Sr. Merchant Analyst - Cost Management

BJ's Wholesale Club; Marlborough (MA); Hybrid; USD 78,000 - 101,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Weekly pay

BJ’s Memberships

Generous PTO

Health benefits options

401(k) match

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

BJ’s Wholesale Club in Marlborough, MA is seeking a Senior Analyst, Merchant Analytics to manage the financial impact of tariffs, inflation, and deflation on merchandise costs. You will partner with Merchandising leaders to maximize value in vendor negotiations, support should-cost modeling, and provide proactive input cost guidance in a rapidly evolving trade environment.

This hybrid role requires building trusted analytics insights, developing vendor cost analyses, and delivering data-backed

Qualifications

• Four-year college degree or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of analytical experience with merchandise profitability.
• Negotiation experience preferred.
• Understanding of retail merchandising basics and processes.
• Strong Excel skills; ability to use AI tools to speed analysis.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills (PowerPoint).
• Expert BI tool proficiency; ability to conduct primary research with limited supervision.
• Project management/leadership experience preferred.
• Able to manage multiple assignments and meet tight deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Develop vendor negotiation materials and highlight key levers for favorable outcomes.
• Value savings opportunities and perform financial modeling during negotiations.
• Manage vendor communications and produce reporting/presentations.
• Establish credibility as a data-driven analytics advisor to Merchandising leadership.
• Conduct vendor cost and SKU/brand-level analyses and model costs.
• Track vendor cost increases and identify opportunities to offset with commodity trends.
• Serve as the analytics lead for SKU-based should-cost research.

Skills

Excel

AI tools

PowerPoint

BI tools

Negotiation

Merchandising basics

Project management

Independent work

Education

Four-year college degree

Tools

PowerPoint

Business Intelligence tools

Generative AI

Job description

A World-Class Team

BJ’s Wholesale Club is powered by more than 30,000 team members who make a real impact every day. Whether you're stocking shelves, solving problems or shaping strategy, your work helps families save on what matters most.

We’re a team built on purpose and opportunity. Join us and be part of something meaningful.

Why You’ll Love Working at BJ’s

At BJ’s Wholesale Club, our team members are at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, well-being and future – both on and off the job. When you grow, we grow.

Here’s just some of what you can look forward to:

• Weekly Pay: Get paid every week so that you can manage your money on your terms.
• Free BJ’s Memberships: Enjoy a complimentary The Club Card Membership, plus a free Supplemental Membership for someone in your household.*
• Generous Paid Time Off: Take the time you need with vacation, personal, sick days, holidays, bereavement, and jury duty leave.*
• Flexible and Affordable Health Benefits: Choose from three medical plans, and access optional dental, vision, Health Savings Account (HSA), and flexible spending account options to fit your lifestyle.*
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan: Build your financial future with a company match (available to team members 18 and older).*
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan: Accumulate funds through after-tax payroll deductions that can be used to purchase shares of BJ’s common stock at a 15% discount.*

*Eligibility requirements vary by position.

At BJ’s, we leverage analytics to deliver exceptional business results while providing greater value to our members. A key driver to our success is our Enterprise Analytics (EA) team that uses data and analytics to achieve a transformational and competitive advantage. The EA team acquires, consolidates, and transforms data into relevant information and is “at the table” collaborating and influencing our business leaders to drive innovation as well as strategic business decisions and outcomes.

This EA team is looking for strong analytical contributors who can turn insights into action. Come join our team and drive our strategic growth initiatives while serving a growing membership base focused on providing exceptional savings and value to our members and the communities we serve.

The Senior Analyst, Merchant Analytics, will serve as the primary analytical resource for managing the financial impact of tariffs, inflation, and deflation on merchandise costs. Reporting to the Manager of Merchant Analytics, this role delivers fact-based, data-driven guidance to Merchandise leaders to maximize value in vendor negotiations, strengthen should-cost modeling, and provide proactive product input cost guidance in a rapidly evolving trade environment. This position will focus on tracking and supporting negotiation strategy for cost changes due to commodity fluctuations, tariff changes, and other cost drivers.

Major Tasks, Responsibilities, and Key Accountabilities

• Develop "Ask" materials (letters, decks, talk tracks) to be shared with merchants in preparation for vendor negotiations for Tariffs, Inflation, and Deflation highlighting key levers merchants should consider to achieve favorable outcomes.
• Value savings opportunities and perform financial modeling during negotiations to support decision-making.
• Manage and track vendor communication emails and associated documents and produce reporting and presentations summarizing their scope and impact.
• Establish credibility as a trusted analytics expert and strategic advisor, demonstrating a deep understanding of merchant and vendor dynamics and building mutual professional trust with key business partners.
• Conduct rigorous analysis and research, including: Vendor insight (cost structures) and extensive SKU/brand/vendor-level analysis (relative productivity, profitability, brand loyalty, SKU transferability, cost modeling, etc.).
• Track vendor cost increases to identify unjustified vendor increases (e.g., relative to commodity price movements) and proactively identify decreases due to BJ’s commensurate with commodity price drops.
• Serve the Merchant team as point person for all SKU-based analytical research focused on should-cost modeling.

• Support insights for continuous process improvement.
• Build and maintain effective partnerships with Director-level and above stakeholders, influencing business decisions through clear, data-backed recommendations.

Qualifications

• Four-year college degree or equivalent experience. Finance and/or other quantitative analytical degree a strong plus.
• 3+ years of relevant analytical experience with strong merchandise profitability understanding.
• Negotiation experience highly preferred.
• Understanding of retail merchandising basics (i.e., category management) and merchandising organizational structures and processes.
• Strong analytical skills including advanced Excel proficiency; experience leveraging AI tools (e.g., generative AI) to accelerate analysis.
• Effective communication skills, including the ability to translate analytical research into presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Expert-level proficiency in Business Intelligence tools and similar software; conducts primary research with limited supervision.
• Project management/leadership experience preferred.
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple assignments and meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to develop effective working relationships with all levels of Merchandise leadership.
• Ability to work independently and adapt to changing work priorities.
• Self-motivated, intellectually curious, and results-oriented, with the ability to thrive in a high-demand, performance-driven environment.

This is a hybrid role. Tuesday through Thursday are in-office days at BJ's Club Support Center in Marlborough, MA and Monday and Friday are remote days.

In accordance with the Pay Transparency requirements, the following represents a good faith estimate of the compensation range for this position. At BJ’s Wholesale Club, we carefully consider a wide range of non-discriminatory factors when determining salary. Actual salaries will vary depending on factors including but not limited to location, education, experience, and qualifications. The pay range for this position is $78,000.00 - $101,000.00

We recognize the growing role of AI tools, including ChatGPT, and value familiarity with them. That said, we want to hear from your authentic self. Your application should reflect your own skills, experiences, and insights rather than AI-generated responses.