Full-Time
Director, Software Engineering
Agentic Foundations
Updated on 9/3/2026
84.51 Degrees
1,001-5,000 employees
Data analytics for retail marketing decisions
Compensation Overview
$162k - $262k/yr
Chicago, IL, USA + 1 more
More locations: Cincinnati, OH, USA
In Person
Five days in the office per week are required.
Bachelor's
 Engineering Management (1) |
|---|
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- At least 7 years of professional experience with cloud-based software architecture focused on scalability, performance, and reliability.
- At least 7 years of professional experience with end-to-end software development life cycle using continuous integration and continuous delivery, AIOps/MLOps, and agentic software development life cycle tooling.
- At least 7 years of professional experience with large-scale artificial intelligence and machine learning systems, including at least 2 years with generative artificial intelligence and deep learning methods.
- Professional experience with production-grade agentic systems, including design and development, evaluations, deployment, and monitoring.
- Professional experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning frameworks and tooling, including PyTorch, OpenAI software development kit, LangChain, and autogen.
- Professional experience with AIOps/MLOps tooling and concepts, including MLflow, Model Registry, and Model Monitoring.
- Professional experience scaling and deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning systems using Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, including continuous integration and continuous delivery, containerization, orchestration, and application programming interface development, particularly FastAPI.
- Professional experience with Kubernetes, including Azure Kubernetes Service, and Helm.
- Professional experience with Python.
- Professional experience using Terraform for infrastructure as code.
- Professional experience leading technical teams and consulting with customers, including managing senior engineers, communicating complex technical topics, and driving outcomes in ambiguous environments.
- Skill in partnering with product management peers to jointly define product and team direction and priorities.
- A Bachelor's degree or higher in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
- Partner with the Director of Product Management for Agentic Foundations to jointly lead the space for the Kroger enterprise.
- Lead and manage a team of engineers, guiding them in the design and development of their product and platform areas and in managing their own reports.
- Lead and manage hiring efforts for engineers on the Agentic Foundations team, including finding interview panelists, writing interview guides and questions, and assisting with coding screening questions.
- Own and manage offshore reliability engineering teams.
- Provide in-depth technical leadership in scoping and implementing enterprise-grade solutions to support agents across the Kroger enterprise.
- Provide operational leadership across agentic platforms, ensuring enterprise-grade reliability, observability, and incident management.
- Maintain up-to-date expertise on agentic workflows, frameworks, platforms, and best practices to identify and inform new capabilities for implementation.
- Foster a collaborative and innovative team environment that encourages professional growth and development among team members.
- Reduce the team's development time by leveraging agentic software development life cycle tooling provided by the enterprise.
- Lead the abstraction of tooling and services into user-friendly interfaces such as application programming interfaces, Python packages, or user interfaces.
- Understand business requirements and trade-offs involving scale, risk, and accuracy to maximize value and translate research into consumable products or services.
- Guide development teams to follow software development standards, including version control, documentation, testing, and support.
- Make time-sensitive decisions and solve urgent problems without escalation.
84.51 Degrees analyzes large volumes of consumer data to help retailers and consumer goods companies understand shopper behavior and tailor marketing strategies. Its main product is data analytics and predictive analytics tools that uncover consumer insights, trends, and preferences across generations. These insights are delivered to B2B clients via subscriptions, project-based work, or performance-based pricing, enabling clients to make data-driven decisions and optimize customer engagement across the purchasing journey. The company differentiates itself through a strong emphasis on culture and inclusive workplace values, which it views as important for driving collaboration and innovation. Overall, the goal is to help clients stay relevant and competitive by translating data into actionable marketing and merchandising strategies.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
M&A
Total Funding
$5.5M
Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Founded
2015
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Kroger said KPM profit grew over 20% in Q2 2026.
- Kroger led grocery retail media in Q1 2026 with 2.4 billion impressions.
- Milen Mahadevan became Kroger chief data and AI officer in March 2026.
What critics are saying
- March 2025 84.51° layoffs and August 2025 broader Kroger cuts signal ongoing restructuring.
- August 21 2026 Sony Music sued Kroger and 84.51° over 392 ad-song uses.
- Instacart, Walmart, and Amazon squeeze retail-media budgets; Kroger's dependence on Kroger worsens.
What makes 84.51 Degrees unique
- 84.51° powers Kroger Precision Marketing with first-party purchase data and closed-loop measurement.
- February 2026 unification put insights, loyalty marketing, and retail media under KPM.
- Kroger's privacy policy still routes loyalty data through 84.51° for aggregate analytics.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Company Match
401(k) Retirement Plan
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Holidays
Parental Leave
Hybrid Work Options
Mental Health Support
Company News
Coalition partners, including title sponsor Colgate-Palmolive, are committed to supporting the goal of generating over 1,000 hours of mentorship for students in one yearWASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of National Mentoring Month this January, 1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to fueling the career goals and dreams of talented women in need, announces the Year 6 return of MentorHER , its women's mentoring initiative. Together, with its coalition of partners, they have set a goal of generating over 1,000 hours of mentorship for students in one year.Celebrating National Mentoring Month, 1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to fueling the career goals and dreams of talented women in need, announces the Year 6 return of its women's mentoring initiative, MentorHER with Colgate-Palmolive as its Title Sponsor.According to 1,000 Dreams Fund's research, 70 percent of American women, ages 18-25, say they have never had a mentor. MentorHER was created to address the need for more mentors for young women by connecting working professionals with underserved students to create mentoring relationships that lead to success in school and beyond. Additionally, the program focuses on high-quality matches by pairing students with professionals who hold positions in industries to which the student aspires to work.Colgate-Palmolive Company , a founding partner of the program, is returning as the Title Sponsor. As part of its purpose to reimagine a healthier future for all people, the Company will continue to partner with 1DF by enlisting employee mentors to empower women and accelerate their progress into leadership
On World Introvert Day, HushLoudly recognizes companies demonstrating a commitment to introvert inclusionCHICAGO, Jan. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- HushLoudly, a podcast and brand dedicated to advocating for introversion, celebrates companies that have established employee resource groups (ERGs), education, programming, special events, and content that honor individuals' preferences for introversion. These organizations are leading the way in bringing positive attention and understanding to the differences in personality styles through advocacy, education, resources, and support
Aitkin joined Kroger as CMO in 2020, from chief executive officer of 84.51°, Kroger's insights and media division.
As grocery shoppers increasingly seek out Click-and-Mortar™ technologies for a seamless omnichannel experience, Albertsons is seeing double-digit online growth, helped by its rewards refresh. The grocery giant, which has more than 2,200 stores across the U.S., shared in its first-quarter fiscal 2024 financial results, reported Tuesday (July 23), that it saw digital sales rise 23% year over year as loyalty membership grew by 15% to 41.4 million. “Our Customers for Life strategy is placing the customer at the center of everything we do, and we continued to drive strong year-over-year growth in loyalty members as we launched our new simplified ‘for U’ loyalty program,” CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a statement. “Amidst an evolving economic and industry backdrop, we continued to deliver outsized growth in our digital and pharmacy businesses.”
Great Britain’s Co-op is teaming with Walmart to expand its online grocery offering. The cooperative convenience store network announced Friday (July 5) that it will work with Walmart Commerce Technologies to implement its online fulfillment technology, “Store Assist.”. “Growing our share of the quick commerce market is our focus through both our own online shop and with strategic partners,” Co-op Head of Online Development George Hayworth said in the announcement