Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

The CIO of $2 billion shoe chain DSW is putting out feelers for a senior retail IT manager, one whose background focuses on applications (not infrastructure), merchandise planning distribution, allocation and logistics.

Background in “store systems would also be interesting” for this position, said DSW CIO Carlos Cherubin.

“This is a new position, born of the fact that our organization is growing,” he said, referring to its current 210-person IT operation (internal IT staff of 170 plus about 40 IT contractors). “We’re a 200-person shop day-to-day,” Cherubin said.

DSW runs about 309 stores in 39 states, plus it’s E-Commerce site and a footwear-supplier role with an additional 353 leased U.S. locations.

DSW uses a lot of JDA and Oracle, so that would also be good background, he said, adding that “some JDA assortment planning expertise” would be “certainly a plus. We want someone who can really grow beyond this position,” as it is seen as a serious successor for one level up.

The official title of the job is Senior Director of Applications, overseeing more than 50 IT professionals.

The position’s list of responsibilities has this role owning “all support and projects related to our retail applications: merchandising (ordering, stock ledger, inventory control, pricing, sales audit), planning, allocation, distribution and logistics, stores, finance and human resources.”

The manager will report into—and fill in for—the VP of Solutions Delivery, which also owns architecture, online applications, EDW/BI, integration and QA.

The CIO wants to fill the position—to be based in Columbus, Ohio—immediately. Anyone interested should apply by E-mailing Matt Kennon.