Senior Lead Category Management Analyst

ACE Hardware•Oak Brook, IL

4d•$102,900 - $128,600

About The Position

About This Role The Senior Lead Category Analyst will leverage fact-based analytics and customer research to develop consumer-relevant retail assortments and planograms. Improving the store model is a pillar of Ace’s long-term retail strategy, and developing the most efficient, productive and differentiated assortments/planograms for our retailers is a key element of this pillar. What You’ll Do Leadership/Mentorship: Senior Lead Category Analyst will provide leadership, mentoring and guidance across all analysts. Analytics – Senior Lead Category Analyst will be responsible for development of assortment optimization strategy, execution of training, and ensuring consistent usage of methodology across analyst team. This person will also support the Department Manager in elevating the team’s ability to mine data and develop analytical insights. Data Mining and Report Building– Senior Lead Analyst will continue to enhance current tools and build additional tools that allow for deeper and more insightful data analytics. A key focus should be continual efficiency and optimization of Category Analyst tools to decrease time spent on mining data and increase time spent analyzing and aligning cross-functional team to an optimized, data-supported retail product assortment. Category Scope: Senior Lead Category Analyst will have limited ownership of strategic categories for Ace, but with less complexity so that they can dedicate time to implementation of assortment optimization strategies and team leadership. Who You Are The ideal candidate combines strong analytical expertise with exceptional storytelling skills. They can distill complex, large-scale data into actionable insights and clearly communicate these findings to both internal and external stakeholders. Success in this role requires the ability to define problem statements, craft compelling narratives, and drive impactful, data-informed decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in economics, business, statistics, data science or related field
7+ years retail or consumer packaged goods experience
Strong analytical and structured problem solving skills
High degree of curiosity and structured problem solving skills
Ability to analyze, evaluate and interpret complex data
Confident presenting in larger groups across multiple levels of the organization
Ability to communicate effectively verbally and written to various levels of corporate and retail management (e.g., manager through VP and store associate through owner)
Experience with SQL, Teradata, Power BI, Alteryx, or other BI data mining software required
Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (e.g., Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
Knowledge of standard Category Management process and principles
Must be able to lift 30lbs

Nice To Haves

Previous management experience preferred
Master’s degree in a quantitative or business field a plus

Responsibilities

Leadership/Mentorship: Senior Lead Category Analyst will provide leadership, mentoring and guidance across all analysts.
Analytics – Senior Lead Category Analyst will be responsible for development of assortment optimization strategy, execution of training, and ensuring consistent usage of methodology across analyst team. This person will also support the Department Manager in elevating the team’s ability to mine data and develop analytical insights.
Data Mining and Report Building– Senior Lead Analyst will continue to enhance current tools and build additional tools that allow for deeper and more insightful data analytics.
Category Scope: Senior Lead Category Analyst will have limited ownership of strategic categories for Ace, but with less complexity so that they can dedicate time to implementation of assortment optimization strategies and team leadership.

Benefits

Incentive opportunities, based on role/grade level (rapid company growth over the past 5 years resulted in incentives being paid out at an average of 122% of your target opportunity!)
Generous 401(k) retirement savings plan with a fully vested matching contribution the first year in addition to quarterly contributions and annual discretionary contribution (once eligibility requirements have been met). Over the past 5 years, company contributions (matching, quarterly & discretionary) for fully eligible employees have averaged 10.4% of total eligible compensation.
Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, vision and disability – up to 26 weeks short-term disability and long-term disability) & life insurance benefits for you and your dependents
21 days of vacation immediately available (prorated in the first year) and up to 6 paid holidays depending on the month of hire
Your career at Ace is more than just a job. It’s a chance to be part of something meaningful. We help locally-owned businesses thrive and make an impact in their communities – and we support our employees in doing the same by offering an annual Ace Cares Week, 20 hours off work per year to volunteer at an organization of your choice, opportunities to help Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the Ace Helpful Fund through the Ace Foundation
Ace invests in every employee we hire, with a key focus on development and coaching. We offer on-site classes, facilitator-led courses, and a generous tuition assistance program, plus a performance management approach that goes beyond the typical annual review
We know the work environment matters. That’s why Ace holds frequent campus events like Employee Appreciation Week, vendor demos, cookouts, and merchandise sales
We bring them to you! Services such as mobile spas, auto maintenance, car wash and detailing, dry cleaning, dentists, eye doctors, flu shots, recycling and more!
Employee discounts on Ace merchandise (including top brands like Weber, Traeger, Yeti, Craftsman, DeWalt and more), travel, fitness, computers and thousands more
Birth/Adoption bonding paid time off
Adoption cost reimbursement
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – access to free visits to therapists and lawyers, guidance on financial matters, elder and childcare, and assistance with tickets to entertainment events
Identity theft protection