Senior Category Analyst

Req ID: 457507 

BASIC PURPOSE: The Senior Category Analyst will support the category management team with an emphasis on pricing, promotion and sell through optimization. You will be responsible for enabling the use of data & analytics to support the decision making and measurement of initiatives that directly impact revenue and profitability across the Merchandising and Operations Departments. As a member of the Merch Analytics team, you will focus on leading price & promotion strategy and effectiveness as well as being a key business consultant developing relationships with Category Managers, Sr. Category Managers, and Operations. This individual will contribute to the vision, goal setting, implementation, and delivery of future pricing, promotion, and analytical functions.  You will be supported along the way with robust coaching and development to help you grow as a strong team member.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Learn the Love’s business. Develop deep fluency in the composition, roles, and contributions of Love’s products, strategy, and customers, as well as Love’s business performance.
• Take a lead role in the development and execution of the Love’s pricing strategy.
• Use data science tools to forecast and recommend pricing and promotion strategies.
• Coordinate with Category Management and Category Analysts to design pricing rules & strategies that will best support business objectives.
• Create and present pricing projects to Merchandising as well as other cross-functional teams.
• Perform pricing audits to ensure accuracy across pricing strategies.
• Identify opportunities to improve performance analysis methods of pricing decisions and effectively communicate their impact.
• Lead competitive benchmarking initiatives.
• Participate in field visits to understand internal and competitive pricing strategies and execution.
• Lead future system integration projects as it pertains to pricing & promotion.
• Support any existing and future reporting or analytical needs.
• Other Duties as Assigned.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:   

• BA/BS minimum, Masters preferred, in a relevant field, such as mathematics, statistics, finance, economics, management information systems, business administration (MBA), engineering or other quantitative fields.
• 1 - 3+ years’ experience preferred in retail, sales, or operations with exposure to pricing systems and methodologies
• In-depth, hands-on knowledge of retail pricing systems helpful
• Proven experience with troubleshooting principles and issue resolution techniques
• Tableau, Power BI, SQL, Python, and R are a plus

   SKILLS AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

   Skills:

• Ability to devise an analytical approach to solving business problems
• Understanding of statistical concepts and basic pricing principles such as price elasticities, promotional uplift, cannibalization and affinities
• General understanding of the retail business environment
• Highly motivated self-starter 
• Excellent written, oral and interpersonal skills
• Customer service driven
• Experience working in a team-oriented and collaborative environment   

   Typical Physical Demands:

• Requires prolonged sitting, some bending and stooping
• Occasional lifting up to 25 pounds
• Manual dexterity sufficient to operate a computer keyboard and calculator
• Requires normal range of hearing and vision
• Travel required as needed
• On-call availability

Job Function(s): Corporate 

Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is the industry-leading travel stop network in the United States. For more than 55 years, we’ve provided customers with highway hospitality and “Clean Places, Friendly Faces.” We’re passionate about serving drivers with clean, modern facilities stocked with fuel, food and supplies. We offer meals from popular restaurant chains, trucking supplies, showers and everything needed to get back on the road quickly. The Love’s Family of Companies includes:

• Gemini Motor Transport, one of the industry’s safest trucking fleets
• Speedco, the light mechanical and trucking service specialists
• Musket, a rapidly growing, Houston-based commodities supplier and trader
• Trillium, a Houston-based alternative fuels expert