Account Specialist, Retail Client Development

The NPD Group, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job description

Account Specialist, Retail Client Development

• Full-time

The world around us is changing. Retail is in a state of major transition, and consumers have more options than ever. As a leading provider of global information and advisory services, NPD is at the forefront of helping our clients, the world's biggest brands and retailers understand and profit from these changes.

Since 1966, we have been helping businesses track industry trends and understand their customers in order to get the right products in the right places for the right people at the right prices. We serve more than a dozen industries including consumer electronics, entertainment, fashion, food / foodservice, toys, video games, and more. We want to lead manufacturers and retailers on collaborating via the effective use of our information in line reviews and joint business planning.

Our Retail Business Group team is currently seeking an Account Specialist who will be accountable for delivering insights and information and increasing use of data within a key, multi-industry retailer partner. The primary function is to support the ongoing strategic & tactical needs of the merchant and marketing teams at the retailer helping them make fact-based decisions using NPD data. The majority of this position’s time will be focused on mining and analyzing data for insights leading to suggested action. This is a client-facing position which requires building and maintaining relationships across the organization.

This position is located in Seattle, WA - remote work opportunity with regular onsite client visits.

Responsibilities:

• Enhance NPD’s bond with the retailer through relationship building and day-to-day servicing of the client
• Provide market performance reporting, data analysis, insights and customer support for the client
• Design, prepare and deliver concise, actionable presentations
• Manage and track projects from initial request through completion, providing updates on regular basis
• Respond to client requests, utilizing existing databases, new analyses, new services, and industry knowledge
• Work with client contacts, NPD’s Account Managers and Sr. Director to integrate our data into the retailer's decision-making processes
• Assist in growing revenue with the client by recognizing and exploring opportunities at the client for additional services or projects
• Deliver proactive recommendations and analysis regarding their businesses
• Independently seek out resources within the client and NPD to help resolve client issues
• Assist in troubleshooting data quality issues using the client's internal systems to validate NPD data
• Provide training and support for as needed for NPD reporting and tools
• Assist in tracking and delivering measurable business results from the retailer’s use of NPD data
• Build knowledge of various retail industries

Minimum Qualifications:

• 2-5+ years of experience in client service, analyst role, retail inventory planning, merchant analyst, retail buyer, market research, POS or Consumer data or equivalent
• Proven success in data pulling, formatting, and analysis, to drive fact-based decision making for multiple businesses
• Strong organizational skills
• Strong ability to manage multiple projects and meet tight deadlines
• Solid presentation skills to groups of all sizes
• Able to interact proactively with multiple teams
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Expert in all MS Office products. (Strong Excel, PowerPoint, Word).
• Knowledge of NPD proprietary software or work with other database platforms desirable
• Travel (<5%)
• BA/BS or equivalent.

Communication:
The ideal candidate must be able to conduct engaging and impactful presentations that deliver value to the client while telling a compelling story in a concise and polished manner to a diverse audience. Most importantly, the candidate must demonstrate the ability to listen to the customer and appropriately match the customer's needs with NPD’s products and services, or be willing to direct the customer to the best solution.

Relationships:
The ideal candidate must be comfortable and effective when talking with a broad range of decision influencers and decision makers within an organization. The candidate will be able to effectively understand and build relationships throughout the prospective customer's organization.

Discipline:
The ideal candidate will be competent in managing their time and activities, and must embrace our proven opportunity and customer management processes and systems. Candidates must possess a 'can-do' perspective in their professional attitude. They will be detail oriented and demonstrate a strong work ethic, as well as strong analytic skills. An individual who can think outside the box, and come up with unique ways to address business questions will be most successful in this role. They will be sticklers for accuracy in their own work as well as their colleagues. They will be ready to back up their assertions with facts.

*NPD is an EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER.