Sr. Manager, U.S. Retail Planning & Analytics

 

 

Location: Hershey, PA

Note: The candidate will ideally be located within a commutable distance to Hershey, PA but this role is remote-flexible.

 

 

Summary:

The Senior Manager, US Retail Planning & Analytics will be a critical member of Hershey’s Commercial Intelligence function, serving as the point person for holistic Competitive Intelligence while also acting as an expert and thought leader for the organization across the key drivers of retail performance for Hershey CMG, the confections category, and broader Snacking/Food. 

 

Within Competitive Intelligence, the Senior Manager US RP&A will be adept at harnessing data and insights from both internal and external sources, separating signal from noise, and making educated assumptions to develop a point of view on the future strategies and tactics of our top CMG competitors.  Critically, there will be an insights-to-action focus that ensures this information is leveraged to drive to the “so what” that will aid Hershey’s leadership and planning teams in ensuring that risks & opportunities from competitive actions are properly understood and accounted for in our strategic and investment decisions.

 

The Senior Manager, US RP&A will also support the US organization and leadership more broadly by maintaining a comprehensive understanding of Hershey’s business performance and consumption/share expectations and supporting the Director, US Business Analytics in effectively sharing key insights/recommendations related to those topics across a number of forums.      

 

 

 

Responsibilities:

• Develop a dynamic POV on the strategic direction of Hershey’s top CMG competitors by tracking market activities, news releases, sales intelligence, trade show insights, etc
• Maintain understanding of competitive trends outside of CMG including merch activity, innovation levels, price changes, etc. across the broader Snacking and Packaged Food landscapes
• Distill all competitive intelligence insights down into a range of potential impacts on Hershey (near-term and longer-term) and provide these inputs to planning teams
• Provide US leadership with regular summaries of key competitive learnings and related risks/opportunities to Hershey’s business
• Plug into to longer-term planning processes to ensure accurate expectations for competitive dynamics
• Maintain a holistic understanding of Hershey business drivers and retail expectations, and support in development of related content for key leadership meetings
• Develop and mentor an Analyst direct report

 

 

 

Qualifications:

• Previous experience in retail or CPG, ideally with additional functional expertise in strategy or consulting
• Comfort with syndicated data sources, especially Circana or Nielsen, as well as consumer panel, economic data, and corporate financial reporting
• Structured and logical thinker who is adept at breaking challenging problems down into manageable parts, identifying and prioritizing areas of greatest value, making educated assumptions where necessary, and driving to actionable insights
• Strong communication skills, with proven ability to influence others and convey insights/recommendations effectively via executive-ready PowerPoint decks, concise email communications, or verbal presentations
• Expertise with Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel as well as common reporting/visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI)

 

 

 

Experience and Education Requirements: