Site Search Specialist

Sweetwater, the nation’s number one online retailer of music instruments and pro audio gear, is seeking to add a Site Search Specialist to our growing eCommerce team! In this role, you will be the champion of product findability, ensuring that every musician, producer, and audio enthusiast who visits Sweetwater.com and GearExchange.com can discover the perfect gear quickly and effortlessly.

As our product catalog and customer base continue to grow, we are moving beyond basic search functionality to build a specialized, data-driven competency that will allow us to compete on user experience at the highest level. This role is a ground-floor opportunity for an ambitious candidate to become a foundational member of this initiative. You won't just be filling a seat; you will be helping to define and build the future of search at Sweetwater, with immense potential for growth and impact.

Your responsibilities will be a dynamic blend of deep analysis, hands-on optimization, and cross-functional collaboration. You will not be working in a silo; you will be a central hub, translating raw customer data into actionable strategies for multiple teams.

As the team's Subject Matter Expert on search, you will own and monitor core KPIs, including click-through rate, null-search rate, and conversion. You'll use this data to validate hypotheses, balance expert insights with hard metrics, and guide our strategy for a best-in-class search experience.

Job Responsibilities

Analysis & Insight Generation

• Dive deep into customer search data using tools like BigQuery, MySQL, and PostgreSQL to understand user intent, search patterns, and on-site behavior.
• Mine search logs to identify and create action plans for null-search results, low-engagement queries, and common misspellings, transforming moments of customer friction into opportunities for improvement.
• Analyze large datasets to spot trends, patterns, and opportunities for improving search relevance and the overall product discovery experience.
• Leverage web analytics platforms, like GA4, to connect search performance with the broader customer journey and uncover new optimization opportunities.
• Develop and provide ongoing metrics and reports via GA4, Looker, Algolia, and Excel to key stakeholders in Merchandising, UX, and Marketing. You will analyze search engagement and use this data to identify growth opportunities for our content, catalog, and merchandising strategies.

Optimization & Execution

• Utilize Algolia’s powerful dashboard to implement and refine search tuning rules, manage synonyms and redirects, and configure faceting and navigation. Your work will directly improve product discovery and create a frustration-free shopping experience.
• Partner with our Product Content and Merchandising teams to identify and develop content optimization techniques that directly influence search results. You will help ensure our product data is rich, accurate, and discoverable.
• Support A/B testing and experimentation initiatives designed to validate hypotheses and measure the impact of search optimizations. You will play a key role in our data-driven decision-making process.

Collaboration & Communication

• Act as a key partner to the UX team, providing data-driven insights that help improve the search interface, auto-complete functionality, and the overall user journey.
• Develop amazing working relationships with teams across the organization, including Merchandising, Product Content, SEO, IT, and Marketing. You will act as a search evangelist, building awareness and understanding of how search excellence drives business success.
• Translate complex data and search performance metrics into clear, actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders, ensuring everyone understands the "why" behind your recommendations.

Qualifications

• Basic MySQL, PostgreSQL, BigQuery; analyzing large datasets to find trends.
• Ensure data integrity and accuracy in analysis.
• Proficiency in or ability to quickly learn Algolia for search tuning, synonym management, and faceting.
• Translating data insights into actionable recommendations for a frustration-free journey.
• Excellent written/verbal communication; ability to partner with UX, Merchandising, & IT.
• Identifying null searches, low-engagement queries, and other user pain points independently.
• Must be able to take initiative to solve problems now, not later.
• A foundational understanding of and ability to write basic queries in SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, and BigQuery) to pull and analyze data.
• Hands-on experience with or a demonstrated ability to quickly master a search platform like Algolia. You should be excited to learn the ins and outs of search tuning, relevance configuration, and analytics.
• A natural curiosity and passion for data; you enjoy digging into numbers to find the story behind them.
• A basic understanding of PHP is a plus, as it will help you understand the technical environment of our websites.
• Experience with web analytics tools like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics, particularly in analyzing clickstream data.
• Previous experience in an eCommerce environment or a passion for online retail best practices.
• A Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Data Science, Computer Science, or a related field is preferred.

Sweetwater "Ideal Team Player"

• WOWs The Customer – You possess a deep passion and desire for creating amazing customer & colleague experiences
• Get Things Done – You have a great work ethic and move through tasks with a sense of urgency
• Obsesses over the Details – You are committed to paying attention to the details
• Drives Continuous Improvement – You are always focusing on effective and efficient work and ways to get better
• Develops the Future – You are committed to the pursuit of growing personally & professionally and have a focus on bringing your colleagues along in that journey

We function best as a unified team, so relocation to our state-of-the-art campus in Fort Wayne, IN is required. Interested and qualified candidates, please apply. We look forward to exploring your #FullTimeDream with Sweetwater!

Sweetwater’s culture is one that is built on the creation and celebration of music, which unifies people from all walks of life. Our individual differences make Sweetwater stronger as a company and a better place to work. Having a truly diverse workforce allows us the opportunity to collectively respect, learn and grow from each unique perspective and experience. We have welcomed thousands of employees and families who have joined the Sweetwater team from all over the nation and the world, and we welcome you, too, to find out why we consider a career at Sweetwater the full-time dream.