Manager, Pricing--Commercial Excellence (OPEN TO ALL U.S. LOCATIONS)

Overview

The organization is seeking a Manager, Pricing—Commercial Excellence for open U.S. locations.

This role supports Private Equity Performance Improvement (PEPI) engagements focused on improving operating results for middle market and large-cap private equity portfolio companies. Work centers on Revenue & Margin Management, including margin transparency, product portfolio optimization, SKU rationalization, pricing, and margin recovery.

Responsibilities

• Advise client organizations on Revenue & Margin Management, including:
  • Margin transparency and cost-to-serve analysis
  • Product portfolio optimization and product-category strategies
  • SKU rationalization and complexity reduction
  • Pricing strategy and pricing process improvement
  • Margin recovery and implementation of pricing/quoting improvements
• Lead teams delivering data-driven insights and execution of clients’ ongoing Revenue & Margin Management programs.
• Own end-to-end project delivery, including:
  • Roadmap design
  • Project team management and plan development
  • Development and presentation of final deliverables
• Conceive and structure analytical plans to identify performance drivers and develop actionable solutions.
• Create and contribute to intellectual property and internal team building.
• Communicate effectively with C-level management.

Margin Transparency

• Evaluate current cost allocation processes (cost categories, allocation bases, etc.).
• Assess profitability by market, customer, product category, SKU, and related dimensions.
• Identify and quantify additional complexity-driven costs-to-serve (e.g., product customization, extra customer service, samples, expedited freight, special customer terms).
• Identify improvements for future product costing analyses and implementations (e.g., allocations for indirect costs, costs-to-serve).
• Assess opportunities for and implement cost-to-serve premiums and targeted price adjustments; quantify impact on margin and profitability.

Product Portfolio Optimization

• Assess competitive landscape and customer trends.
• Evaluate product portfolio performance and positioning (financial measures, product life-cycle stage, and competitive differentiation).
• Develop product-category specific sales and investment strategies and implementation plans.

SKU Rationalization

• Using a cost-to-serve framework, identify low or negative net margin SKUs and evaluate elimination opportunities.
• Evaluate potential for complexity reduction (including SKU rationalization).
• Implement SKU rationalization and complexity reduction initiatives.

Price Optimization

• Assess pricing strategies and quantify profitability opportunities through pricing levers such as:
  • Value price setting
  • Transactional price management (e.g., leakage, discounts, escalators)
  • Pass-through (inflation, material costs)
• Assess pricing discipline across products, markets, and customers.
• Evaluate and improve pricing processes (e.g., price setting, target profitability, approval process for discounts).
• Assess opportunities for and implement broad-based and selective price increases based on market factors, competitive situations, existing contracts, etc.
• Evaluate whether margin improvements are driven by volume increases, price increases, or mix.

Margin Recovery

• Review costs-to-serve and potential for pass-through.
• Identify and implement recovery opportunities for drivers of complexity.
• Assess current pricing/quoting processes for recovering costs-to-serve and implement improvements.

Project & Technical Skills

• Combine creative problem solving with analytical rigor to drive actionable insights.
• Contribute to projects such as developing margin transparency, pricing analysis, reporting frameworks and dashboards, B2B/B2C customer segmentation, and statistical modeling.
• Manipulate and analyze client and market data using tools that may include:
  • MS Excel, SQL Server
  • BI tools such as Alteryx or Tableau
  • Statistical programs such as SPSS or R

People & Client Leadership

• Motivate, develop, and challenge project team members to exceed client expectations.
• Provide value-added thinking and mentorship for junior team development.
• Manage client relationships day-to-day while collaborating with internal client teams.
• Partner with client teams to define requirements, develop hypotheses, gather data, brainstorm alternatives, and generate recommendations.

Requirements

• Industry experience in B2B and business services; experience working with private equity and/or PE relationships is a plus.
• Strong financial acumen, including understanding of P&L and cost drivers.
• 7–10 years of experience focused on Revenue & Margin, including experience developing and implementing pricing processes and methodology.
• Experience with pricing aspects including value-based, transactional, discount leakage, and pass-through.
• Experience with best practices in pricing review and approval processes, waterfall analysis, and tools such as Vendavo.
• Analytically driven with exposure to tools and technologies, including:
  • Relational database (SQL)
  • BI (Alteryx, Tableau)
  • Statistical (SPSS, R)
  • Web analytics (SiteCatalyst, Google Analytics)
• Strong quantitative mindset with excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Exceptional project management and presentation skills.
• Outstanding people development and management skills; ability to lead junior team members and help guide their careers.
• Demonstrated experience providing intellectual and task leadership on complex projects.
• Ability to work independently in an unstructured environment and respond with confidence and creativity.
• Consulting experience preferred (not required).
• MBA from a top-tier university preferred (not required).

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary range: $125,000–$190,000 annually, dependent on variables including education, experience, skills, and geography.
• Discretionary bonus program based on multiple factors, including individual and firm performance. Please ask your recruiter for details.

Full-time positions and part-time positions over 30 hours

Regular employees working 30 or more hours per week are entitled to fringe benefits including:

• Healthcare plans, flexible spending and savings accounts, life, AD&D, and disability coverages (rates determined from time to time)
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Discretionary contribution to the 401(k) (provided eligibility requirements are met)
• Paid time off: vacation, personal days, seventy-two (72) hours of sick time (prorated for part time employees), ten federal holidays, one floating holiday, and parental leave
• Vacation and personal day availability varies based on tenure and role type

Part-time positions under 30 hours

Regular employees working less than 30 hours per week are entitled to:

• 401(k) retirement plan
• Discretionary contribution to the 401(k) (provided eligibility requirements are met)

Additional Information

• Candidates are considered as they apply, on an ongoing basis, until the opportunity is filled.
• No lie detector tests are required or administered as a condition of employment or continued employment. (Unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment.)