MERCHANDISING STRATEGY & INSIGHTS TEAM

The Ulta Merchandising Strategy & Insights Team works in close partnership with the merchandising team and cross functional stakeholders to inform and support the development of assortment and merchandising strategies that drive sales and value growth. Our team is responsible for developing and providing a thorough understanding of the beauty market, comprehending current and future consumer behaviors and trends, and tracking and predicting competitor activities. In addition, we assess the performance of past and current initiatives to provide merchant leaders with a thorough understanding of drivers of category performance and actionable insights that enable data-driven decisions and uncover growth opportunities.

YOUR ROLE AS MERCHANDISING STRATEGY & INSIGHTS MANAGER

The Merchandising Strategy and Insights Manager will develop on-going proactive analysis within a designated category. She/he will partner with FP&A, Analytics, Merchandising Planning & Inventory, Corporate Strategy, and other groups to provide holistic insights to merchant leaders to help them better understand their business performance and opportunities.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead the development of on-going proactive analyses and insights for designated categories as well as major cross-category trends and opportunities
• Respond to specific requests by the merchandising team for insights on priority topics
• Prepare materials for periodic category reviews and brand meetings
• Develop and foster strategic partnerships cross functionally with Merchandising, Marketing, Guest Insights, Corporate Strategy, Pricing, Finance, etc. to tap into existing data and analyses
• Proficiently leverage market databases I.e. NPD/Euromonitor and others
• Deliver informative assessments of the competitive landscape of beauty (including promotional activity, earnings calls, industry research
• Gather, analyze and triangulate data from multiple internal and external data sources and use the data efficiently and effectively to derive meaningful and useful insights for merchant partners
• Drive disciplined hypotheses-driven problem-solving approaches to structure analysis and efficient data collection
• Create effective PowerPoint presentations that clearly and concisely communicate analyses and indicated actions
• Identify opportunities for automation of processes and data analytics/reports

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 4+  years of experience in analytical roles with increasing responsibility (2-3 years experience in a top tier consulting firm preferred)
• Comfort performing complex analyses (leveraging multiple data sources) to generate data-driven insight and recommendations
• Exceptional problem-solving and critical thinking skills with outstanding attention to detail
• Inquisitive nature and proactive approach to data exploration and opportunity identification
• Ability to manage ambiguity and use business savvy and strategic thinking to determine the best approach forward
• Demonstrated ability to influence and gain credibility with team members and senior leaders
• Highly organized with the ability to balance multiple projects simultaneously, prioritize workload and appropriately escalate when necessary
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, with ability to communicate complex topics in a simple and effective manner
• High degree of initiative, autonomy and optimism
• Advanced Excel and Powerpoint skills required
• Intermediate experience with data mining and writing queries a plus (SQL preferred)
• Intermediate data visualization skills a plus (Tableau preferred)
• Previous experience with market measurement, such as Nielsen, IRI, NPD, Euromonitor a plus
• MBA from a top tier school a plus
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