Senior Consultant, Retail, C&IP Value Creation

West Monroe•Minneapolis, MN

3h•$118,200 - $159,000•Hybrid

About The Position

West Monroe is seeking a Senior Consultant to join the Retail team within our Consumer & Industrials Value Creation group in the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) practice. Our Consumer & Industrials Value Creation team helps corporate and private equity clients identify, quantify, and realize value creation opportunities before, during, and after transactions. We work alongside management teams and investors to improve operating performance, accelerate transformation, and deliver measurable business outcomes. Our retail-focused professionals bring deep industry expertise and practical execution experience to help clients improve profitability, productivity, customer experience, and operational effectiveness. We are seeking candidates who bring experience improving business performance in a retail or retail-adjacent environment, with demonstrated ability to identify, quantify, and implement value creation opportunities across people, process, and technology. Successful candidates will combine retail operating knowledge, process improvement methodologies, analytical modeling capabilities, and consulting delivery skills to drive measurable EBITDA improvement, margin expansion, labor productivity gains, inventory optimization, and service-level improvements. Senior Consultants are expected to own analyses and workstreams, lead teams of consultants, facilitate client working sessions, and develop actionable recommendations that create measurable value for clients. They serve as day-to-day leaders on engagements and are responsible for translating complex business challenges into structured analyses and executable solutions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
4+ years of experience working for a consulting firm or within a retail, consumer products, distribution, or other retail-adjacent operating environment
Demonstrated experience leading workstreams and managing complex analytical efforts within consulting, transformation, operational improvement, or value creation initiatives
Strong understanding of retail value levers, including labor productivity, inventory optimization, margin improvement, customer experience, merchandising effectiveness, store operations, and supply chain performance
Experience identifying, quantifying, and implementing value creation opportunities across people, process, and technology
Advanced Excel and financial modeling capabilities with experience developing business cases, operational analyses, and value creation models
Strong business analysis, problem-solving, and quantitative analytical skills
Experience facilitating client workshops, stakeholder meetings, and cross-functional working sessions
Experience leading and developing teams of consultants or project team members
Strong process mapping, workflow analysis, and operational assessment experience
Experience developing and measuring KPIs, performance dashboards, and operational performance metrics
Ability to synthesize complex findings into concise executive-level recommendations
Experience integrating AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) into day-to-day workflows to enhance productivity and insight generation, coupled with strong critical thinking to assess accuracy, mitigate bias, and ensure high-quality outputs.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
Ability to travel to client-site up to 75%

Nice To Haves

Prior consulting experience strongly preferred
Experience supporting private equity clients, M&A transactions, operational due diligence, or value creation initiatives preferred
Experience with Lean, continuous improvement, operational excellence, or productivity improvement methodologies preferred
A commitment to inclusion and diversity, and openness to new ideas and perspectives

Responsibilities

Own analyses and client deliverables, ensuring high-quality outputs that support executive decision-making
Lead teams of 2–5 consultants, providing day-to-day direction, coaching, quality review, and project execution support
Identify, quantify, and prioritize value creation opportunities across retail operations, labor productivity, inventory management, merchandising, supply chain, customer experience, and supporting corporate functions
Develop and oversee Excel-based models, business cases, and financial analyses to evaluate operational opportunities and expected EBITDA impact
Translate complex operational and financial data into actionable recommendations and implementation plans
Facilitate client workshops, working sessions, interviews, and stakeholder meetings to gather insights, align priorities, and drive decision-making
Conduct operational assessments, process mapping, workflow analysis, and KPI evaluations to identify performance improvement opportunities
Develop value creation roadmaps and implementation plans aligned to client strategic objectives and investment theses
Collaborate with client executives and functional leaders to implement process, organizational, and technology-enabled improvements
Support project planning, staffing, workplan development, risk management, and engagement execution
Contribute to business development activities including proposals, client presentations, solution development, and thought leadership
Actively participate in recruiting, onboarding, mentoring, and development of junior consultants
Build and maintain professional networks within the retail, consumer, and private equity communities
Leverage AI tools to accelerate analysis, synthesize complex information, and support data-driven recommendations for clients, exercising sound judgment in evaluating outputs.
Apply AI technologies (e.g., generative AI, automation tools, data models) to enhance insights, improve delivery efficiency, and elevate the quality of client outcomes.