Role overview
We are seeking an experienced Retail Subject Matter Expert to provide deep domain expertise across retail operations — spanning merchandising, planning, store operations, supply chain, and retail analytics. The SME translates hands-on retail knowledge into actionable strategy, clear product requirements, and AI/technology-enabled improvements, partnering closely with product, engineering, and data science teams.
Key responsibilities
Retail domain leadership
- Act as the domain authority across merchandising, assortment & category management, planning & forecasting, store operations, and supply chain.
- Provide strategic guidance on retail processes, KPIs, data structures, and operational workflows.
- Translate business needs into detailed requirements, use cases, and process maps.
Product & solution contribution
- Partner with product, engineering, and data science teams to validate features and ensure solutions align with retail realities.
- Participate in requirement reviews, backlog grooming, and solution design workshops.
- Evaluate prototypes, analytics dashboards, and AI/ML models for business fit and accuracy.
Operational intelligence & process excellence
- Identify improvement opportunities across inventory, pricing, promotions, replenishment, and demand forecasting.
- Map as-is and design to-be operational processes.
Stakeholder engagement
- Run discovery sessions, interviews, and deep-dives with cross-functional business teams.
- Communicate insights and recommendations through clear storytelling and presentations.
Training, governance & change management
- Support SOPs, process documentation, and training assets for new systems.
- Drive adoption of new tools, dashboards, and AI-enabled workflows.
- Support governance for data quality and performance.
Must-have Qualifications
- 12–15 years of experience in retail, merchandising, planning, category management, or supply chain operations.
- Strong command of retail KPIs — sell-through, GMROI, inventory turn, margin mix, OOS, promo uplift, safety stock.
- Depth in 2–3 retail domains: merchandising
- planning & forecasting
- category management
- store operations
- e-commerce & omni-channel
- supply chain.
- Hands-on experience with retail systems — POS, ERP, merchandise/demand planning, allocation, or replenishment tools.
- Ability to define business requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and operational workflows.
- Strong analytical, documentation, and communication skills.
Good-to-have
- Experience collaborating with AI/ML, data engineering, or product teams on retail solutions.
- Familiarity with retail cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) and data ecosystems.
- Comfort with BI / analytics tools (Power BI, Tableau).
- Exposure to Generative or agentic AI use cases in retail.
- Experience with process standardization and operational-excellence initiatives.
Soft skills
Strong problem-solving and structured thinking
- ability to simplify complex retail processes for technical teams
- high ownership and bias for action
- excellent stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Retail Management, or a related field.
- MBA or advanced certification in Retail / Supply Chain preferred.
