Who leads AI at Burlington Stores?

AI at Burlington Stores is led by Varadheesh Chennakrishnan (Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer); Tracy Aguilar (Vice President, Talent Acquisition). Ownership of AI on the org chart: No named AI chief; CIO Varadheesh Chennakrishnan runs IT, and the Audit Committee oversees AI governance.

Which AI models does Burlington Stores use?

Burlington Stores has not named the models behind its AI, each tool runs its vendor's own, and a Sep 2026 posting asks its Enterprise Data and Analytics engineers for Snowflake and Microsoft Azure experience to prepare data for machine learning and generative AI uses.

How many Burlington employees use AI?

Burlington Stores has not said how many of its 83,309 associates use AI; Copilot licenses are assigned by approval, and the Allison assistant handles hiring for the stores and distribution centers where 97% of associates work.

How far has AI spread at Burlington Stores?

Burlington Stores sits at Piloting, at the low end of the rung: a sanctioned AI assistant, Microsoft Copilot, is licensed to employees by approval under management's AI governance framework (Jul 2026), and a few bought AI tools run in production, led by Paradox's hiring assistant across more than 1,200 stores since May 2024 and HireVue's AI-scored assessments since Aug 2020. Burlington Stores falls short of Scaling because it names no AI owner, has opened no AI platform to most of its 83,309 associates and reports no AI results, and its plans for AI in merchandising wait on an Oracle Retail cloud upgrade that is still under way.

Verified Nov 1, 2026

Burlington Stores

Piloting

Off-price retail
83,309 associates
No named AI chief
AI hiring at 1,200+ stores
Microsoft Copilot (2026)
No AI ROI reported

Burlington Stores deploys AI through vendor tools rather than a platform of its own: Paradox's assistant Allison has screened and scheduled store and distribution center candidates since May 2024 and now covers more than 1,200 stores, HireVue scores early-career applicants, and Microsoft Copilot is licensed to employees under an AI governance framework the board's Audit Committee oversees. CEO Michael O'Sullivan said in Mar 2026 that AI can make a huge difference in localizing assortments, and Burlington has reported no AI spending, user count or return.

burlington.com

Their approach to AI

The platform: Burlington Stores has no AI platform of its own and buys AI inside vendor tools: Paradox's Conversational ATS with its assistant Allison for store and distribution center hiring since May 2024, HireVue assessments for early-career hiring since Aug 2020, and Microsoft Copilot for employees (Jul 2026).
The models: Burlington Stores has not named the models behind its AI, each tool runs its vendor's own, and a Sep 2026 posting asks its Enterprise Data and Analytics engineers for Snowflake and Microsoft Azure experience to prepare data for machine learning and generative AI uses.
The reach: Burlington Stores has not said how many of its 83,309 associates use AI; Copilot licenses are assigned by approval, and the Allison assistant handles hiring for the stores and distribution centers where 97% of associates work.
The catch: Burlington Stores reports no AI spending, owner or return, its FY2025 Form 10-K mentions AI only as a competitive, defect and cyber risk, and three of its four earnings calls from Nov 2025 to Aug 2026 did not mention AI.

Snapshot

Employees: 83,309; Jan 31, 2026; 79% part-time or seasonal, 3% in the corporate organization (FY2025 Form 10-K)
Technology budget: Not disclosed; FY2025 capex of $1.1B went mostly to stores and supply chain, the rest to IT and other initiatives; about $875M planned for FY2026
AI/ML headcount: Not disclosed; 2026 postings name an Enterprise Data and Analytics team and AI and Innovation teams
Who owns AI: No named AI chief; CIO Varadheesh Chennakrishnan, since 2023, runs IT; the Audit Committee oversees AI governance
Platform: None of its own; Bought tools: Microsoft Copilot, Paradox's Allison and HireVue
Models: Not disclosed; Each vendor supplies its own; a Sep 2026 data engineering posting names Snowflake and Microsoft Azure
Reach: Not disclosed; Copilot licenses assigned by approval (Jul 2026); no user count published
Use cases: Hiring and employee productivity; AI in merchandising planned after the Oracle Retail cloud upgrade (Oct 2026 posting)

Key findings

Burlington Stores has run Paradox's AI recruiting assistant Allison since a single go-live in May 2024, screening and scheduling candidates for more than 1,200 stores and its distribution centers, and has used HireVue's AI-scored video and game assessments for early-career roles since Aug 20, 2020.
Burlington supports Microsoft Copilot for employees who receive licenses by approval, within established governance, compliance and data protection policies, according to a Jul 2026 posting for an AI enablement role that also cites an enterprise AI roadmap.
Burlington's management has an AI governance framework overseen by the board's Audit Committee, and the full board took AI education sessions in 2024 and 2025, while the FY2025 Form 10-K mentions AI only as a competitive, defect and cyber risk.
Michael O'Sullivan said on Mar 5, 2026 that AI can make a huge difference in localizing assortments now that Merchandising 2.0 has upgraded Burlington's planning and allocation systems, and an Oct 2026 posting says an Oracle Retail cloud upgrade will lay the foundation for AI in merchandising.
Burlington has published no AI spending, user count, owner or return on AI; the only AI figure on record is Paradox's report of about 50% fewer store interviews, and Matthew Pasch, the HR chief during that rollout, left on Sep 1, 2026, succeeded by John Pershing in Oct 2026.

Where Burlington sits

Stage: Piloting
Burlington Stores sits at Piloting, at the low end of the rung: a sanctioned AI assistant, Microsoft Copilot, is licensed to employees by approval under management's AI governance framework (Jul 2026), and a few bought AI tools run in production, led by Paradox's hiring assistant across more than 1,200 stores since May 2024 and HireVue's AI-scored assessments since Aug 2020. Burlington Stores falls short of Scaling because it names no AI owner, has opened no AI platform to most of its 83,309 associates and reports no AI results, and its plans for AI in merchandising wait on an Oracle Retail cloud upgrade that is still under way.
How the stages are defined
Ownership: No named AI chief; CIO Varadheesh Chennakrishnan runs IT, and the Audit Committee oversees AI governance
Platform: Bought: Vendor AI: Microsoft Copilot, Paradox and HireVue
Models: Not disclosed; each vendor's own models
Hosting: Not disclosed; Copilot, Paradox and HireVue run as vendor services; data engineering on Snowflake and Microsoft Azure (job posting); Oracle Retail on premises, moving to Oracle's cloud
Reach: Not disclosed; Copilot licensed by approval

How they deploy

Buy AI inside the tools

Burlington Stores gets its AI inside software it buys instead of building models or a platform: Paradox's Conversational ATS and its assistant Allison for store and distribution center hiring, HireVue's assessments for early-career hiring, and Microsoft Copilot for employees. Burlington's FY2025 Form 10-K says its business is exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores, and none of the AI Burlington has described touches an online channel.

Systems first, AI later in merchandising

Michael O'Sullivan said on Mar 5, 2026 that localizing assortments by region, climate, income and demographics is a problem where AI "can make a huge difference", but that Burlington first had to upgrade its foundational merchandise planning and allocation systems, which it did through Merchandising 2.0 over the previous two years. Burlington's Oct 2026 posting for a VP of Merchandising Systems says moving its Oracle Retail suite to Oracle's cloud, under a Merchandising 2.5 strategy, will lay the foundation for AI adoption within the merchandising organization.

Basics of off-price

Michael O'Sullivan said on May 28, 2026 that Burlington trails its two large off-price peers in capabilities such as assortment localization and supply chain automation, and that Burlington needs to stay focused on the basics of off-price, such as managing inventory and chasing the sales trend, rather than new and radical ideas.

Hiring for 2,000 stores

Tracy Aguilar, Burlington's Vice President of Talent Acquisition, said in a Jun 2025 Paradox webinar that Burlington adopted the Allison assistant because running its interview scheduling process, as it worked at about 850 stores, across Burlington's 2,000-store goal would have needed two or three times the recruiting team, and that Burlington switched Allison on everywhere at once in May 2024 rather than in tiers.

Governed adoption

Burlington's AI enablement staff coordinate Copilot licenses in line with policy and approvals, write use-case guides by function for HR, finance, merchandising, supply chain and IT, and escalate sensitive data exposure to security and compliance teams, according to a Jul 2026 posting. Burlington's 2025 and 2026 proxy statements say management built an AI governance framework to use AI responsibly to improve operations while mitigating risk.

Deployment model: Burlington Stores deploys AI through its functions rather than a central AI office. Chief Information Officer Varadheesh Chennakrishnan, who joined in 2023, runs information technology, and Burlington's 2026 job postings describe an Enterprise Data and Analytics team of data engineers, data scientists and cloud engineers serving merchandising, allocations, marketing, IT and supply chain analytics, AI and Innovation teams that work with merchandising, and an AI enablement role that supports Copilot users. Human resources owns the AI hiring tools, and Vice President of Talent Acquisition Tracy Aguilar and HR systems leader Alanna LeBlanc led the Paradox rollout. Job-board copies of a 2026 Burlington posting for a VP, IT Enterprise AI described an owner for enterprise AI strategy, governance and platform architecture; Burlington has not said whether it filled the role.
Model providers: Burlington Stores has not named a model provider. Burlington's AI arrives with each vendor: Microsoft Copilot across Microsoft 365, Paradox's Allison assistant (Workday completed its acquisition of Paradox on Oct 1, 2025), and HireVue's competency scoring algorithms, which an independent New York City Local Law 144 bias audit covers. Burlington's merchandising runs on an on-premises Oracle Retail suite, and its Oct 2026 posting asks for expertise in Oracle Retail's merchandising, pricing, markdown, planning, allocation and demand forecasting modules; Burlington has not said whether any of these use machine learning.
Data and infrastructure: Burlington Stores' FY2025 Form 10-K says Burlington relies on information systems including data centers, hardware, software and applications, entrusts some customer and employee information to third-party providers, and warns that AI capabilities it develops or obtains may contain defects that compromise security. Burlington's Sep 2026 posting for a senior data engineer asks for experience with Snowflake, Oracle databases, Microsoft Azure and Azure Data Lake Storage to load data into its cloud data platform for advanced analytics and for AI, machine learning and generative AI uses. Burlington's Oct 2026 posting describes a major investment in moving the on-premises Oracle Retail suite to Oracle's cloud. Burlington has not said where vendor AI processes its data or whether vendors may train on it, and HireVue applicants can ask Burlington what data the assessment collects and how long it is kept.

Platforms and internal tools

Paradox Conversational ATS with the Allison assistantMay 2024
Paradox's Conversational ATS, powered by an AI assistant called Allison, automates interview scheduling, screening and round-the-clock text conversations with candidates for Burlington's stores and distribution centers. Allison answers in the candidate's language, asks up front about availability and pay, and lets a qualified candidate book an interview within five minutes, Burlington's talent acquisition and HR systems leaders said in Jun 2025.
Users
Candidates and hiring managers at 1,200+ stores and the distribution centers
Source
HireVue AssessmentsAug 20, 2020
HireVue's on-demand video interviews and game-based assessments, which incorporate AI according to Burlington's postings, score applicants to Burlington's allocation analyst, assistant buyer and buying, planning, allocation and finance intern programs on competencies such as adaptability, dependability and drive for results.
Users
Early-career and intern applicants
Source
Microsoft Copilot and enterprise AI toolsBy Jul 2026
Burlington supports Microsoft Copilot and other enterprise AI tools for employees who receive licenses by approval, with knowledge articles, office hours, champion networks and use-case guides by function, and tracks license use to reallocate idle licenses, according to a Jul 2026 posting.
Users
Licensed employees; count not disclosed
Source
Enterprise cloud data platform
Burlington's Enterprise Data and Analytics team loads first- and third-party data into a cloud data platform for advanced analytics, segmentation, modeling and AI, machine learning and generative AI uses, and asks engineers for experience with Snowflake, Oracle databases and Microsoft Azure, according to a Sep 2026 posting.
Users
Merchandising, allocations, marketing, IT and supply chain analytics teams
Source
Merchandising 2.0 systems2023 to 2025
Merchandising 2.0 is Burlington's name for the new tools, systems and processes for buying and planning that it launched and rolled out between 2023 and 2025, including upgraded planning and allocation systems and newer localization analytics. Burlington's Oct 2026 posting ties the next phase, Merchandising 2.5, to moving its Oracle Retail merchandising systems to Oracle's cloud; Burlington has not said that Merchandising 2.0 uses AI.
Source

Vendors and partners

MicrosoftBy Jul 2026
Copilot and Microsoft 365 for employees; Azure named in Burlington's data engineering postings · Burlington's Jul 2026 AI enablement posting covers Copilot licensing, support and governance, and its Sep 2026 data engineering posting asks for Azure and Azure Data Lake Storage experience.
Workday (Paradox)May 2024
Conversational ATS and the Allison AI hiring assistant; Burlington takes job applications through Workday · Workday completed its acquisition of Paradox on Oct 1, 2025, and publishes Burlington's deployment as a Workday Paradox customer story.
HireVueAug 2020
AI-scored video interviews and game-based assessments for early-career hiring · Burlington's careers page links an independent New York City Local Law 144 bias audit of HireVue's scoring algorithms by Corymb.
Oracle
Oracle Retail merchandising suite, on premises, moving to Oracle's cloud · Burlington's Oct 2026 posting describes a major investment in the Oracle Retail cloud upgrade and says it lays the foundation for AI adoption in merchandising.
Snowflake
Data platform named in Burlington's data engineering postings · Burlington's Sep 2026 senior data engineer posting asks for Snowflake and Oracle database experience alongside Microsoft Azure.

Leadership

AI, data and platform leaders

Varadheesh Chennakrishnan

Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Varadheesh Chennakrishnan became Burlington's CIO in 2023, and Burlington's 2025 annual report lists him, as Varadheeswaran Chennakrishnan, as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Chennakrishnan was JOANN's CIO from Mar 2019, reporting to its CEO, after about eight years at Ulta Beauty, most recently as SVP of applications and enterprise architecture. Burlington's FY2025 Form 10-K names the CIO, who has more than 25 years of IT leadership, as the executive principally responsible for cybersecurity risk management and says the CIO and CISO report to the Audit Committee every quarter.

Tracy Aguilar

Vice President, Talent Acquisition

Unconfirmed

Tracy Aguilar oversees recruiting for Burlington's stores and distribution centers and had been at Burlington 11 years by Jun 2025, when she described in a Paradox webinar how Burlington chose the Allison assistant to scale hiring toward 2,000 stores and switched it on everywhere at once in May 2024. Aguilar's title comes from Paradox's materials; Burlington has not published it.

Executives

Michael O'Sullivan

Chief Executive Officer

Michael O'Sullivan became Burlington's CEO in Sep 2019 after 16 years at Ross Stores, where he rose to President and COO in 2009 and managed areas including IT and merchandise allocations, and was earlier a partner at Bain & Company from 1991 to 2003. O'Sullivan said on Mar 5, 2026 that AI can make a huge difference in localizing Burlington's assortments.

Kristin Wolfe

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Kristin Wolfe has been Burlington's CFO since Aug 2022, after roles at Ross Stores from 2009 to May 2022, most recently Group Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance, and 10 years at Bain & Company. Wolfe said on Aug 27, 2026 that Burlington's distribution centers use better predictive tools and routing capabilities to cut handling costs, without calling them AI.

Jennifer Vecchio

Group President and Chief Merchandising Officer

Jennifer Vecchio joined Burlington as Chief Merchandising Officer in May 2015 and has been Group President and Chief Merchandising Officer since Jul 2021, after merchandising roles at Ross Stores from 1997 to 2011 and Macy's from 1988 to 1997. Vecchio's merchandising organization is the group Burlington's Oct 2026 posting aims to bring to the forefront of AI adoption after the Oracle Retail cloud upgrade.

John Pershing

Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

John Pershing joined Burlington as CHRO in Oct 2026, succeeding Matthew Pasch, after serving as CHRO of Barnes & Noble from 2024 through 2025, Canadian Tire from 2019 to 2023 and Ascena Retail Group from 2015 to 2019, and more than 20 years at Best Buy. Pershing's HR organization runs Burlington's AI hiring tools, Paradox's Allison and HireVue.

Board

Michael Goodwin

Director; Audit Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Michael Goodwin has been a Burlington director since 2020 and sits on the Audit Committee, which oversees Burlington's information security and AI governance. Goodwin was SVP and Chief Information Technology Officer of PetSmart from 2014 to 2023 and SVP and CIO of Technology and Business Enablement at Hallmark Cards from 2006 to 2014, and has served on Cracker Barrel's board since 2024.

AI org map

IT under a CIO, with data and AI teams and an AI enablement role; AI hiring tools in HR; AI governance overseen by the Audit Committee; no named AI chief

Burlington Stores runs information technology under Chief Information Officer Varadheesh Chennakrishnan, and the FY2025 Form 10-K says the CISO reports to the CIO. Burlington's 2026 postings describe an Enterprise Data and Analytics team, AI and Innovation teams and an AI enablement role, but Burlington has not published who leads them or whom they report to. Burlington's human resources organization, under EVP and CHRO John Pershing since Oct 2026, runs the AI hiring tools, and the board's Audit Committee oversees management's AI governance framework.

Burlington Stores has not disclosed how many people work on data or AI; 3% of its 83,309 associates worked in the corporate organization at Jan 31, 2026. Burlington's 2026 job postings describe an Enterprise Data and Analytics team of data engineers, data scientists, analytics translators and cloud engineers, AI and Innovation teams that work with merchandising, and an AI enablement role that trains and supports Copilot users. Job-board copies of a 2026 Burlington posting for a VP, IT Enterprise AI described an owner for the enterprise AI roadmap who would lead an Enterprise AI Governance board. Burlington's AI hiring tools sit with human resources, in talent acquisition and HR systems.

Reporting lines

Board of Directors
Took AI education sessions in 2024 and 2025 (2025 and 2026 proxy statements)
- Audit Committee
  Oversees information security and AI governance; the CIO and CISO report to it quarterly
- Chief Executive Officer
  Michael O'Sullivan
Information Technology
Varadheesh Chennakrishnan, EVP and CIO
Reporting line not published
- Information Security
  CISO, not named in filings
  Reporting line stated in the FY2025 Form 10-K
Enterprise Data and Analytics
Data engineers, data scientists and cloud engineers serving merchandising, allocations, marketing, IT and supply chain analytics (Sep 2026 posting); leader and reporting line not published
AI and Innovation
Named in an Oct 2026 posting as the teams Merchandising Systems works with on AI adoption; leader not published
Merchandising Systems
VP role open (Oct 2026)
Engineering teams for the Oracle Retail platform and its move to Oracle's cloud
Human Resources
John Pershing, EVP and CHRO
Matthew Pasch led HR until Sep 1, 2026
- Talent Acquisition
  Tracy Aguilar, VP
  Recruiting for stores and distribution centers; runs Paradox's Allison
- HR Systems
  Alanna LeBlanc
  Led the Paradox implementation (Jun 2025 webinar)
Merchandising
Jennifer Vecchio, Group President and CMO
Buyers and planners use the Merchandising 2.0 tools

Burlington publishes no org chart beyond its executive officers, who in the 2026 proxy were the CEO, the Group President and Chief Merchandising Officer, the President and COO, the CFO and the CHRO; the CIO is not among them. The FY2025 Form 10-K states only that the CISO reports to the CIO. Burlington has not said whom the CIO, the Enterprise Data and Analytics team or the AI and Innovation teams report to, or whether it filled the VP, IT Enterprise AI role that job boards listed in 2026.

Named people

Executive sponsors

Michael O'Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer
Kristin Wolfe
EVP and CFO · Described the distribution centers' predictive and routing tools (Aug 2026)

Information technology, data and AI

2026 postings name an Enterprise Data and Analytics team, AI and Innovation teams and an AI enablement role; Burlington has not named their leaders. The CISO, not named in filings, reports to the CIO.

Varadheesh Chennakrishnan
EVP and Chief Information Officer · Joined in 2023

Human resources and talent acquisition

Owners of the Paradox and HireVue hiring tools.

John Pershing
EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer · Since Oct 2026
Tracy Aguilar
VP, Talent Acquisition · Led the Paradox rollout; title from Paradox's materials
Alanna LeBlanc
HR systems leader · Director of HR Systems in Paradox's Jun 2025 webinar; led the Paradox implementation

Merchandising

Jennifer Vecchio
Group President and Chief Merchandising Officer · Buyers and planners use the Merchandising 2.0 tools

Use cases

Burlington Stores has not published a count of its AI use cases or a return on any of them. The AI documented in production is bought and sits mostly in hiring: Paradox's assistant Allison for store and distribution center candidates since May 2024, HireVue's AI-scored assessments for early-career roles since Aug 2020, and Microsoft Copilot for licensed employees by Jul 2026. Burlington Stores has not said whether its Merchandising 2.0 planning and allocation tools or its distribution center predictive tools use AI, plans AI in merchandising after an Oracle Retail cloud upgrade, and reports no firm-level AI return.

Use case	Area	Status
AI hiring assistant for stores and distribution centers (Paradox's Allison) Paradox's Conversational ATS and its AI assistant Allison screen candidates, schedule interviews and answer them around the clock in their own language for more than 1,200 stores and the distribution centers, after a single go-live in May 2024; Burlington's HR systems leader said in Jun 2025 that interview volume fell about 50% with staffing levels unchanged.	Human resources	In production
AI-scored assessments for early-career hiring (HireVue) Applicants to Burlington's allocation analyst, assistant buyer and buying, planning, allocation and finance intern programs take HireVue on-demand video interviews and game-based assessments that incorporate AI, in use since Aug 20, 2020 and covered by an independent bias audit.	Human resources	In production
Microsoft Copilot for employees Burlington licenses Microsoft Copilot and other enterprise AI tools to employees by approval and supports them with training, office hours, champion networks and use-case guides for HR, finance, merchandising, supply chain and IT (Jul 2026 posting); Burlington has not said how many employees hold licenses.	Corporate functions	In production
Localization, planning and allocation tools (Merchandising 2.0) Burlington's planners and merchants use Merchandising 2.0 tools to adjust receipts quickly (Nov 2025), and Burlington began rolling out store and class-level forecasting, localization analytics and assortment planning by income and demographics by Mar 2026. Michael O'Sullivan tied AI to the localization problem, but Burlington has not said these tools use AI.	Merchandising	In production
AI adoption in merchandising after the Oracle Retail cloud upgrade (Merchandising 2.5) Burlington's Oct 2026 posting for a VP of Merchandising Systems says moving its on-premises Oracle Retail suite to Oracle's cloud, under a Merchandising 2.5 strategy, will lay the foundation for AI adoption within the merchandising organization, working with Burlington's AI and Innovation teams.	Merchandising	Announced
Distribution center predictive and routing tools Kristin Wolfe said on Aug 27, 2026 that Burlington's distribution centers use better predictive tools and routing capabilities, integrated with allocation, to reduce handling costs and touches; Burlington has not said these tools use AI.	Supply chain	In production

Adoption

Burlington Stores has not said how many associates use AI tools. Of Burlington's 83,309 associates at Jan 31, 2026, 91% worked in stores, 6% in distribution centers and 3% in the corporate organization, and Burlington operated 1,287 stores at Aug 1, 2026; Burlington has not said that any AI tool other than its hiring assistant reaches store or distribution center associates. AI reached Burlington through hiring first, with HireVue assessments for early-career roles from Aug 2020 and Paradox's Allison for store and distribution center candidates from May 2024, followed by Microsoft Copilot licenses for employees by Jul 2026, and AI in merchandising is planned after the Oracle Retail cloud upgrade described in Oct 2026.

By the numbers

Stores hiring through Paradox's AI assistant: 1,200+; Paradox and Workday case studies; live chainwide since May 2024

Store interview volume with the AI assistant: ~50% lower; Year over year with staffing levels held; Burlington's HR systems leader in a Paradox webinar, Jun 2025

Associates: 83,309; Jan 31, 2026; 91% in stores, 6% in distribution centers (FY2025 Form 10-K)

Rollout, first pilot to today

2023 to 2025
Burlington launched and rolled out Merchandising 2.0, its new tools, systems and processes for buying and planning.
Burlington company history
Aug 2020
Burlington began using HireVue's assessments, which incorporate AI, to evaluate applicants to its early-career and intern programs.
Burlington careers site
2023
Burlington hired Varadheesh Chennakrishnan as Chief Information Officer.
Burlington company history
Mar 2024
Burlington's FY2023 Form 10-K mentioned AI for the first time, as a technology competitors might use more effectively and a source of cyber risk.
FY2023 Form 10-K
May 2024
Burlington switched on Paradox's AI assistant Allison for store and distribution center hiring everywhere at once, ahead of its seasonal hiring peak.
Paradox webinar
Apr 2025
Burlington's proxy statement disclosed a management AI governance framework overseen by the Audit Committee and a 2024 board AI education session.
2025 proxy statement
Jun 2025
Burlington's talent acquisition and HR systems leaders told a Paradox webinar that interview volume had fallen about 50% year over year with Allison.
Paradox webinar
Mar 2026
Michael O'Sullivan said AI can make a huge difference in localizing Burlington's assortments, now that Merchandising 2.0 has upgraded its planning and allocation systems.
Q4 FY2025 earnings call
Jul 2026
Burlington posted an AI enablement role to train and support employees using Microsoft Copilot and other enterprise AI tools.
Burlington careers (Workday)
Oct 2026
Burlington posted a VP of Merchandising Systems role to move its Oracle Retail suite to Oracle's cloud and lay the foundation for AI in merchandising.
Burlington careers (Workday)

Economics & controls

Spend and ROI

Technology spending

Burlington Stores does not disclose a technology or AI budget. Burlington's capital expenditures were $1,104.1 million in fiscal 2025, net of landlord allowances, including about $482.0 million for stores and $464.0 million for supply chain, with the remainder for information technology and other initiatives; Burlington plans about $875 million for fiscal 2026, including about $420 million for stores and $290 million for supply chain. Burlington's Oct 2026 posting describes a major investment in moving the Oracle Retail suite to Oracle's cloud.

What AI itself costs

Burlington Stores has not disclosed what AI costs or what it pays Paradox, HireVue or Microsoft. Burlington's AI enablement staff track Copilot license use to find licenses to reallocate, according to a Jul 2026 posting.

Reported ROI

Burlington Stores reports no firm-level or use-case return on AI. The only AI figure on record comes from Paradox: Burlington's HR systems leader said in Jun 2025 that interview volume fell about 50% year over year with staffing levels unchanged, a process measure Burlington has not converted into cost or headcount. Michael O'Sullivan credited upgraded allocation and localization capabilities with helping sales and merchant margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, and Kristin Wolfe credited distribution center productivity and cost savings, including better predictive tools, with a 20 basis point improvement in supply chain costs as a share of sales in the second quarter, but neither called those tools AI.

Productivity and headcount

Burlington Stores employed 83,309 associates at Jan 31, 2026, 79% of them part-time or seasonal. Tracy Aguilar said in Jun 2025 that reaching 2,000 stores with Burlington's old scheduling process would have meant two or three times the recruiting team, and Workday's case study says Burlington scaled hiring without scaling that team; Burlington has not published a headcount or cost figure for the change.

Governance and risk

Board oversight

Burlington Stores' Audit Committee oversees information security and AI governance, according to the 2025 and 2026 proxy statements. Burlington's full board took an AI education session in 2024, with an update on management's AI governance framework and on current and potential future AI applications, and another in 2025. Director Michael Goodwin, a former PetSmart chief information technology officer, sits on the Audit Committee.

Management framework and Copilot rules

Burlington's management has established an AI governance framework designed to use AI responsibly to improve operations while mitigating risk (2026 proxy). Burlington's Jul 2026 AI enablement posting says employees use enterprise AI tools within established governance, compliance and data protection policies, that licenses follow policy and approvals, and that concerns about sensitive data exposure or policy violations go to security and compliance teams.

AI in hiring

Burlington tells applicants to its early-career programs that the HireVue assessment incorporates AI, lets them ask what data it collects and how long it keeps it, and links an independent New York City Local Law 144 bias audit of HireVue's scoring algorithms by Corymb. Burlington's careers page dates the latest audit Jun 9, 2026, while the linked report says the audit ran July to August 2026 on applicants assessed from Jun 2025 to Jun 2026.

Disclosed AI risks

Burlington's FY2025 Form 10-K mentions AI in three places: competitors may use AI more effectively than Burlington, AI capabilities Burlington develops or obtains may contain defects that compromise security, and the spread of AI, machine learning, SaaS and cloud may intensify cyber risk as attackers use AI. Burlington's 10-K first mentioned AI in Mar 2024, and Burlington's 2025 corporate social responsibility report does not mention AI.

Security leadership

Burlington's CIO is the executive principally responsible for cybersecurity risk management, supported by a CISO who reports to the CIO and previously served as CISO at Hospital for Special Surgery for six years and at NYC Health + Hospitals for four years; the CIO and CISO report to the Audit Committee every quarter (FY2025 Form 10-K). Burlington's cybersecurity program draws on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and PCI DSS.

Recent signals

Oct 12, 2026
Burlington posted a VP of Merchandising Systems role to lead the move of its on-premises Oracle Retail suite to Oracle's cloud and lay the foundation for AI adoption in merchandising, under a Merchandising 2.5 strategy.
Burlington careers (Workday)
Oct 2026
John Pershing joined Burlington as EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer, taking over the HR organization that runs Burlington's AI hiring tools.
Burlington management page
Sep 4, 2026
Burlington's 2027 early-career and intern postings told applicants they will take a HireVue assessment that incorporates AI.
Burlington careers (Workday)
Sep 2, 2026
Burlington posted a senior data engineer role on its Enterprise Data and Analytics team that asks for Snowflake and Microsoft Azure experience to prepare data for AI, machine learning and generative AI uses.
Burlington careers (Workday)
Aug 27, 2026
Kristin Wolfe said Burlington's distribution centers use better predictive tools and routing capabilities integrated with allocation; Burlington's second-quarter call did not mention AI.
Q2 FY2026 earnings call transcript
Aug 4, 2026
Burlington said CHRO Matthew Pasch would leave on Sep 1, 2026 and that John Pershing would succeed him in October.
Form 8-K
Aug 2026
Corymb completed a New York City Local Law 144 bias audit of HireVue's scoring algorithms that Burlington links from its careers page, which gives Jun 9, 2026 as the date of its latest audit.
Corymb bias audit
Jul 29, 2026
Burlington posted a Senior AI Enablement Partner role to train and support employees using Microsoft Copilot and other enterprise AI tools and to contribute to an enterprise AI roadmap.
Burlington careers (Workday)
May 28, 2026
Michael O'Sullivan credited upgraded allocation and localization capabilities with stronger warm-weather sales and said Burlington trails its off-price peers in localization and supply chain automation; the call did not mention AI.
Q1 FY2026 earnings call transcript
Apr 2, 2026
Burlington's proxy statement said the full board took an AI education session in 2025 and that the Audit Committee oversees management's AI governance framework.
2026 proxy statement
Mar 19, 2026
Burlington's FY2025 Form 10-K mentioned AI only as a competitive, defect and cyber risk and reported 83,309 associates.
FY2025 Form 10-K
Mar 5, 2026
Michael O'Sullivan said AI can make a huge difference in localizing Burlington's assortments and that Merchandising 2.0 has readied its planning and allocation systems for that work.
Q4 FY2025 earnings call transcript
Nov 25, 2025
Kristin Wolfe said Merchandising 2.0 tools let Burlington's planners and merchants adjust receipts quickly during a weather-driven slowdown; the call did not mention AI.
Q3 FY2025 earnings call transcript

Quick answers

How does Burlington Stores deploy AI?: Burlington Stores deploys AI through vendor tools rather than a platform of its own: Paradox's assistant Allison has screened and scheduled store and distribution center candidates since May 2024 and now covers more than 1,200 stores, HireVue scores early-career applicants, and Microsoft Copilot is licensed to employees under an AI governance framework the board's Audit Committee oversees. CEO Michael O'Sullivan said in Mar 2026 that AI can make a huge difference in localizing assortments, and Burlington has reported no AI spending, user count or return.
What does Burlington Stores use AI for?: Burlington Stores has not published a count of its AI use cases or a return on any of them. The AI documented in production is bought and sits mostly in hiring: Paradox's assistant Allison for store and distribution center candidates since May 2024, HireVue's AI-scored assessments for early-career roles since Aug 2020, and Microsoft Copilot for licensed employees by Jul 2026. Burlington Stores has not said whether its Merchandising 2.0 planning and allocation tools or its distribution center predictive tools use AI, plans AI in merchandising after an Oracle Retail cloud upgrade, and reports no firm-level AI return.
Who leads AI at Burlington Stores?: AI at Burlington Stores is led by Varadheesh Chennakrishnan (Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer); Tracy Aguilar (Vice President, Talent Acquisition). Ownership of AI on the org chart: No named AI chief; CIO Varadheesh Chennakrishnan runs IT, and the Audit Committee oversees AI governance.
What AI platform does Burlington Stores use?: Burlington Stores has no AI platform of its own and buys AI inside vendor tools: Paradox's Conversational ATS with its assistant Allison for store and distribution center hiring since May 2024, HireVue assessments for early-career hiring since Aug 2020, and Microsoft Copilot for employees (Jul 2026).
Which AI models does Burlington Stores use?: Burlington Stores has not named the models behind its AI, each tool runs its vendor's own, and a Sep 2026 posting asks its Enterprise Data and Analytics engineers for Snowflake and Microsoft Azure experience to prepare data for machine learning and generative AI uses.
How many Burlington employees use AI?: Burlington Stores has not said how many of its 83,309 associates use AI; Copilot licenses are assigned by approval, and the Allison assistant handles hiring for the stores and distribution centers where 97% of associates work.
How far has AI spread at Burlington Stores?: Burlington Stores sits at Piloting, at the low end of the rung: a sanctioned AI assistant, Microsoft Copilot, is licensed to employees by approval under management's AI governance framework (Jul 2026), and a few bought AI tools run in production, led by Paradox's hiring assistant across more than 1,200 stores since May 2024 and HireVue's AI-scored assessments since Aug 2020. Burlington Stores falls short of Scaling because it names no AI owner, has opened no AI platform to most of its 83,309 associates and reports no AI results, and its plans for AI in merchandising wait on an Oracle Retail cloud upgrade that is still under way.

Open questions

Who owns AI at Burlington Stores, and did Burlington fill the VP, IT Enterprise AI role that job boards listed in 2026?
How many Burlington employees hold Microsoft Copilot licenses, and does any AI tool reach store or distribution center associates beyond hiring?
Which models and clouds process Burlington's data in Copilot, Paradox and HireVue, and may those vendors train on Burlington or candidate data?
Do Burlington's Merchandising 2.0 forecasting, allocation and localization tools, or its Oracle Retail demand forecasting, use machine learning today?
What will AI in merchandising do after the Oracle Retail cloud upgrade, and when will that upgrade finish?
What have Paradox's Allison and HireVue saved Burlington in recruiting cost, time to hire or recruiting headcount, beyond the vendor-reported 50% cut in interviews?
Do the distribution center predictive and routing tools Kristin Wolfe described use AI, and how much of the supply chain cost improvement do they account for?
How much does Burlington spend on technology and AI within its capital budget and operating costs?
Which current AI applications did management present to Burlington's board in 2024 and 2025?
Will John Pershing, CHRO since Oct 2026, keep or widen the AI hiring tools that Matthew Pasch's HR organization put in place?

Sources

Burlington

Filings and earnings calls

Partners

News

Retail Dive: Joann fills CIO role with Varadheesh Chennakrishnan (Mar 21, 2019)

Data confidence

Confirmed: Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
Estimated: Derived or approximated from public reporting.
Unconfirmed: Reported, but not yet corroborated.

Burlington Stores profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026

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