Staff Data Analyst

The Guitar Center Company; Westlake Village (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

Guitar Center is seeking a Staff Data Analyst to serve as the senior analytics partner to Merchandising and adjacent commercial teams in California. You will identify opportunities, frame questions, design measurements, and influence leaders to act.

Requires 8+ years in data analytics, strong SQL and Python, and deep fluency in retail analytics with P&L impact. You will collaborate with Data Engineering and BI to operationalize durable solutions and guide experimentation, influencing senior

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional analytics experience at staff level or senior IC leadership.
• Experience partnering with leaders to identify opportunities, shape priorities, and influence decisions in retail/commerce.
• Fluency in retail, eCommerce, merchandising, inventory, pricing, promotions, customer or finance analytics with P&L and margin impact.
• Strong SQL and Python skills with ability to review AI-generated outputs and validate logic.
• Strong experimental design and causal inference judgment, including group comparisons and cannibalization effects.
• Excellent BI and data visualization fluency using modern platforms (Looker/Tableau/Power BI/Omni).
• Excellent communication for senior leaders and non-technical partners.
• Staff-level influence, trusted cross-functional collaboration across analytics, BI, and data engineering.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Merchandising to guide decisions on pricing, assortment, allocation, promotions, inventory, vendors, and visual merchandising.
• Identify, size, and sequence high-value revenue, margin, inventory, and customer opportunities with analytics leadership.
• Translate ambiguous questions into measurement plans; conduct rigorous analyses and proof-of-concept work.
• Define data and capability needs; work with Data Engineering and BI to implement durable solutions.
• Lead experimentation and causal measurement design, including treatment of seasonality and bias.
• Convert findings into clear recommendations and build Merchandising fluency in data-driven decision making.
• Collaborate with analytics management to document policies for experimentation and causal inference.

Skills

SQL

Python

BI Visualization

Experimentation design

Communication

Retail analytics

Leadership

Stakeholder collaboration

Tools

Looker

Tableau

Power BI

Omni Platform

Job description

At Guitar Center, Analytics helps teams make better decisions that drive customer and business value. We are looking for a Staff Data Analyst to serve as the senior analytics partner to Merchandising and adjacent commercial teams.

This senior individual contributor will identify and size opportunities, frame ambiguous questions, design credible measurement, and influence leaders to act. The ideal candidate combines retail or commercial judgment, financial acumen, advanced analytical skills, and a track recordof how organizations use data.

Key Responsibilities

• Merchandising partnership: Partner with Merchandising leaders to guide decisions across pricing, assortment, allocation,promotions, inventory, vendors, and visual merchandising.
• Opportunity prioritization: Identify, size, and sequence high-value revenue, margin, inventory, and customer opportunities with Merchandising leaders and analytics management.
• Analytical leadership: Translate ambiguous commercial questions into analytical and measurement plans; conduct rigorous analysis and develop proof-of-concept analyses when useful.
• Solution direction: Define needed data andcapabilities, then partner with Data Engineering, BI, and other Sr.Analysts to operationalize durable solutions.
• Experimentation and causal measurement: Guide hypothesis design, comparison groups, and interpretation, accounting for seasonality, selection bias, halo, and cannibalization effects.
• Influence and enablement: Turn complex findings into clear recommendations and build Merchandising fluency in using data and BI to diagnose performance, test ideas, and act confidently.
• Methods and team partnership: Partner with analytics management to define and document Guitar Center's policies and standards for experimentation and causal inference.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & REQUIREMENTS:

• 8+ years of professional experience in dataanalytics, or similar roleswith Staff-level scope or equivalent senior individual contributor leadership in recent years.
• Experience partnering withleaders to identify and size opportunities, shape priorities, and improve decisions. Direct Retail experience a plus.
• Deep fluency in retail, eCommerce, merchandising, inventory, pricing, promotions, customer, or finance analytics, with the ability to connect findings to P&L, margin, inventory, and customer outcomes.
• Strong skills in SQL and Python. Your analytical coding fluency is paired with the judgment to use AI-assisted development effectively, review and debug AI-generated code, and critically validate the resulting analytical logic and outputs.
• Strong experimental design and causal inference judgment, including comparison-group selection, incrementality, uncertainty, and halo and cannibalization effects.
• Strong BI and data visualization fluency for exploration, prototyping, and decision-focused storytelling, with experience in modern BI platforms such as Omni, Looker, Tableau, or Power BI.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to turn complex analysis into concise narratives for senior leaders and non-technical partners.
• Staff-level influence and ownership, demonstrated by establishing practical methods, sharing expertise, and building trust across business, analytics, BI, Data Engineering, and Data Science partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in retail and/or the music industry preferred.
• A curious self-starter, eager to push boundaries, ask the right questions, and follow data wherever it leads.
• Experience working in a dynamic environment where decisions have a tangible impact.

Pay Rate: $140,000- $175,000/ annually depending on background and experience.

The job posting is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific employee, which is always dependent on actual experience, education, and other factors. The pay range(s) listed are provided in compliance with state specific laws. Pay ranges may be different in other locations

About Guitar Center

Guitar Center embodies the world of creativity and music by encouraging our teammates to find their own individual sound. We strive to craft lifelong musicians and make a difference in the world by enabling musicians and non-musicians alike to experience the almost indescribable happiness that comes from playing an instrument. We believe in putting our customers first, engaging with respect and integrity and fulfilling our mission with passion.

Why join us?

With a career at Guitar Center, you become part of the world's largest multichannel musical instrument retailer. Whether at our Stores, Contact Centers, Distribution Centers, or Support Center, Guitar Center employees have a common goal: to help people find their sound and fill the world with more music.

Love this gig and want to apply?

Guitar Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides fair and equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected status prohibited under Federal, State, or local laws. All employment decisions are based on valid jobârelated requirements.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our website, you may request a reasonable accommodation to express interest in a specific opening. You can request a reasonable accommodation by sending an email [e-mail].