Strategy Consultant

Retail Merchandising and Planning – Consultant We Are Accenture's Retail Merchandising and Planning practice helps the world's leading retailers reinvent how they buy, plan, allocate, and manage product across the value chain. We work at the intersection of merchandising strategy, planning process design, and AI-enabled decision making, helping clients across apparel, hardlines, grocery, and specialty retail modernize their operating models and improve performance in demand forecasting, assortment planning, and inventory productivity. You Are A retail merchandising and planning professional who pairs functional expertise with a strong aptitude for learning and a drive to deliver. You've built a foundation close to the buy — in category management, merchandise financial planning, assortment, allocation, replenishment, or demand/supply planning — and you understand how these functions connect end-to-end. Depth in every area isn't expected at this level; what matters is that you bring real functional knowledge, apply it to solve client problems, and build quickly on your base. You're comfortable executing analysis, contributing to client-ready deliverables, and engaging with client stakeholders day to day, and you're eager to grow into broader leadership as you take on more responsibility. The Work As a Consultant, you will execute and contribute to workstreams within larger transformation engagements for retail clients, working alongside client stakeholders and Accenture leadership to develop recommendations, drive delivery, and help realize results. Project Execution Contribute to the delivery of a workstream within a broader transformation program, owning discrete tasks, key components of deliverables, and analyses end-to-end Synthesize disparate data sources into insights and clear, client-ready deliverables Work with clients to identify and interpret key project requirements Develop and nurture relationships with client stakeholders within your scope Support project planning and coordination to ensure effective, on-time delivery of client work Coordinate with subject matter experts within the firm to align on priorities and accomplish objectives Produce high-quality, timely work and exhibit integrity in decisions and firm relationships Merchandising & Planning Transformation Support assessments of current-state merchandising, planning, and inventory management capabilities against industry-leading practices Contribute to future-state operating model design spanning category management, merchandise financial planning, assortment planning, allocation, replenishment, demand planning, and supply planning Support the development of capability strategies, transformation roadmaps, and value cases that quantify the impact of change Apply sub-industry nuance across apparel, hardlines, and/or grocery to help tailor recommendations to client-specific dynamics AI & Technology Enablement Bring current knowledge of AI, analytics, and emerging planning technologies to help identify where they can solve merchandising and planning business problems Support clients in evaluating planning platforms and AI-enabled decision-making tools as part of broader transformation Contribute to the design and delivery of GenAI- and agentic-enabled planning capabilities where applicable to client roadmaps Business Development & Practice Development Provide merchandising and planning insights and benchmarking Support the development and review of client-facing summaries and analyses Work with the team to identify and assess opportunities for value creation and performance improvement Create and curate deliverable content (POV slides, working session prep, case studies) to capture merchandising and planning knowledge and support internal knowledge share and business development Help aggregate and manage data and intellectual capital for ongoing benchmarking, and insight generation Collaborate closely with junior and senior Accenture team members Basic Qualifications 3 years of relevant professional experience in one or more of the following: Category Management, Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP), Assortment Planning, Allocation, Replenishment, Demand Planning, or Supply Planning at a Retailer Bachelor's degree Preferred Qualifications Experience in professional services at a consulting firm (or equivalent internal consulting experience) Strong problem-solving ability and sound business judgment Excellent written and verbal communication skills Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks in a dynamic, fast-moving environment Comfort operating in ambiguous situations Familiarity with the operational nuances of one or more retail sub-industries, including apparel, hardlines, or grocery Experience supporting operating model design, process reinvention, capability assessments, roadmaps, or value case development Experience developing deliverable content Working knowledge of current trends in technology, analytics, and AI, and how they apply to merchandising and planning business problems Prior industry experience in Buying, Planning, or Product Development Hands-on experience leveraging AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini in a professional environment Familiarity with leading planning platforms such as o9, Blue Yonder, Anaplan, Oracle, or RELEX MBA or equivalent advanced degree Compensation at Accenture varies depending on a wide array of factors, which may include but are not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set, and level of experience. As required by local law, Accenture provides a reasonable range of compensation for roles that may be hired as set forth below. We anticipate this job posting will be posted until 10/31/2026. Accenture offers a market competitive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, and long-term disability coverage, a 401(k) plan, bonus opportunities, paid holidays, and paid time off. See more information on our benefits here: U.S. Employee Benefits | Accenture Role Location Annual Salary Range California $70,350 to $188,100 Colorado $59,100 to $188,100 Connecticut $59,100 to $188,100 District of Columbia $59,100 to $188,100 Illinois $59,100 to $188,100 Maine $59,100 to $188,100 Maryland $59,100 to $188,100 Massachusetts $59,100 to $188,100 Minnesota $59,100 to $188,100 New York $66,300 to $188,100 New Jersey $59,100 to $188,100 Ohio $59,100 to $188,100 Virginia $59,100 to $188,100 Washington $80,200 to $188,100 About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 791,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at What We Believe We have an unwavering commitment to diversity with the aim that every one of our people has a full sense of belonging within our organization. As a business imperative, every person at Accenture has the responsibility to create and sustain an inclusive environment. Inclusion and diversity are fundamental to our culture and core values. Our rich diversity makes us more innovative and more creative, which helps us better serve our clients and our communities. Read more here Requesting An Accommodation Accenture is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for persons with disabilities or religious observances, including reasonable accommodation when needed. If you are hired by Accenture and require accommodation to perform the essential functions of your role, you will be asked to participate in our reasonable accommodation process. Accommodations made to facilitate the recruiting process are not a guarantee of future or continued accommodations once hired. If you would like to be considered for employment opportunities with Accenture and have accommodation needs such as for a disability or religious observance, please call us toll free at 1 (877) 889-9009 or send us an email or speak with your recruiter. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement We believe that no one should be discriminated against because of their differences. All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, military veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other basis as protected by applicable law. Our rich diversity makes us more innovative, more competitive, and more creative, which helps us better serve our clients and our communities. For details, view a copy of the Accenture Equal Opportunity Statement Accenture is an EEO and Affirmative Action Employer of Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities. Accenture is committed to providing veteran employment opportunities to our service men and women. Other Employment Statements Applicants for employment in the US must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States. Candidates who are currently employed by a client of Accenture or an affiliated Accenture business may not be eligible for consideration. Job candidates will not be obligated to disclose sealed or expunged records of conviction or arrest as part of the hiring process. Further, at Accenture a criminal conviction history is not an absolute bar to employment. The Company will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. Additionally, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the Company's legal duty to furnish information. California requires additional notifications for applicants and employees. If you are a California resident, live in or plan to work from Los Angeles County upon being hired for this position, please click here for additional important information. Please read Accenture’s Recruiting and Hiring Statement for more information on how we process your data during the Recruiting and Hiring process.