Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Head of Digital and Ecommerce

🎯 Role Definition

The Head of Digital and Ecommerce owns the full digital and ecommerce P&L, driving online revenue, conversion, customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value through an integrated omnichannel strategy. This leader defines the digital roadmap, champions customer-centric UX and CRO, manages platform and vendor selection, aligns ecommerce, marketing and operations teams, and leverages analytics, experimentation and automation to scale profitable growth across web, mobile, marketplaces and direct-to-consumer channels.

Keywords: Head of Digital and Ecommerce, eCommerce Director, digital strategy, omnichannel, conversion rate optimization, SEO, paid media, digital transformation, ecommerce platforms, marketplace strategy, customer experience.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Ecommerce Manager / Ecommerce Director
Head of Digital Marketing / Digital Director
Product or Growth Lead with strong ecommerce P&L experience

Advancement To:

Chief Digital Officer (CDO)
VP / SVP of Ecommerce and Digital Commerce
General Manager / Head of Retail & Omnichannel

Lateral Moves:

Director of Customer Experience & Retention
Head of Marketplace and Partnerships
Head of Growth / Head of Performance Marketing

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Define, own and execute a multi-year digital and ecommerce strategy that aligns with corporate goals and delivers measurable revenue, margin and customer lifetime value improvements across web, mobile and marketplace channels.
Own the ecommerce P&L, set quarterly and annual revenue, margin and CAC targets, manage budgets and investment priorities to maximize ROAS and long-term profitability.
Lead the development and continual optimization of the online customer experience, including information architecture, UX/UI, checkout flows and mobile app experiences to drive higher conversion rates and lower abandonment.
Develop and implement an integrated acquisition strategy combining SEO/organic, paid search (SEM/PPC), paid social, affiliate, influencer, email, CRM and content marketing to consistently scale profitable customer acquisition.
Implement a rigorous conversion rate optimization program using A/B testing, personalization, heatmaps and user research to lift conversion, average order value and subscription/recurring revenue metrics.
Establish and own KPIs, dashboards and executive reporting (LTV, CAC, conversion, retention, revenue by channel, product and cohort) using GA4 and your BI stack to enable data-driven decision-making.
Lead cross-functional teams including ecommerce merchandising, digital marketing, CRM, product, engineering, customer service and operations to deliver on roadmap priorities and seamless omnichannel customer journeys.
Select, negotiate and manage ecommerce platform(s), martech stack and key vendors (platform hosting, CDP, OMS, payment gateways, fraud prevention, marketplaces) to ensure scalability, reliability and security.
Drive marketplace strategy and execution (Amazon, Walmart, marketplaces by region), including pricing, assortment, advertising, fulfillment and marketplace vendor relationships to unlock incremental channels.
Lead digital product and feature roadmap (search, personalization, recommendations, loyalty, subscriptions) and prioritize backlog in partnership with engineering, product and design to accelerate value delivery.
Oversee CRM and lifecycle marketing strategy (segmentation, automation, flows, reactivation), and implement or optimize a CDP to enable 1:1 personalization at scale and increase repeat purchase rates.
Ensure ecommerce operational excellence by aligning inventory forecasting, fulfillment, returns, taxes and payments processes with digital demand to reduce stock-outs, improve margins and raise customer satisfaction.
Own experimentation governance and testing roadmap, ensuring statistically valid experiments, structured learnings and clear roll-forward decisions that feed product and marketing optimizations.
Drive SEO and organic growth strategy including technical SEO fixes, content strategy, site architecture, structured data, and migration planning to maximize long-term free traffic and brand visibility.
Lead performance marketing strategy and vendor/agencies management to optimize channel mix, budget allocation, creative testing and measurement frameworks for ROAS and incremental growth.
Manage hiring, coaching and development for a high-performing digital and ecommerce organization, setting clear KPIs, OKRs and career development plans to retain top talent.
Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations (GDPR/CCPA) and financial/security standards, working with legal and IT to implement secure handling of customer and transaction data.
Define and execute internationalization and localization strategies for digital channels, including pricing, local marketplaces, payments, language and regulatory considerations to support geographic expansion.
Lead partnerships and commercial negotiations with strategic partners, brand collaborations, payment providers and logistics partners to enhance customer experience and improve unit economics.
Collaborate with merchandising and category leads to define assortment, promotion calendars, product detail page standards and pricing strategies that maximize margins and conversion.
Build and maintain rigorous forecasting and demand planning processes in partnership with supply chain to align promotions and digital activity with inventory and operational capacity.
Drive digital transformation initiatives across the organization, evangelizing digital-first thinking, change management and cross-functional alignment to accelerate time-to-market and iterative innovation.
Create and manage a clear reporting cadence for leadership and the board, providing insights, risk mitigation plans, and strategic recommendations based on ecommerce performance and market trends.
Evaluate and implement new technology trends—headless commerce, server-side tagging, progressive web apps, AI-driven personalization—to maintain competitive advantage and improve performance outcomes.
Champion customer insights and voice-of-customer programs (surveys, NPS, on-site feedback) to translate qualitative inputs into prioritized digital improvements and product decisions.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep experience with leading ecommerce platforms (Shopify Plus, Magento / Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, BigCommerce, or custom/headless implementations).
Strong analytics and measurement skills: GA4, Google Tag Manager, server-side tracking concepts and hands-on familiarity with event-based analytics.
SQL proficiency for ad-hoc analysis and ability to interrogate customer, product and transaction datasets.
Experience with BI and reporting tools such as Looker, Tableau, Power BI or Snowflake for building executive dashboards and cohort analyses.
Expertise in CRO, A/B testing platforms and experimentation frameworks (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize alternatives).
Hands-on knowledge of SEO best practices, technical SEO tools (Screaming Frog, SEMrush, Ahrefs) and content optimization pipelines.
Paid media and performance marketing experience across Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Facebook/Meta Ads, TikTok and programmatic channels with ability to set and optimize ROAS targets.
CRM, email and marketing automation tools experience (Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Klaviyo, Braze, HubSpot) and CDP integration knowledge.
Familiarity with payments, fraud prevention, tax and regulatory integrations plus checkout optimization techniques.
Marketplace management experience (Amazon Seller/ Vendor Central, Walmart, marketplaces by region) and advertising within marketplace ecosystems.
Knowledge of headless architectures, APIs, microservices and working with engineering/DevOps for rollout and stability.
Financial acumen for P&L ownership, forecasting, and margin optimization; strong Excel / Google Sheets modeling skills.

Soft Skills

Strategic mindset with ability to translate business goals into prioritized digital roadmaps and measurable outcomes.
Strong leadership and people management: hiring, coaching, performance management and building cross-functional collaboration.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills for presenting complex data and recommendations to senior leadership and board members.
Customer-obsessed approach with empathy for user needs and strong orientation toward measurable customer experience improvements.
Analytical thinker who leverages data, experimentation and quantitative frameworks to make decisions.
Commercial acumen and negotiation skills for managing vendors, partnerships and commercial contracts.
Agile and change-oriented: comfortable operating in fast-moving environments and leading digital transformation.
Problem-solving with the ability to distill ambiguity, set clear priorities and drive execution under pressure.
Collaborative orientation: proven track record working across product, engineering, marketing, supply chain and legal teams.
Resilience and adaptability to iterate quickly based on market feedback, seasonality and competitive shifts.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Computer Science, Economics, or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA or advanced degree in Business, Digital Strategy, Data Science or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing, E-commerce, Business Administration
Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Analytics
Economics, Statistics, Supply Chain Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

8–15+ years in digital, ecommerce, product or growth roles with progressively increasing leadership responsibilities.

Preferred:

10+ years of ecommerce/digital experience with at least 5 years managing cross-functional teams and owning ecommerce P&L; demonstrated success scaling DTC, marketplace or omnichannel businesses and driving measurable improvements in conversion, retention and profitability.