Senior Merchandising Analyst - Retail - CUB - Stillwater, MN - Hybrid

U.n.f.i•Stillwater, MN

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a critical capability-builder for Cub, the Senior Merchandising Analyst brings rigor to promotional planning, vendor funding management, category performance tracking, and margin investment decisions. Sitting at the center of Merchandising and Pricing, this role provides the insights our teams rely on to make timely, confident, and profitable decisions. What does it mean to be part of the Merchandising Team? Whether it's overseeing produce, bakery/deli, meat, center store, general merchandise, health, and beauty, this team manages and drives a category for the organization. A role in category merchandising involves business planning, financial analysis, pricing, participating in the review of assortment, shelf management, advertising promotions, negotiations with suppliers, and sourcing. A 100% unique approach, proven to increase sales and profitability. It's having the right assortment of products, based on your customers' demographics and lifestyle. Solid category strategies. Better customer satisfaction. More efficiency.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Data Analytics, or related field.
5-10 years of retail analytics, merchandising finance, pricing, or vendor funding experience.
Strong communication skills, intellectual curiosity, and a bias for action in a fast-paced environment.
Strong knowledge of retail P&L levers, including margin, mix, markdowns, and funding.
Good judgment is required for this position, as there may be times when direct supervision may not be immediately available.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with Nielsen/NIQ syndicated data and/or merchandising and promo-planning tools, such as Cognira is strongly preferred.
Advanced Excel; experience with Power BI/Tableau and SQL is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Analyze vendor funding, trade spend, and markdown activity to maximize ROI and margin rate.
Provide category leaders with actionable visibility into funding performance, gaps, and opportunities.
Support promo and pricing decisions using elasticity insights, competitive analysis, and historical performance.
Build and maintain reporting that tracks sales, margin, units, mix, traffic drivers, and category trends.
Convert complex data into clear, executive-ready recommendations.
Lead post-mortem analysis on promotions and major merchandising events and provide concise summaries of what worked, what didn't, and what actions we should take next.
Partner closely with Finance to support forecast accuracy, period planning, and risk/opportunity assessments.
Lead or support cross-functional projects that strengthen Cub's merchandising processes, tools, and analytical capabilities.
Performs other duties as assigned.