Vice President IT, Customer Care Technology

About 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is a leading online gifting and experiential commerce company with a family of iconic brands including 1-800-Flowers.com, Harry & David, Cheryl's Cookies, PersonalizationMall.com, Things Remembered, and more. Our mission is to inspire more human expression, connection, and celebration—powered by innovative customer experiences and a seamlessly integrated technology ecosystem.Key ResponsibilitiesStrategic Technology LeadershipIn conjunction with the Business and Product Management, define and execute a multi-year technology vision and roadmap spanning:Customer Care platforms (CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service), CRM, customer accommodations, digital engagement, WFM and analyticsDevelop and execute Enterprise Order Management integrations for exception handlingCollaborating with Product Management to develop AI & Virtual agents' strategy and executionAlign technology investments to measurable business outcomes including:CSAT / NPS improvementCost-to-serve reductionCSRs end-to-end productivity improvementsEstablish scalable, API-first, cloud-native architecture aligned to enterprise standards.Technology Platform & Solution OwnershipEnsure reliable, secure, compliant, and scalable technology platform to deliver operational capability across:Voice, chat, email, SMS, and digital service channelsIntegrated order capture and exception handlingWork collaboratively within IT (and business) on integrations across ERP, WMS, TMS, Digital Commerce, Payments, real-time Inventory visibility and enterprise data platforms to drive a seamless customer and agent experienceCollaborate on Customer Center strategy, design, reliability, and optimization:IVR, call routing, telephony platformsOrder exception management workflowsSelf-service and agent assisted transactionsEnsure peak-readiness and high availability (99.9%+ uptime) across all platforms.Delivery & ModernizationLead large-scale technology transformation programs including:CCaaS implementation & migrationsCRM modernizationWorkforce forecasting, planning and scheduling solutionsAutonomous agents and customer experience improvementsImplement agile engineering practices with outcome-based delivery.Establish architecture standards for technology selection, deployment, lifecycle management, and technical governance.Support modernization initiatives leveraging:Intelligent call routing and speech recognitionPredictive inventory analyticsAutomated order exception handlingInnovation& Intelligent Automation (AI/ML, Agentic AI, Bots)Support adoption of AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation across customer care.Support implementation of Agentic AI and autonomous workflow agents to:Address and resolve WIMO callsResolve order exceptionsAutomate refunds, replacements, and adjustmentsProactively manage inventory imbalancesAssist agents with real-time recommendations and next-best actionsCollaborate and support conversational AI, chatbots, voice bots, and virtual assistants to increase containment, improve personalization, and reduce cost-to-serve.Deploy predictive analytics and ML models for:Call volume forecastingOrder risk scoringInventory demand sensingBackorder preventionEstablish foresight metrics, alerts and early-warning dashboards to anticipate service spikes, fulfillment bottlenecks, delivery and inventory constraints before customer impact.Partner with Data & Analytics to operationalize semantic-layer-driven intelligence into customer[1]care systems.Operational Excellence & ReliabilityOwn production support, incident management, and platform stability.Reduce incident rates and Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR).Ensure resilience, disaster recovery readiness, and business continuity.Optimize system performance to handle seasonal and promotional peaks.Data, Analytics & AutomationEnable analytics layer to help business improve:Call containmentForecast accuracyAgent productivityCustomer and Agent experienceCost-to-serveEstablish KPI dashboards measuring both technical and business performance impact.Leadership & Cross-Functional CollaborationBuild and lead high-performing engineering, architecture, and operations teams.Partner closely with:Product Management and Customer Care OperationsSupply Chain & FulfillmentDigital CommerceFinance & FP&ASecurity & ComplianceInfluence executive stakeholders and participate in steering committee governance.Ensure alignment with enterprise Intake Planning and capital prioritization processes.Qualifications:Experience10+ years of progressive senior technology leadership and management of enterprise platforms experience (Sr. Director or VP level).eCommerce environments ($1B+ revenue).Experience managing global teams (including off-shore development centers) and large technology portfolios.Technical ExpertiseDeep knowledge of:CCaaS platforms (e.g., Dynamics, Genesys, Five9, NICE, Kodex)CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Dynamics, Zendesk, ServiceNow)Workforce Management SolutionsIVR and call/chat routing & optimizationStrong understanding of:Cloud-native architectureAPI and microservices designEvent-driven integration patternsEnterprise security and compliance standardsLeadership CompetenciesStrategic thinker with firm grasp on innovation and emerging technologies.Clear communicator with strong business acumen.Proven ability to influence C-level executives.Strong vendor negotiation and ecosystem management skills.Data-driven decision-maker with measurable results orientation.Exceptional team player with proven servant leadership style.Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology is required.Advanced degree preferred