Director of Merchandising Analytics

The Director of Merchandising Analytics will lead a team responsible for analyzing merchandising performance, providing data-driven insights, and developing strategies to optimize product assortment, pricing, promotions, and inventory management. This role will play a critical part in shaping merchandising strategies to drive sales growth, margin improvement, and overall business performance. The ideal candidate possesses a strong analytical background, excellent leadership skills, and a deep understanding of retail and merchandising analytics.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement data-driven strategies to optimize assortment, pricing, promotions, and inventory levels.
• Partner with merchandising, finance, supply chain, and marketing teams to provide actionable insights that drive business decisions.
• Design and develop analytical models to evaluate product performance, pricing elasticity, and customer buying behavior.
• Monitor key merchandising KPIs, including sales, gross margin, sell-through rates, and inventory turnover, and develop strategies for improvement.
• Implement and refine predictive analytics and machine learning models to enhance demand forecasting and inventory optimization.
• Oversee the development of dashboards and reporting tools to ensure stakeholders have access to real-time, actionable insights.
• Collaborate with IT and data engineering teams to ensure data accuracy, integration, and accessibility across platforms.
• Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in merchandising analytics to drive innovation.
• Develop the Merchandising Analytics manager to help develop and implement data-driven strategies to optimize assortment, pricing, promotions, and inventory levels.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Data Science, or a related field (Master’s preferred).
• 8+ years of experience in merchandising analytics, business intelligence, or a related field, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI), SQL, and statistical analysis software (e.g., Python, R).
• Experience working with retail data sources, including POS systems, marketing data and e-commerce analytics.
• Retail background with experience across multi-unit store models, including geographical and volume driven nuances in the business
• Experience in pricing, seasonal liquidation strategies by categories and price promo optimization 
• Proven track record of using data to influence merchandising and business strategies.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to translate complex data insights into clear, actionable recommendations for non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple initiatives in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a multi-channel retail environment (brick-and-mortar, e-commerce, omnichannel).
• Familiarity with AI-driven analytics, machine learning applications, and automation in merchandising decision-making.
• Strong business acumen and an understanding of financial metrics related to merchandising and retail operations.