"Alerted.org

Hybrid in Houston, TX

JOB SUMMARY

The Director will build and lead a high-performing analytics and finance team, translating complex data into actionable insights, financial forecasts, and strategic recommendations. This role plays a critical part in shaping merchandising strategy, improving profitability, and ensuring financial discipline across the product portfolio

RESPONSIBILITIES

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Finance & Business Partnership

+ Serve as the primary finance partner to Merchandising leadership, influencing strategy through financial insights and scenario analysis.

+ Provide financial leadership on assortment strategy, supplier negotiations, pricing initiatives, promotions, and category performance.

+ Evaluate trade-offs between sales growth, margin, inventory, and working capital to support enterprise objectives.

Financial Planning & Analysis

+ Lead budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning for merchandising, including revenue, gross margin, supplier funding, and inventory.

+ Develop financial models to assess new programs, supplier agreements, SYY brand initiatives, and merchandising investments.

+ Track performance vs. plan and clearly articulate risks, opportunities, and corrective actions.

Analytics & Insights

+ Oversee development of dashboards, KPIs, and analytics to monitor category, supplier, and SKU-level performance.

+ Drive deeper insights into price elasticity, mix, margin leakage, inventory turns, and promotional effectiveness.

+ Simplify complex analyses into clear, executive-level storytelling and recommendations.

Margin, Pricing & Cost Management

+ Partner with pricing and merchandising teams to improve gross margin, reduce margin leakage, and enhance pricing discipline.

+ Analyze cost drivers including vendor cost changes, freight, shrink, and inventory revaluation impacts.

+ Support fact-based negotiations with suppliers using financial and analytical insights.

Inventory & Working Capital Optimization

+ Partner with Supply Chain and Merchandising to optimize inventory levels, turns, and obsolescence risk.

+ Monitor inventory revaluation, reserves, and exposure, and proactively identify mitigation actions.

Leadership & Team Development

+ Lead, mentor, and develop a team of finance and analytics professionals.

+ Establish best practices in financial modeling, analytics, and business partnering.

+ Foster a culture of curiosity, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

+ Work closely with Accounting, Supply Chain, Pricing, Sales, and IT/Data teams to ensure alignment and data integrity.

+ Support executive leadership with ad hoc analysis, board-level materials, and strategic initiatives.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

+ Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.

+ 10+ years of progressive experience in finance, FP&A, or analytics, with significant exposure to merchandising, pricing, or product/category management.

+ Strong leadership experience managing and developing teams.

+ Advanced financial modeling, forecasting, and analytical skills.

+ Ability to translate complex data into clear insights for senior executives.

Required

+ Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.

+ 10+ years of progressive experience in finance, FP&A, or analytics, with significant exposure to merchandising, pricing, or product/category management.

+ Strong leadership experience managing and developing teams.

+ Advanced financial modeling, forecasting, and analytical skills.

+ Ability to translate complex data into clear insights for senior executives.

Preferred

+ MBA or CPA/CFA.

+ Experience in food distribution, retail, CPG, or multi-SKU environments.

+ Experience working with large datasets, BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau), and ERP systems.

Skills

Strategic thinking and commercial acumen

+ Executive communication and influence

+ Strong business partnering mindset

+ Data-driven decision-making

+ People leadership and talent development

Physical Demands and Work Environment

+ The physical, mental, and environmental conditions in which the work is performed. The demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

+ While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk and use hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, mouse, and telephone to talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to sit and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.

+ While this position will primarily work in an office environment, this position may require travel to other office locations, staff meetings, company events, training sessions, and client meetings.

+ May be required to utilize personal vehicles for business travel that may result in long periods of sitting. Must maintain a valid driver's license and provide proof of current automobile insurance coverage as set forth by Sysco.

+ If working remote, you must have required software to ensure timely communications and have a dedicated workspace free of any distractions and participate in customer or conference calls in a business-friendly environment.

+ The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

+ This position may require evening and weekend work depending on business needs.

This job description indicates in general terms, the type and level of work performed as well as the typical responsibilities of employees in this classification. The duties described are not to be interpreted as being all-inclusive to any specific employee. Management reserves the right to add, modify, change or rescind the work assignments of different positions and to make reasonable accommodations so that qualified employees can perform the essential functions of the job. Nothing in this position description changes the at-will employment relationship existing between the Company and its employees. This job description supersedes prior job descriptions.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION STATEMENT:

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer, and consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected factor under federal, state or local law. This opportunity is available through Sysco Corporation, its subsidiaries and affiliates.