Director, Market and Industry Analysis Job

Because this position requires regular on-site work at our Creative Studios in Westlake, Ohio, we will focus on candidates who currently reside in Northeast Ohio. Remote work and relocation assistance are not available for this role.

The Director of Industry Analytics is responsible for establishing themselves as the corporate expert on Industry performance and dynamics. This individual will be accountable for understanding American Greetings' current performance at the brand, channel, chain, product and occasion level while also being responsible for developing and delivering sound, data-driven, forward looking-projections. This individual will also inherently be the expert on competitive performance and dynamics. This individual will develop and maintain KPIs that foster the creation of insights which the business may leverage, in collaboration with the broader analytics and insights organization, to maximize space allocation, program distribution, pricing, marketing segmentation and other retail opportunities. This individual will work closely with the Sales, Occasion and Finance teams to support the attainment of the corporate OGSM. The role will also own and manage the relationship with external data source providers, including Circana for the Greeting Card Industry. The ongoing management of this relationship is a key role for American Greetings requiring advanced negotiation skills, experience managing contracts with value in excess of $1M and the ability to advocate for the timeliness, accuracy and quality of these syndicated data sources. Finally, this individual will be an expert on all syndicated data sources and market projection tools available in the marketplace, aware of advancements in the space, while advocating for the adoption of best practices and any associated investments internally.

This role will manage a core industry team of up to 3-4 analysts, including Quantitative Analyst and Industry Analysts. The team is responsible for data management and providing standard reporting and data analysis from a number of data sources, including internal Point-of-Sale as well as third-party sources including IRI and retailer loyalty portals. The Director then synthesizes and interprets data to arrive at recommendations. Recommendations may address standard cadence questions, specific requests from Sales, Marketing and the Business Units, or proactive identification of opportunities.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Maintain accuracy and integrity of Industry-level standard reporting and projections
• Maintains a dynamic view of American Greetings' performance compared to our competitors
• Develop and manage strategic relationships with external vendors including contract negotiation, budget management, assurance of high quality deliverables and problem resolution.
• Supervise, train and coach direct reports
• Support internal teams with sound insights and recommendations to drive ongoing planning
• Regularly interface with senior leadership; develop and deliver executive and client-ready presentations to communicate recommendations that enable American Greetings to maintain and or grow it's distribution network, particularly in account with current and emerging competitors like Walmart and Target
• Deliver timely, actionable responses to ad hoc requests
• Develop proactive recommendations and opportunities based on review and analysis of standard reports and observations
• In addition to being the owner of the Circana greeting card database the Director Industry Analytics will be responsible for extracting maximum value from new investments in the Target Collaborative Network.
• Finally, the Director Industry Analytics, will be tasked with expanding our expertise into new Celebrations categories, by supporting Finance Leadership and other Executives with strategic consult on potential merger and acquisitions and/or other growth opportunities.

Experience Required:

Required Length & Type of Experience:
• A minimum of 5+ years' experience applying quantitative methods to solve business problems
• Demonstrated experience translating quantitative analysis results into actionable, business recommendations
• Proven experience presenting results to broader (non-quantitative) audience, including business leaders
• Prior experience utilizing Excel, SAS, Access, Python, R, SQL, or a similar large database application is strongly desired.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
• Strong quantitative skills and the ability to understand and synthesize statistical/data analysis
• Strong computer skills including Excel and PowerPoint
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Strong communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills
• Ability to interact with both internal and external clients