Senior Data Analyst – Catalyst Retail Suite (CRS)

FLAGSHIP SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Our clients are senior business executives who value BCG’s strategic, fact-based, and impact-oriented approach supported by highly experienced senior expert teams and rich benchmarking databases and analytical capability. BCG has a number of flagship software products that support our core capabilities. These products are critical to the success of our project teams to deliver superior quality insight and implementation of major change efforts. The Flagship Software Engineering team has been a strong partner of the Practice Areas in this endeavor. Together, we have custom-developed and deployed a number of software applications with proven success in the field.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Data Analyst will play a critical role in driving the development of one of our flagship products, MSP Catalyst by BCG, and developing / enhancing our industry-leading science, particularly in the Retail sector (“Catalyst Retail Suite” / CRS). He or she will be collaborating in a fast-paced, multi-million dollar, multi-year, and globally distributed investment and should expect to interact on a daily basis with BCG’s consulting and client teams. Under general guidance from the Applications Development Technical Lead, and working with the Business Analyst and Product Manager for the CRS, this role will be at the center of the development efforts, overseeing the translation and incorporation of sophisticated algorithms, the development of the Analytics component architecture and Analytics database design, and ensuring the Analytics module’s flexibility, scalability, and performance. Key activities will also include defining the interaction between database, Analytics and application modules, as well as to communicate design choices and implementation approaches to all stakeholders.

Job Responsibilities

• Create complex analytical modules and components, including algorithms for the Catalyst Retail Suite (CRS), by working side-by-side with and understanding requirements from Business Analysts, Product Managers, clients, or Consultants
• Research and find optimal solutions to implement complex analytical modules and algorithms delivering optimal performance
• Create and apply industry best practices and design patterns to create scalable and secure solutions that have superior technical performance using R, Python, ETL applications, etc.
• Collaborate with Consultants, developers, QA, other Data Scientists (e.g. BCG Gamma) and data modelers and work on how Analytical modules integrate with the overall product technology stack
• Proactively seek opportunity to consult with team members and stakeholders to collaborate on issues or problems that span across development and data components
• Work with Technical Lead to develop system implementation plans / processes and oversee the development, integration, testing, and launch stages
• Provide inputs to Application Architect to define the application architecture as a mean to achieve the businesses’ security, flexibility, scalability, and performance goals; and ensure sure stakeholders requirements are consistently met or exceeded
• Institute superior analytical capabilities with diligence, attention to detail and technical intuition
• Drive / contribute to technical implementation of analytical requirements and modules
• Utilize proactive problem-solving to address challenges and functional concerns
• Develop and contribute cutting edge point of view regarding which development and data maintenance technologies to use and how to make them work together with other data and presentation tier technologies
• Demonstrate initiative, self-motivation, creative problem-solving, and effective interpersonal communication skills which support the process of building a collaborative team
• Demonstrate flexible and analytical mindset to absorb and build on the ideas of team members and clients
• Document and communicate the module architecture to the development team, third party vendors (as required), and all stakeholders (to the detail appropriate to the audience)
• Propose modeling and proof-of-concept approach as required
• Ensure analytical modules are optimally embedded in overall architecture not only for development, but also for operations, deployment, and continuous enhancements
• Find creative, economical, and elegant software engineering solutions when confronted with technical challenges
• Identify risks and propose risk mitigation strategies associated with the system architecture
• Evaluate third-party suppliers, products and solutions and engage in / lead collaborative discussions

Basic Job Requirements

Education & Experience

• Bachelors Degree in software engineering, computer science, mathematics or related fields; Advanced Degree preferred
• At least 5-8 years of relevant indsutryexperience
• Understanding of the internals of operations teams and good operations practices (monitoring, recovery, incident management, etc)
• Good communication and influencing skills
• A strong technical foundation in building analytical solutions
• Experience with a variety of analytical languages – primarily R, Python, (good to have experience with SAS, Ox, others.)
• Strong understanding of data transformation, and software integration methods
• Strong scripting language experience (at least one of R, Python, etc)
• Strong knowledge of a variety of Operating Systems (at least Windows)
• Experience with database systems (at least one of Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, Alteryx, etc)
• Preferably experienced with Marketing and Pricing domain
• Preferably experienced with cloud computing (at least one of EC2, Google App Engine, Rackspace, etc.)

Other

• Mentors and directs other, more junior members of the team
• Performs other projects and duties as assigned or required
• Moderate amount of traveling – dependent on project requirements

Key Competencies

Problem solving, analytical skills and decision making

• Able to effectively handle difficult and stressful situations with poise, tact and patience, while demonstrating a sense of urgency
• Able to anticipate, identify, and solve critical problems proactively
• Able to identify long lead time elements of work and plan accordingly
• Able to make decisions with an extremely strong business sense
• Flexible, self-motivated, and proactive out-of-the-box and critical thinker

Communication, interpersonal and teaming skills

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Fluent written and spoken English (other languages are desirable)
• Ability and willingness to give and receive honest, balanced feedback

Work management, organization and planning

• Excellent organizational skills with strong attention to detail, efficient time management, and the ability to prioritize work effectively
• Independently and proactively communicates issues, priorities, and objectives
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced, demanding environment

Customer and business focus

• Strong collaborative skills and able to adjust approach to effectively interact with customers at all organizational and technical levels
• Focus on excellent customer service and user needs

Values and ethics

• Demonstrates competence and character that inspires trust.
• Ability to respect all BCG and client information as personal and confidential

Additional Information

• Must be able to perform successfully in a fast-paced, intellectually intense, service-oriented environment and to interpret rules and guidelines flexibly to enhance the business and in keeping with BCG’s values and culture
• Experience working successfully within a complex matrix structured organization is essential
• Have the ability to understand and manage complex reporting relationships and incorporate multiple labor laws and cultures

Non-discrimination Statement