Manager Corporate Strategy

Live the experience. From professional empowerment to continual learning opportunities, Ulta Beauty’s team is critical to our scalability—and is recognized that way. We’ve been defined as a “mature start-up,” where interdepartmental exposure, open doors, and genuine collaboration are ubiquitous. Challenges come fast and furious, requiring agility, mental dexterity, and creativity. Our passion for better solutions drives us and is core to who we are. We’re engineering for the future of retail, and it’s no-holds-barred. For those motivated by continual change and ambiguity, superior leadership, and whip-smart colleagues who press you daily for your best, you’ll find that virtually nothing’s impossible at Ulta Beauty.

About the role

The Corporate Strategy team develops the enterprise strategy and long-term vision for Ulta, identifying, evaluating, and executing new growth opportunities and strategic initiatives. The Manager, Corporate Strategy will lead targeted strategic efforts with enterprise and functional leaders, including driving long-term and annual strategic planning processes, supporting problem-solving and opportunity evaluation, performing strategic and financial analysis, visioning and creating business cases, and executing high-potential strategic opportunities. This role involves close partnership with cross-functional leaders to facilitate alignment on key strategic decisions and serve as a thought partner to senior leadership, including the C-suite. The individual will also drive beauty market assessment and competitive intelligence, structuring and executing comprehensive monitoring of the competitive landscape, tracking and forecasting the beauty market, and assessing shifts in competitors’ strategies. This position blends strong analytical capabilities with a strategic mindset and a drive to deliver impact with excellence. Hybrid work schedule with approximately 6 days in office per month at our corporate offices in Bolingbrook, IL.

Responsibilities

• Support the long-term and annual strategic planning processes with the Corporate Strategy team, including building the enterprise long-term strategy and new growth opportunities.
• Collaborate with Corporate Strategy, Finance, and Investor Relations to translate our long-term strategy and build our investor narrative for Investor Day.
• Structure problems and develop frameworks and approaches to address complex, cross-functional, and ambiguous business issues.
• Work with cross-functional teams including Retail Ops, Digital, Merchandising Strategy, and others on initiatives to assess strategic opportunities, leveraging strategic, analytical, and financial frameworks.
• Support market and competitive intelligence for both the enterprise and specific functional areas, bringing an analytical mindset to strengthen our understanding of the market and competitive landscape through data-driven and forward-looking insights.
• Develop Board and executive-level presentations articulating Ulta Beauty’s strategy and growth opportunities, and facilitate Executive Team workshops on strategic topics.
• Define and bring forward creative, out-of-the-box thinking to identify white-space opportunities for new growth, assessing and articulating the strategic rationale grounded in data-driven insights in support of the enterprise-wide strategic plan.
• Work and expand your network cross-functionally to identify strategic priorities throughout the organization.
• Excel in all areas of strategy development at the Manager level, including problem structuring and solving, business analysis, project management, and verbal and written communication.
• Facilitate and support discussions with Ulta’s senior leadership, demonstrating subject matter expertise and the ability to move work forward effectively.
• Connect the dots across the organization to ensure effectiveness of work throughout the enterprise, and understand when to seek guidance.
• Understand Ulta Beauty’s business and possess a deep understanding of the market in which we operate, as well as key competitors.

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional experience in Strategy, Finance, or Marketing.
• At least 2 years of consulting experience at a top-tier management consulting firm strongly preferred.
• BA/BS required; MBA from a top-tier program preferred.
• Experience in retail or consumer goods preferred.
• Strategic mindset with the capability to think broadly and support the development and implementation of winning strategies at the enterprise level.
• Demonstrated ability to structure and solve ambiguous, complex business problems, developing clear hypotheses, frameworks, and recommendations with limited direction.
• Strong financial and business acumen, including experience developing business cases, evaluating growth opportunities, and assessing strategic and financial trade-offs.
• Experience developing executive- and Board-level materials, with the ability to synthesize complex analyses into concise, compelling narratives and recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-priority workstreams, balancing strategic thinking with attention to detail and high-quality execution.
• Strong external orientation and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to identify relevant consumer, competitive, technological, and industry shifts and translate them into implications for the enterprise.
• Experience conducting market sizing, competitive analysis, and/or scenario development to inform strategic decisions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with executive presence and the ability to synthesize and communicate complex information into clear, compelling narratives for senior leadership.
• Highly collaborative and team-oriented with a coachable, positive attitude, and the ability to build trusted relationships and contribute effectively across teams and levels of the organization.
• Innate inquisitiveness and ability to challenge the status quo, driving the enterprise to think differently about opportunities, challenges, and potential solutions.
• Strong results orientation and sense of ownership, with a desire to translate strategic thinking and organizational effort into measurable business impact and bottom-line results.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $102,900.00 - $140,192.00 per year, with the opportunity for eligible associates to earn additional compensation pursuant to the Company’s bonus plan. Exact pay will be based on factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, level, shift, geographic location, and business and organizational needs.

Benefits

Full-time positions are eligible for paid time off, health, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits. Part-time positions are eligible for dental, vision, life, and disability benefits. For additional information concerning our benefits, visit our Benefits and Career Development page.