Retail Merchandising and Planning – Strategy Senior Manager

Accenture helps the world’s leading enterprises reinvent by building their digital core and unleashing the power of AI to create value at speed for organizations across industries. Our strategy is to be the reinvention partner of choice for our clients and lead in the safe, widespread adoption of AI, and to be the most client-focused, AI-enabled, great place to work in the world. We bring together the talent of our approximately 799,000 people with proprietary assets and platforms, deep process and industry expertise, and leading ecosystem relationships to deliver end-to-end solutions and measurable outcomes at scale.

About the role

Accenture's Retail Merchandising and Planning practice helps the world's leading retailers reinvent how they buy, plan, allocate, and manage product across the value chain. We work at the intersection of merchandising strategy, planning process design, and AI-enabled decision making, helping clients across apparel, hardlines, grocery, and specialty retail modernize their operating models and improve performance in demand forecasting, assortment planning, and inventory productivity.

You are a retail merchandising and planning professional who combines deep functional expertise with strong program leadership. You've spent your career close to the buy, whether in category management, merchandise financial planning, assortment, allocation, replenishment, or demand/supply planning, and you understand how these functions connect end-to-end. You translate that expertise into operating model redesign, process reinvention, and capability roadmaps clients can execute against. You are accountable to realizing value, and you have experience rolling up your sleeves to ensure high adoption of new processes and systems. You're equally comfortable leading a workstream, coaching a team, and standing in front of a client steering committee.

Responsibilities

• Engagement Leadership
  • Lead large, transformational programs with multiple concurrent workstreams and stakeholder groups
  • Orchestrate delivery across cross-functional teams spanning strategy, process, data/technology, and change management
  • Own client relationships, including executive sponsors, and manage alignment across disparate points of view, escalations, and ambiguity as they arise
  • Ensure engagement quality, timeliness, and profitability
• Merchandising & Planning Transformation
  • Lead assessments of current-state merchandising, planning, and inventory management capabilities against industry-leading practices
  • Design future-state operating models spanning category management, merchandise financial planning, assortment planning, allocation, replenishment, demand planning, and supply planning
  • Develop capability strategies, transformation roadmaps, and value cases that quantify the impact of change
  • Apply sub-industry nuance across apparel, hardlines, and/or grocery to tailor recommendations to client-specific dynamics
• AI & Technology Enablement
  • Bring current knowledge of AI, analytics, and emerging planning technologies to identify where they can solve merchandising and planning business problems
  • Help clients evaluate and adopt planning platforms and AI-enabled decision-making tools as part of broader transformation
  • Support the design and delivery of GenAI- and agentic-enabled planning capabilities where applicable to client roadmaps
• Business Development & Practice Growth
  • Contribute to proposal development, solutioning, and the broader business development cycle for consulting engagements
  • Support the growth of the Retail Merchandising and Planning practice through asset development, thought leadership, and recruiting
  • Coach, mentor, and develop junior team members; contribute to staffing and performance management

Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience with demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following domains: Category Management, Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP), Assortment Planning, Allocation, Replenishment, Demand Planning, or Supply Planning
• Minimum of 2 years in professional services at a consulting firm (or equivalent internal consulting experience)
• Bachelor's degree

Qualifications

• Ability to lead large, transformational programs with multiple workstreams and stakeholders
• Strong client management skills, including with senior stakeholders
• Ability to coach, mentor, and develop junior team members
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong problem-solving ability and sound business judgment
• Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving situations
• Ability to resolve issues and manage risk proactively
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple workstreams in a dynamic environment
• Familiarity with the operational nuances of one or more retail sub-industries, including apparel, hardlines, or grocery
• Experience designing or supporting operating model design, process reinvention, capability assessments, roadmaps, and value case development
• Experience solutioning approaches to client problems and supporting the business development/proposal cycle
• Working knowledge of current trends in technology, analytics, and AI, and how they apply to merchandising and planning business problems
• Prior industry experience in Buying, Planning, or Product Development
• Hands-on experience leveraging AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini in a professional environment
• Familiarity with leading planning platforms such as o9, Blue Yonder, Anaplan, Oracle, or RELEX
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree

Pay

Compensation at Accenture varies depending on a wide array of factors, which may include but are not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set, and level of experience. The following salary ranges apply for this role:

• California: $122,700 to $317,200
• Cleveland: $122,700 to $317,200
• Colorado: $122,700 to $317,200
• District of Columbia: $122,700 to $317,200
• Illinois: $122,700 to $317,200
• Maine: $122,700 to $317,200
• Maryland: $122,700 to $317,200
• Massachusetts: $122,700 to $317,200
• Minnesota: $122,700 to $317,200
• New York: $122,700 to $317,200
• New Jersey: $122,700 to $317,200
• Virginia: $122,700 to $317,200
• Washington: $122,700 to $317,200

Benefits

Accenture offers a market competitive suite of benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, life, and long-term disability coverage
• 401(k) plan
• Bonus opportunities
• Paid holidays and paid time off

See more information on our benefits here.