Lead Business Analyst - Retail

Position: Lead Business Analyst - Retail

Location: Remote (United States)

Type of Employment: Full-Time

Compensation: USD 120K+

Purpose of the Position: We are seeking a commercially sharp and analytically sophisticated Lead Business Analyst to join our Retail & Supply Chain function. This is a senior individual contributor role — not a people management position — focused on providing authoritative business analysis across complex retail, distribution centre (DC), and supply chain programmes, with a growing specialism in AI, data, and analytics. You will be the most senior analytical voice in the room: shaping how business problems are framed, how data and insight should inform decisions, and how future-state operating models should be structured. You will bring broad retail BA experience across the full value chain — stores, merchandising, supply chain, and DC — and apply that breadth to programmes where AI, analytics, and data are increasingly central to the solution.

You are a trusted advisor to business leaders, not a delivery manager. Your role is to understand, analyse, challenge, and define — ensuring that decisions made in complex transformation programmes are grounded in rigorous business analysis and a clear understanding of operational reality.

Key Result Areas and Activities:

Retail Business Analysis — Strategic Definition:

• Own the discovery and definition phases of major retail and supply chain programmes — conducting deep stakeholder engagement, process diagnostics, and capability gap assessments.
• Develop strategic-level analysis artefacts: target operating models (TOMs), capability frameworks, as-is / to-be process maps, and data flow models that accurately reflect operational complexity.
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into well-structured problem statements, analysis frameworks, and options papers that enable informed decision-making by senior stakeholders.
• Challenge existing assumptions and established ways of working, bringing external benchmarks, data-driven insight, and structured thinking to shape programme direction.
• Define business requirements across retail domains including store operations, merchandise planning, inventory management, supply chain, DC & fulfilment, and customer experience — ensuring requirements are complete, unambiguous, and testable.

Distribution Centre & Supply Chain Analysis:

• Apply deep knowledge of DC operational processes — inbound, outbound, inventory control, returns, labour, and automation — to analyse pain points, inefficiencies, and capability gaps.
• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis of DC performance: throughput, pick accuracy, fulfilment rates, labour productivity, cost-per-unit, and stock accuracy — surfacing root causes and opportunity areas.
• Define future-state DC operating models through structured analysis of people, process, data, and system interactions — not prescribing technology, but clearly articulating what the business needs to achieve.
• Analyse integration and data flows across DC-adjacent systems (WMS, OMS, ERP, TMS, carrier platforms) to identify gaps, redundancies, and data quality issues that affect operational decision-making.
• Support supply chain network design analysis — modelling fulfilment scenarios, capacity constraints, and flow optimisation opportunities to inform strategic investment decisions.

AI, Analytics & Data — Business Analysis:

• Act as the primary BA interface for AI and advanced analytics initiatives, bridging the gap between data science, engineering, and retail business stakeholders.
• Define and document business requirements for AI/ML use cases — including demand forecasting, inventory optimisation, replenishment automation, dynamic pricing, and DC labour scheduling — with precision on inputs, outputs, decision logic, and confidence thresholds.
• Conduct data readiness assessments: analysing the quality, completeness, lineage, and fitness-for-purpose of data assets required to support analytics and AI programmes.
• Translate AI model outputs and analytical findings into actionable business recommendations — contextualising technical results for operational and commercial audiences.
• Define KPIs, success metrics, and measurement frameworks for analytics initiatives, ensuring outcomes are linked to clear business value — cost, margin, availability, and customer experience.
• Work with data teams to map business data domains — product, supplier, location, customer, transaction — and identify gaps in data governance, definitions, and ownership that limit analytical capability.
• Assess the business impact of algorithmic decisions and model behaviour, identifying risks, biases, or unintended consequences that require business design mitigations.

Stakeholder Engagement & Senior Advisory:

• Build trusted advisory relationships with Director and C-suite stakeholders across Operations, Supply Chain, Merchandising, Finance, and Data — operating as a credible analytical partner, not a project resource.
• Lead executive-level workshops, options analysis sessions, and structured walkthroughs of complex analysis — communicating findings clearly, concisely, and with commercial confidence.
• Navigate ambiguous, politically complex stakeholder environments — synthesising conflicting perspectives, facilitating alignment, and providing an objective analytical viewpoint.
• Author high-quality, board-ready business cases, strategic options papers, and programme initiation documents grounded in quantified analysis.

Benefits Measurement & Performance Analysis:

• Define benefits frameworks and measurement approaches for major programmes — establishing baselines, KPIs, and tracking mechanisms before programme delivery begins.
• Conduct post-implementation analysis to assess whether anticipated benefits have been realised, diagnose shortfalls, and recommend corrective actions grounded in data.
• Build a pipeline of analytically validated improvement opportunities — continuously scanning operational data, performance metrics, and market benchmarks to surface the next wave of investment priorities.

United States

Above 10 years