functional priorities – including those specific to POS systems, checkout flows, and operations platform architecture – into enablement initiatives for Skill Chapter Leads
• Align Chapter Area contribution to METRO’s Grand Slam objectives and support strategic initiatives across the Operations and Customer Invoice \& Payment platforms
• Act as the main point of contact for technical expertise in operations and checkout domains, supporting Platform Leads and Squad Leads
• Foster a strong culture of learning, innovation, and transparency across central and local IT functions, particularly bridging the large Romania-based engineering community (101 FTE) with Germany-based and METRO global teams

Drive People \& Capability Development

• Act as the disciplinary line manager for the four Skill Chapter Leads: Operations Engineering, Checkout Engineering, Operations \& Checkout Engineering, and Operations \& Checkout Solution Management
• Ensure skilled resources are available for staffing into squads across the Operations and Customer Invoice \& Payment platforms, including management of the significant external workforce (\~81 EXT FTE)
• Lead Skill Chapter Leads by example, coaching them to build capabilities in checkout engineering, POS technologies, operational tooling, and payment processing aligned with METRO’s harmonization and standardization goals
• Identify skill gaps – especially in emerging areas such as self-checkout, real-time inventory, and B2B payment innovation – and support recruiting, upskilling, and internal mobility in collaboration with People \& Culture
• Oversee the stabilization and filling of the open Chapter Lead position in Operations \& Checkout Engineering as a near-term priority

Promote Functional Alignment \& Communication

• Represent the Chapter Area in TOM governance and other METRO forums (e.g., Grand Slam, Platform Syncs, ABR/QBR)
• Serve as a functional bridge between METRO Digital, MAG, and country teams, ensuring clarity on ownership in checkout and operations technology decisions
• Actively resolve delivery risks and blockers related to resources and capabilities, including the management of 4 temporary positions within Operations \& Checkout Solution Management
• Promote agile ways of working and drive mindset shift across Skill Chapter Leads and teams, with particular focus on the multicultural, multi-location setup across Germany, Romania, and METRO global

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with other Chapter Area Leads and Platform Leads (Operations Platform and Customer Invoice \& Payment Platform) to align on strategic initiatives and drive business goals
• Act as the technical counterpart to Business Platform Leads, providing expert advice on checkout and operations engineering topics, tooling decisions, and build-vs-buy trade-offs
• Ensure Solution Management Chapter Leads coordinate effectively with external partners for outsourced end-to-end solutions, with support from dedicated Skill Chapter Leads

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of leadership experience in IT or software environments, ideally with exposure to retail technology, POS systems, or operations platforms
• Proven background in a scaled agile setup with technology and business focus
• Experience in setting and maintaining functional standards in engineering or solution management disciplines
• Exposure to defining training programs and enablement roadmaps for technical teams
• Hands-on involvement in aligning methodologies across distributed, multi-location teams
• Demonstrated ability to operate in global, matrixed organizations, including managing a significant share of external contractors
• Strong strategic leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to align engineering capabilities in checkout, operations, and payment solutions to business and platform objectives.
• Proven ability to lead and coach distributed, multicultural teams through collaboration, mentoring, and non-hierarchical leadership approaches.
• Solid technical and business acumen across retail operations technology, checkout engineering, and B2B payment ecosystems, balancing technical excellence with customer and business value.
• Results-oriented mindset focused on continuous improvement, delivery quality, operational reliability, and capability growth within large-scale engineering organizations.

Functional Skills

• Expertise in agile frameworks and methodologies applied to checkout, operations, or retail tech contexts
• Strong capability in functional training and enablement, particularly for engineering and solution management communities
• Technical fluency in one or more of: POS and checkout systems, in-store operations technology, B2B invoicing and payment platforms, or retail ERP/WMS integrations
• Ability to define and enforce functional standards across engineering and solution management chapters
• Knowledge of industry trends in retail tech: self-checkout, RFID-based stock management, real-time payment processing, and omnichannel operations
• High-level understanding of tooling, governance, and quality assurance in multi-team engineering environments
• Capacity planning and workforce management including external FTE oversight (\~80 EXT across the Chapter Area)
• Cross-functional alignment and stakeholder management across tech, business, and country functions
• Ability to lead large expert communities (\~140 professionals) across multiple locations (Germany, Romania, global METRO)
• Experience in translating strategy into functional execution within platform-oriented organizations
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills, particularly in developing Chapter Leads from senior engineers into people leaders

Additional Information Additional information

This resonates with you? Apply now!

What we offer at METRO.digital?

• Hybrid and agile work: thrive in a flexible, multicultural environment.

At METRO.digital, we promote work-life balance through a hybrid working model. You’ll be part of self-organizing, multicultural teams that collaborate in an agile setup.

• People development: when you grow so do we!

We want you to become the best version of yourself with individual and company-wide programs and trainings for people development. Focused among other on development, leadership, appreciation ... it´s time to upskill your career.

• Support with individual solutions: we are people-caring!

We offer support whenever you need it - at every stage of your professional journey.

Want to know more about all our benefits? Discover more here.

Let´s connect soon. Apply for the role now!

Position grade within our career framework: Chapter Area Lead Md10