Pricing Optimization - Senior Manager

CVS Health Price Optimization Manager

At CVS Health, we're building a world of health around every consumer and surrounding ourselves with dedicated colleagues who are passionate about transforming health care. To enable this purpose, we have several initiatives, existing and new, that are re-inventing pharmacy and enabling better health outcomes. In the Merchandising Organization, we support our company's purpose and our Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness vision to be America's most trusted health, wellness and pharmacy care partner, delivering differentiated omnichannel experiences and meeting consumers where they are.

The Price Optimization Manager specializes in price optimization and its tools, with thorough knowledge of user functionality and modeling logic. This role serves as a crucial link between Pricing Managers and the Modeling / Product Development teams, ensuring that optimization solutions are effective and align with business needs. They will be the primary contact for Pricing Managers, providing support with optimization, troubleshooting issues, and offering best practice guidance. Additionally, they will work closely with Data Science (DS), Data Engineering (DE), and platform teams to provide feedback on tool performance, user experience, and potential improvements.

To succeed in this role, candidates should understand both the business strategy and the DDAT strategy to create comprehensive strategies that address pricing gaps across the merchandising team for all 50 categories. Utilizing influencing skills, cross-functional collaboration, and project leadership, they will effectively communicate pricing information to non-technical and non-category management teams. This role is integral to the development of our pricing strategy, so candidates should be capable, adaptable, and maintain a positive attitude through challenges.

Strategic Planning

Establishes a clear, prioritized activity roadmap that successfully delivers the company's ambitions, including changes in products, policies and / or processes across our ecosystem with appropriate collaboration across multiple stakeholders.

Consults with Pricing Managers throughout the price optimization strategic process, providing best-practice guidance and troubleshooting issues across the following :

How to translate category strategies / pricing strategies into scenario inputs including objective functions and guardrail constraints

How to assess and compare outputs across scenario runs

How to refine model inputs to achieve more optimal results

How to analyze and resolve infeasibilities

Interfaces with Data Science, Data Engineering, and platform teams on issues that Pricing Managers have during scenario testing

Facilitates training and knowledge sharing to elevate the broader team's proficiency with the optimization tool

Drives adoption of appropriate optimization techniques, utilizing new capabilities, to advance overall value proposition at CVS

Proficiency in working with data to develop measures and metrics that yield actionable insights to business owners, and lead / conduct / support first-level analyses to identify underlying drivers of new trends.

Ability to drive efficient and effective planning processes by implementing and upholding a strong project management discipline across boundaries.

Ability to influence at all levels up to and including cross-functional SVPs. Excellent written and oral communication skills-strong presentation skills required.

Assigns appropriate timelines and accountabilities for items, empowering the team to drive action steps to completion.

Leverages thought partners (Senior leaders, corporate partners, peers, team, etc.) as needed to create and revisit the strategy.

Navigates ambiguity and change to achieve goals despite potential obstacles.

Creates strategies that continuously improve our programs and / or processes that drive service and productivity improvement.

Aligns the team to establish, update and maintain a clear set of actions including interdependencies needed to achieve overall goals.

Follows up on strategic initiatives and KPI performance.

Champions innovation by bringing ideas to own VP & SVP as well as the broader Merchandising Leadership Team in an agile way, while balancing growth against financial risk and incremental cost to the organization.

Delivers Results

Synthesizes pricing impact projections from all Price & Value teams including pricing, promotions, front store coupons and category / branded coupon impacts. Routinely reports actuals vs. planned on core KPIs as part of monthly leadership business review.

Understands and tracks progress against capability development and implementation plans scheduled to drive budgeted business growth including key milestones, deliverables, customer, trip, sales & margin, capital and expense impacts.

Monitors risks & opportunities, and drives solution development, elevating status, wins & opportunities to our Price & Value leadership team on a monthly basis.

Leverages a results-oriented mindset to assign appropriate timelines and accountabilities for initiatives, projects and deliverables. Empowers the team to drive action steps to bring to completion.

"Inspects What They Expect" routinely inspects and monitors key processes and functions; institutes improvement measures as needed; holds team accountable to KPIs and deliverables.

Optimizes and level sets expectations with stakeholders by partnering closely with Merchandising Leadership, Marketing Leadership, Supply Chain Leadership, Store Operations, and DDAT to ensure appropriate levels of support and collaboration.

Works cross-functionally with CSC partners to develop strategies and action plans to mitigate identified risks and opportunities tailored to the specific needs of each cross-functional stakeholder group, as needed.

Optimizes use of data to support field execution of key programs and processes; ensures field feedback is incorporated by team into dashboards and reporting to improve utilization and effectiveness.

Drives Improvement and Innovation

Proactively identify opportunities to improve optimization processes and outcomes, advocating for user needs and business objectives.

Identifying, collecting, and sharing feedback on the pricing tool with the appropriate product teams.

Collaborating with product teams to define and test new functionality to ensure it meets the requirements of business users.

Continuously looks for opportunities to drive efficiency and productivity across the team; partners with Price & Value leadership team, IT, and DDAT to identify and recommend implementation of new technologies to achieve this.

Fully embraces organizational improvement initiatives, acting as a change agent with one's own team and peers.

Provides both constructive and positive feedback on new initiatives to appropriate teams. Look for ways to break through implementation barriers rather than be impeded by them.

Stakeholder Influence and Change Management

Leverages data, insights, and analytics to influence stakeholders and makes recommendations as appropriate.

Fully embraces organizational improvement initiatives, acting as a change agent with one's own team and peers and partners.

Provides both constructive and appreciative feedback on ideas and key initiative.

Look for ways to break through implementation barriers rather than be impeded by them.

Cross-Functional Collaboration : Facilitating collaboration between different departments to promote a cohesive and integrated approach to achieving organizational goals.

Drives change agility in self, team and network.

Measures retention and key performance indicator results on an ongoing basis and provides recurring readout to senior leadership in partnership with cross functional business leads.

Leverages a results-oriented mindset, using metrics to monitor improvements.

Develop and manage a standardized set of views that are used to internally monitor macro-level trends and key drivers of each.

Collaborates with Pricing team to support innovation, market research and analytics.

Required Qualifications

8+ years' merchandising, pricing, marketing, or similar retail experience.

8+ years' experience of developing, implementing and executing programs.

8+ years' proven track record of influencing others with and without authority.

8+ years' experience actively taking on issues in a decisive manner, while keeping broader team dynamics in mind and empowering your leaders to obtain results through building behaviors.

8+ years' experience understanding and breaking down highly complex situations to deliver impactful solutions in real time.

8+ years' experience effectively demonstrating excellent verbal and written communication skills, very strong interpersonal and presentation skills. Must be able to work cross-functionally and effectively with non-technical stakeholders.

8+ years' experience demonstrated ability to lead a large team and manage a million-dollar business unit to achieve.

Bachelor's degree.

Travel

Ability, and willingness, to travel regularly, 20% of time, based on needs of the business.

Preferred Qualifications

10+ years' experience of developing, implementing and executing programs.

10+ years of demonstrated successful leadership experience in a highly competitive environment. Relevant sectors include retail, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.

10+ years' proven track record of influencing others with and without authority.

10+ years' experience building high-performing, successful teams developing key talent. Demonstrated passion for bringing new leaders along and helping them realize their ability to impact the business.