Director of Pricing Strategy - U.S. AutoForce

U.S. Venture, Inc.•Appleton, WI

20h•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Pricing Strategy is responsible for defining and leading the enterprise pricing strategy to balance revenue growth, margin expansion, and competitive positioning. This role will evolve pricing from a transactional execution function into a strategic, analytics-driven capability, tightly aligned with Sales Segmentation and commercial strategy. The Director of Pricing Strategy and Director of Pricing Operations function as true peer partners: strategy sets direction, frameworks, and guardrails; operations executes, monitors, and closes the loop. A critical input to this role is the continuous performance feedback provided by the Director of Pricing Operations — what is working in the market, what is not, and where strategy needs to adapt. This role is accountable for acting on that intelligence to refine, adjust, and evolve pricing strategy with discipline and speed. This role operates as both the strategic architect and the quantitative practitioner — personally building and/or guiding analytical models, frameworks, and tools that underpin pricing strategy while simultaneously leading and developing a team of Pricing Strategy Analysts. This includes hands-on development of price elasticity models, customer segmentation analyses, competitive price gap frameworks, and gross-to-net analytics. This position is located onsite in Appleton, WI (222 W. College Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911).

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, or related quantitative discipline.
8+ years of experience in Pricing Strategy, Revenue Management, Commercial Strategy, or Quantitative Analytics, preferably in distribution, wholesale, or consumer goods.
Minimum of 4 years of managerial experience with a demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop exempt-level teams.
Demonstrated success building or transforming pricing strategy functions, with hands-on experience personally developing pricing models and analytical frameworks.
Deep quantitative expertise with hands-on proficiency in price elasticity modeling, customer segmentation analytics, competitive price gap analysis, gross-to-net margin modeling, and scenario/impact analysis; this is a practitioner role in the near term, not a directing role.
Advanced proficiency in Excel and/or analytical tools (e.g., Python, R, SQL, Power BI, or Tableau); comfort building models from scratch without analyst support.
Proven ability to influence senior leaders and drive change in complex, cross-functional environments without direct management authority.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex quantitative analysis into clear, actionable business recommendations for non-technical audiences.
Must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and must not require U.S. Venture’s sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Experience in automotive aftermarket, tire distribution, or multi-brand wholesale environments.
Exposure to Sales Segmentation, Revenue Operations, or Category Management.
Experience implementing or working within pricing tools or platforms (e.g., PROS, Zilliant, Vendavo, Pricefx, or advanced BI solutions).
MBA or advanced degree in Business, Economics, Finance, or Analytics.

Responsibilities

Define and own the enterprise pricing strategy, aligned to Sales Segmentation, customer value, and competitive dynamics.
Establish clear pricing objectives and guardrails that balance volume growth, margin targets, and market share goals.
Translate business strategy into actionable pricing priorities, initiatives, and roadmaps.
Set decision rights and governance models between Pricing Strategy, Pricing Operations, Sales, and Category Management.
Maintain a structured collaboration cadence with the Director of Pricing Operations, including regular joint reviews of pricing performance, competitive dynamics, and execution outcomes — using that intelligence to proactively refine strategy.
Remain open and responsive to operational feedback; treat execution outcomes and market signals surfaced by Pricing Operations as primary inputs to strategic decision-making, not secondary noise.
Partner with Sales Leadership and Revenue Operations to align sales segmentation strategy with differentiated pricing approaches.
Define customer and channel pricing architectures (e.g., strategic accounts, regional accounts, independents, e-commerce).
Develop value-based pricing frameworks that reflect customer willingness to pay, service levels, and growth potential.
Ensure pricing differentiation is intentional, measurable, and consistent with strategic priorities.
Possess the deep quantitative expertise to personally understand, build, and own the analytical models that underpin pricing strategy, including price elasticity models, customer price sensitivity analysis, competitive price gap frameworks, scenario and price change impact models, and gross-to-net margin analytics.
Establish enterprise margin management standards, including gross margin, contribution margin, and gross-to-net visibility; develop the analytical infrastructure to measure and monitor performance against those standards.
Develop scorecards and KPIs to track pricing effectiveness, margin leakage, and trade-offs between volume and profitability.
Translate model outputs into clear, actionable pricing recommendations and strategic trade-offs for senior leadership.
As the Pricing Strategy team grows, transition from sole practitioner to architect and coach — scaling analytical capability through future analyst hires while maintaining ownership of modeling standards and methodology.
Own the standards and governance frameworks for gross-to-net margin management, including rebates, incentives, and customer programs; execution accountability resides with Pricing Operations and Finance.
Partner with Finance to ensure transparency, accrual accuracy, and governance of pricing-related deductions.
Establish best practices for evaluating rebate effectiveness and ROI.
Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, or redesign programs to reduce margin leakage.
Define the methodology, cadence, and benchmarks for competitive intelligence; partner with Pricing Operations on ongoing day-to-day market monitoring and execution.
Define optimal price gap strategies by product, brand, and customer segment.
Translate competitive insights into strategic pricing recommendations, balancing defensive and offensive pricing actions based on elasticity, customer value, and margin impact.
Partner closely with Category Management and Supplier Management to align pricing strategy with cost, funding, and program structures.
Support supplier negotiations by quantifying margin impact, funding efficiency, and pricing trade-offs.
Collaborate on cost improvement initiatives, program redesign, and pricing architecture simplification to drive sustainable margin expansion.
Define and implement new pricing processes, tools, and decision frameworks to enable data-driven pricing decisions.
Champion the adoption of pricing technology and analytics platforms.
Establish decision frameworks and review cadences for price changes and post-implementation measurement; partner with Pricing Operations to translate those frameworks into operational procedures and SOPs.
Leads change management efforts to shift pricing culture from reactive execution to proactive strategy.
Operate as a true peer partner to the Director of Pricing Operations — strategy and operations are co-dependent functions, not sequential ones; actively invest in the health and productivity of this partnership.
Engage regularly and proactively with Pricing Operations to understand which pricing strategies are generating intended results and which are not; treat the feedback loop from Ops as a primary strategic input, not a secondary one.
Partner with Sales Leadership to ensure pricing strategies are executable in the field and aligned with customer segment dynamics; incorporate sales feedback into strategy refinement.
Collaborate with Category Management and Finance to align pricing strategy with cost structures, vendor funding, and program economics; own the framework and design standards for pricing-related programs, with execution accountability residing with Pricing Operations and Finance.
Act as a strategic advisor and internal consultant to cross-functional leaders on pricing-related decisions, trade-offs, and frameworks.
Coach and develop cross-functional partners in Sales, Finance, and Category on pricing concepts, frameworks, and analytical thinking — building pricing acumen across the organization over time.
Lead, develop, and retain a team of Pricing Strategy Analysts, providing clear expectations, coaching, and ongoing performance feedback.
Balance hands-on analytical contribution with people leadership — this role is both a practitioner and a manager, expected to model the quantitative rigor and strategic thinking it requires of the team.
Support hiring, onboarding, and development of Pricing Strategy Analysts as the team grows.
Live our values of High Performance, Caring Relationships, Strategic Foresight, and Entrepreneurial Spirit — Find A Better Way — by championing continuous improvement and innovation.
Continuously learn and develop self professionally.
Support corporate efforts for safety, government compliance, and all other company policies and procedures.
Perform other related duties as required and assigned.