Manager Merchandising Planning

About the role

The Manager Merchandising Planning will partner with Merchandising, Merch Planning, IT, and other key stakeholders to drive financial and strategic objectives of the organization through insights and reporting. This foundational role requires collaboration and analytical leadership across multiple projects, engaging in sophisticated analyses to drive better decisions on buying, pricing, promotion effectiveness, revenue management, marketing, supply chain, and operations. The role provides timely, accurate, and informative analytics to assist management in making strategic decisions and requires proficiency in advanced statistical methods, optimization techniques, data mining, and simulation.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement analytical tools and techniques for supporting merchandising, promotional planning, and forecasting.
• Think, act, and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical business partners to fully understand analytical needs, devise approaches, and implement solutions via appropriate models.
• Generate, analyze, and distribute key business reports; review weekly, monthly, and quarterly results, and provide stakeholders with key findings and recommendations.
• Develop prototypes and proofs of concept for analytical approaches to validate assumptions and expected outcomes.
• Identify data and suitable test cases to prove algorithms’ ability to handle boundary conditions and measure accuracy and efficacy.
• Understand complexities and intricacies of multiple departments and channels to ensure proposed analytical approaches work across the portfolio.
• Develop and refine forecasting methodologies and operating mechanisms to continuously improve forecast accuracy.
• Effectively present recommendations to colleagues and all levels of the organization using various modes of communication.
• Work with Product Management and IT teams to develop scalable solutions applying the analytics developed.
• Serve as project lead for ad hoc projects by managing objectives, deliverables, and key milestones with minimal supervision.
• Make sound decisions on routine matters and thrive in collaborative, constantly evolving environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Accounting, or a related field is required; MBA preferred.
• Minimum of 5+ years designing analytics in retail, CPG, or services industries.
• Progressively increasing responsibility in analytical roles, merchandise planning, category management, or retail consulting (or related fields).
• Analytical mindset with detail orientation and entrepreneurial work ethic.
• Proven ability to execute with speed and high accuracy in a proof-of-concept environment.
• Comfortable manipulating large amounts of data, problem-solving, and generating impactful recommendations.
• Highly adept in various systems, including superior Excel and PowerPoint skills.
• Strong in SQL and MS Excel; familiarity with databases such as MS SQL Server, Oracle, etc.
• Strong mathematical background and hands-on experience in conducting statistical analysis, development of quantitative models, machine learning algorithms, and/or optimization routines.
• Proven ability in applying theoretical knowledge to practical applications, data analysis, algorithmic prototyping, and data visualization.
• Demonstrated skill in root cause analysis; able to spot anomalies and audit with limited guidance.
• Structured and creative thinker, able to toggle between big-picture themes and fine details.
• Experience building, leading, and supervising teams.
• Ability to influence organizations to pursue value-driving, data-led use cases.
• Demonstrated ability to work with a range of technically and culturally diverse people, influencing them to deliver value-added business results.

Benefits

• Competitive pay.
• Sick time plan to support you or your immediate family’s health.
• Vacation accrual plan.
• Opportunities for career growth.
• 15% discount for you and one other family member on all purchases at Sprouts.
• Flexible schedules.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• 401(K) Retirement savings plan with a generous company match.
• Company-paid life insurance.
• Contests and appreciation events throughout the year.
• Bonus based on company and/or individual performance (eligibility requirements apply).
• Affordable benefit coverage, including medical, dental, and vision (eligibility requirements apply).
• Health Savings Account with company match (eligibility requirements apply).
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts for healthcare and dependent care (eligibility requirements apply).
• Company-paid short-term disability coverage.
• Paid parental leave for both mothers and fathers.
• Paid holidays.
• DailyPay: Access earned wages before payday at no extra cost.