Guiding Stars Sr. Systems Manager

Introduction

Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which also includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands – Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Ahold Delhaize USA associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.

This manager oversees the Guiding Stars custom database, the product data that is processed by the patented algorithms, and the people who use the system to evaluate products and recipes. The role is critical for maintaining the science-based nutrition standard on which the organization relies for reporting "Healthy Sales", which is a KPI included in the calculation for ADUSA's Annual Incentive Plan for eligible leaders.

Data outputs from this manager's work also drive the consumer-facing program, including shelf tags, ecommerce communication of product ratings and a proprietary cloud-based web application. Managing data evaluation staff, maintaining business rules for each algorithm as they evolve over time, ensuring system integrity and updates, and collaborating with both internal and external business partners are all priorities for this role.

This role is also responsible for helping enable growth & improvement of the Guiding Stars program by identifying and implementing efficiencies for data and recipe evaluation processes, including data acquisition, algorithm selection, business rules management and data sharing with ADUSA and external partners.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

• Lead the operations, development, and continuous improvement of all Guiding Stars systems, ensuring seamless integration with ADUSA digital platforms and external client systems.
• Serve as the Product Owner for the Guiding Stars application, managing the product backlog and collaborating with IT to maintain a secure, modern, and scalable platform.
• Manage complex database projects to expand system capabilities and align with evolving strategic goals.

• Collaborate with ADUSA IT to ensure Guiding Stars systems remain aligned with internal platform developments and data integration needs.
• Lead as the primary liaison with IT teams and Business Relationship Managers to resolve system issues and implement improvements.
• Monitor and analyze system outages and support tickets to identify trends and ensure timely resolution.
• Document business requirements, manage user acceptance testing, and assess downstream impacts of system changes.
• Lead multiple projects including system overhauls, eCommerce integrations (e.g., PRISM), client onboarding, and process optimization.
• Manage and prioritize key processes such as recipe evaluation (menu labeling compliance), Vision Point label screening, and digital asset processing for over 300,000 food items, with 50,000+ annual updates.
• Partner with internal partners and external vendors to develop new tools, applications, system functionalities and process efficiencies.
• Ensure all algorithm processes are documented and cross-trained; manage a team responsible for high-accuracy product evaluations.
• Conduct audits to verify system accuracy and data integrity.

• Lead and support the data processing team, including professional development, scheduling, timecard approvals (Kronos), and FMLA tracking.
• Manage user access within the Guiding Stars application, including onboarding, password support, and quarterly access reviews.
• Partner with the Product & Recipe Manager by facilitating data queries that drive ADUSA's healthy sales initiatives.
• Collaborate with ADUSA Health & Sustainability teams to integrate Guiding Stars into sustainable retailing and product transparency initiatives.
• Manage vendor setup, expense tracking, invoice processing via Coupa, and vendor…