Lead Director of Merchandising Operations – Business Acceleration

CVS Health; Woonsocket (RI); On-site; USD 100,000 - 232,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision coverage

Paid time off

Bonus & equity awards

Job summary

CVS Health is seeking a Lead Director of Merchandising Operations, Business Acceleration to guide a team of Senior Managers and Analysts in crafting data-driven strategies that boost performance across assortment, placement, pricing and promotions.

The role partners with Merchandising leadership to analyze trends, vendor economics, loyalty programs, and optimization opportunities, delivering measurable growth while ensuring a customer-first perspective and executive-level communication.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience ideally in: Management Consulting, Retail/CPG, or Banking/Private Equity.
• Specific experience in Retail Category Management, CPG, or Vendor Management—leading strategic/commercial projects with impact.
• Merchandise familiarity—understanding of retail merchandising basics and processes.
• Mastery of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience with Tableau, SQL Assistant, VBA, Python, SAP, SAP BI, Teradata or Oracle is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and manage a high-performing team.
• Assess SKU/Vendor/Brand/Promotional incrementality; benchmark space, brands, assortment; analyze loyalty and profitability.
• Build strategy using data tools to support vendor negotiations.
• Advise Category Managers on vendor agreements and contracts.
• Perform complex quantitative analysis and build models in Excel and other platforms (Tableau).
• Develop annual category plans and budgets with senior Merchandising leaders.

Skills

Data analysis

Executive communication

Excel

Tableau

PowerPoint

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Tableau

SQL Assistant

VBA

Python

SAP

SAP BI

Teradata

Oracle

Job description

We’re building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.

At every step of our 63-year journey from beginnings as ‘Consumer Value Stores’ to transforming the healthcare experience as CVS Health, a Fortune 4 company, the relationships we forge assisting people on their path to better health often happen in the store. 70% of Americans live within 3 miles of a CVS store – it’s often the first interaction people have with our brand – and within Front Store (Retail) Merchandising, we’re often charged with shaping that initial experience through the exciting products and services we offer. The journey continues: as we lead redefining the role of our stores and healthcare in the communities we serve, coupled with deep connections to our customers enabled through leading digital platforms and leveraging enterprise capabilities across the healthcare ecosystem, it’s truly an exciting time to be a part of CVS Health.

Position Summary

If you’d like to join us on that journey, please read on! The Lead Director of Merchandising Operations, Business Acceleration will lead a team of approx. 4 Senior Managers and Analysts in developing and recommending data-driven strategies to improve business performance by working closely with Merchandising leadership in analyzing market trends and dynamics, vendor/brand economics and productivities, customer loyalty, and related optimization opportunities across various levers, such as assortment, placement, pricing, and promotion. This consultative role also serves as trusted advisor to Category Managers, providing and ad hoc analytical support to drive growth and results.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Lead, develop, and manage a high-performing team
• Assess SKU/Vendor/Brand/Promotional incrementality; competitively benchmark (space, brands, assortment); generate market, customer (e.g., ExtraCare, segmentation), and vendor insights (cost structures, trade funding); and analyze assortment (relative productivity, elasticity, profitability, loyalty, etc.)
• Build strategy, applying data tools, to support Merchant-led vendor negotiations
• Advise Category Manager partners on developing and writing creative, rigorous, and exhaustive vendor agreements and contracts
• Conduct complex quantitative analysis and build analytical models using Microsoft Excel and other tools/platforms (e.g., Tableau)
• Develop annual plans and budgets for category strategy and profit improvement, working with senior Merchandising leaders
• Inspire creativity and new capability design often spurred by ‘white space’ opportunity identification and business case development
• Design initiative pilots and deploy in select number of stores to measure and assess (‘Test & Learn’)
• Enact a customer-first perspective, understanding when to approach problems through a macro, cross-business unit lens, necessary to reflect how customers shop at CVS (e.g., trip motivations, basket analyses)
• Partner (e.g., Supply Chain, Store Operations, Finance) to activate ideas that expand beyond Merchandising and create strategy or change projects
• Deploy an Enterprise Mindset, engaging partners and partners across Enterprise Teams (e.g., Pharmacy Services, Health Care Benefits) to identify synergies and create improved outcomes/growth

The candidate selected for this position will be a creative, ‘out-of-the-box’ thinker who is intellectually curious with a passion for using data to drive business decision making. This person will need to be self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and able to excel in a high demand, performance-driven environment. Strong communication and presentation skills, storytelling ability, and executive presence are a must. The Business Acceleration Director is a relationship and trust builder and connector, comfortable in ambiguity and shifting priorities, and finally humble and receptive to feedback. If this describes you, come join us a CVS Health colleague!

Required Qualifications

5+ years of experience ideally in: Management Consulting, Retail/CPG, or Banking/Private Equity

Preferred Qualifications

• Specific experience in Retail Category Management, CPG, or Vendor Management- leading strategic/ commercial projects with impact
• Merchandise familiarity- understanding of retail merchandising basics (i.e., Category Management), and merchandising organizational structures and processes
• Mastery of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
• Experience with technical tools, such as: Tableau, SQL Assistant, VBA, Python, SAP, SAP BI, Teradata, Oracle are a plus, but not required

Education

Bachelor's degree

Pay Range

The typical pay range for this role is: $100,000.00 - $231,540.00 This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors. This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company’s equity award program.

Benefits

Great benefits for great people We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families. This full‑time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well‑being of colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility. Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on: 10/30/2026

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.

Our Work Experience is the combination of everything that's unique about us: our culture, our core values, our company meetings, our dedication, our recognition programs, our sustainability efforts and our people. Our employees are self-disciplined, hard working, curious, trustworthy, humble, and truthful. They make choices according to what is best for the team; they live for opportunities to collaborate and make a difference; and they make us the #1 Top Workplace in the area.