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

Overview

This role supports Commercial Excellence work within the Private Equity Performance Improvement services practice. The organization is looking for a Pricing Manager to lead teams executing clients’ Revenue & Margin Management programs and delivering data-driven business insights.

Location: Open to all U.S. locations.

Responsibilities

• Advise companies on Revenue & Margin Management, including:
  • Margin transparency
  • Product portfolio optimization
  • SKU rationalization
  • New product development
  • Pricing and margin recovery
  • Marketing mix optimization
• Lead teams of professionals to address complex Commercial Excellence business challenges.
• Communicate effectively with C-level management.
• Conception and structuring of analytical plans to identify performance drivers.
• Design actionable solutions for Revenue & Margin Management issues.
• Develop and support implementation plans for pricing and margin initiatives.
• Own high-quality, end-to-end execution of individual projects, including:
  • Roadmap design
  • Project team and plan management
  • Development and presentation of final deliverables
• Contribute to project work that may include:
  • Margin transparency
  • Pricing analysis
  • Reporting frameworks and dashboards
  • B2B/B2C customer segmentation and statistical modeling
• Support data manipulation and analysis using tools such as MS Excel, SQL Server, and BI/statistical platforms (as applicable).
• Motivate, develop, and challenge team members; provide mentorship to junior staff.
• Manage day-to-day client relationships while partnering with internal and client teams to:
  • Define project requirements
  • Develop hypotheses
  • Gather data
  • Brainstorm alternatives
  • Generate recommendations
• Participate in internal team building and help create intellectual property.

Core Pricing & Margin Areas

Margin Transparency

• Evaluate current cost allocation processes (cost categories, basis for allocation, etc.).
• Assess profitability by market, customer, product category, SKU, etc.
• Identify and quantify 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 (e.g., allocations for indirect costs, costs-to-serve) and implementation.
• Identify potential 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 (financial measures, product life-cycle stage, competitive differentiation).
• Develop product-category specific sales and investment strategies and implementation plans.

SKU Rationalization

• Use a cost-to-serve framework to identify low or negative net margin SKUs and evaluate elimination opportunities.
• Evaluate potential for complexity reduction (e.g., 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 current pricing discipline across products, markets, and customers.
• Evaluate and improve pricing process (e.g., price setting, target profitability, approval process for discounts).
• Assess and implement broad-based and selective price increases based on market factors, competitive situations, existing contracts, etc.
• Evaluate whether margin improvements come from volume increases, price increases, or mix.

Margin Recovery

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

Requirements

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

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $125,000--$190,000 annually (dependent on education, experience, skills, and geography).

• Discretionary bonus program based on factors including individual and firm performance (details provided by recruiter).

Full-time Positions and Part-time Positions Over 30 hours

Regular employees working 30 or more hours per week are also entitled to participate in 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, including a discretionary contribution to the 401(k) (provided eligibility requirements are met)
• Paid time off, including:
  • Vacation
  • Personal days
  • Seventy-two (72) hours of sick time (prorated for part time employees)
  • Ten federal holidays
  • One floating holiday
  • Parental leave

Vacation and personal days vary based on tenure and role type.

Part-time Positions Under 30 hours

Regular employees working less than 30 hours per week are entitled to participate in the 401(k) retirement plan, including a discretionary contribution to the 401(k) (provided eligibility requirements are met).

Additional Information

• Candidates are considered as they apply until the opportunity is filled.
• The organization does not require or administer lie detector tests as a condition of employment or continued employment.
• It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment.