Senior Analyst, Assortment

• Own, design, and continuously improve SKU- and category-level assortment productivity reporting
• Establish definitions and data lineage used for assortment planning
• Lead rationalization analysis for tail SKU exit, consolidation, and transition
• Quantify sales, margin, and productivity impacts and present recommendations to Merchant and Planning leadership
• Build and maintain depth and breadth methodology models, including price point coverage and good-better-best architecture
• Lead market, consumer, and competitive analysis to identify assortment gaps and size whitespace opportunities
• Define methodology, assumptions, and QA standards across assortment analytics
• Review junior analysts’ work for accuracy and rigor
• Build and own pre- and post-launch performance scorecards
• Diagnose forecast variance and translate findings into forward-looking assumptions
• Lead item transition and end-of-life analysis
• Partner with Demand Planning to refine new item forecast methodology
• Produce executive-ready assortment reporting on an established cadence
• Advise Merchants and Planners for assigned categories and challenge assumptions using data
• Scope and deliver complex ad hoc analysis for in-season decisions and line review preparation
• Automate recurring analysis and develop scalable self-service reporting tools
• Provide technical guidance to less experienced analysts
• Deliver assortment productivity reporting, rationalization analysis, new item forecasting, and post-launch scorecarding that influence assortment decisions

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Analytics, Statistics, or a related field
• 4-7 years of analytical experience, with demonstrated depth in retail merchandising, planning, or analytics
• Advanced Excel skills, including multi-variable modeling, large dataset handling, and building tools other people rely on
• Proficiency in SQL, including the ability to independently source, join, and validate data across systems
• Demonstrated ability to work independently in ambiguous situations and structure analysis without direction
• Strong communication and storytelling skills, with experience presenting analysis and recommendations to senior leadership
• Experience mentoring analysts or reviewing analytical work for quality
• Preferred: Proficiency in Power BI, Tableau, or comparable visualization tools, including dashboard design
• Preferred: Furniture, home, or big-ticket retail experience
• Preferred: Hands-on experience with assortment planning or demand planning systems (e.g., Logility, o9, Blue Yonder)
• Preferred: Exposure to Python, R, or comparable tooling for advanced analysis

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in assortment productivity reporting, data analysis, and forecasting methodologies, with a strong focus on retail merchandising and planning. Proficient in advanced Excel, SQL, and visualization tools to deliver actionable insights and recommendations to leadership.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Assortment Productivity Reporting
• Advanced Excel Skills
• SQL Proficiency
• Retail Merchandising Experience
• Data Analysis and Forecasting

Hard Skills

• Data Analysis
• Forecasting
• Multi-Variable Modeling
• Large Dataset Handling
• Assortment Planning
• Demand Planning
• Rationalization Analysis
• Performance Scorecarding
• Market Analysis
• Competitive Analysis

Soft Skills

• Strong Communication Skills
• Storytelling Skills
• Mentoring
• Independent Work
• Analytical Rigor

Industry Keywords

• Retail
• Merchandising
• Planning
• Analytics
• Furniture
• Home Goods
• Big-Ticket Retail

Tools & Technologies

• Power BI
• Tableau
• Logility
• O9
• Blue Yonder
• Python
• R