About This Search
Jennings Executive Search (JES) is conducting a confidential, retained search for a Pricing Manager on behalf of a leading private equity-backed company headquartered in the Greater Pittsburgh area. JES is a retained executive search firm focused exclusively on Pricing, Revenue Management, Commercial Leadership, and AI-aligned roles for PE-backed and Fortune 1000 businesses. This is a single, named opportunity — not an open requisition — and qualified candidates will work directly with a JES partner throughout the process.
About the Client
Our client is a recently independent, private equity-backed company with a multi-century operating heritage, formed through the divestiture of a major business segment from a Fortune 500 parent. The business operates a national network of customer-facing locations serving B2B, professional, and commercial customers across the United States and Canada, with well-recognized brands across both consumer and professional channels and deep customer and partner relationships. The U.S. Commercial division alone represents several hundred million in annual revenue and is the primary focus of the company’s Pricing transformation.
Now operating as a standalone PE-backed business, the company is investing aggressively in the capabilities that will define its next chapter — with Pricing at the top of that list. Margin improvement, pricing discipline, and commercial analytics are core to the ownership group’s investment thesis, and Pricing has been elevated from a back-office function to a top strategic priority with direct visibility to the CFO and U.S. Commercial President.
Why This Role Exists Now
The U.S. Commercial Pricing function has undergone a significant 18-month transformation, partnering with external consultants to build a sophisticated, value-based pricing platform and supporting analytics infrastructure. As that engagement concludes, the company needs an internal owner — someone who can maintain, optimize, and evolve these tools while driving continuous improvement across Pricing Operations.
Two converging forces drive the timing. First, the consulting handoff creates an immediate need for technical ownership of the Python-based pricing engine and Power BI dashboards custom-built for the business. Second, the transition to PE-backed independence has elevated Pricing to a top strategic priority. This hire fills a critical gap: the team’s first dedicated data science and analytics capability, arriving precisely when the organization needs it most.
What You’ll Own
- Pricing Platform Ownership: Full ownership of a Python-built pricing engine driving item- and customer-level pricing across a complex B2B product architecture with value-based structures, regional discounts, and segment-specific multipliers.
- Analytics and Insight Generation: Analyze pricing performance across markets, regions, segments, and customer tiers to identify margin opportunities, flag underperformance, and recommend structural adjustments.
- Dashboard Management: Maintain, improve, and evolve field-facing Power BI dashboards that track price capture and performance — making them faster, more intuitive, and more actionable for Sales.
- Process Automation: Identify and implement opportunities to automate manual pricing workflows — including group/national account quote processing, item setup, renewals, and data handling — freeing the team for higher-value analysis.
- People Management: Lead three Pricing Operations analysts, coordinating workloads, streamlining processes, and coaching them through evolving tools and procedures.
- Sales Partnership: Serve as a technical pricing resource to the field Sales organization, explaining pricing structures and supporting the rollout of the new pricing platform.
- National Account Pricing Support: Contribute to review and approval of large group quotes and national account pricing, representing a significant portion of annual revenue flowing through the Pricing team.
Near-Term Priorities (First 6–12 Months)
- Absorb the consultant handoff and take full ownership of the Python-based pricing model and Power BI dashboard infrastructure — building deep fluency in the code, logic, and data structures.
- Monitor and optimize post-launch pricing across markets and segments, recommending targeted adjustments where the new platform is landing too high or too low.
- Address known performance issues in field-facing dashboards, making them a more effective daily tool for sales managers and reps.
- Audit current manual workflows across Pricing Operations and build a roadmap to automate the highest-impact processes first.
- Establish credibility with zone managers, reps, and Commercial leadership as a trusted pricing resource and partner.
Longer-Term Opportunity
The Pricing function is in a period of rapid growth and elevated strategic importance, amplified by the company’s recent transition to independent, PE-backed operations. The role offers direct visibility to the CFO, U.S. Commercial President, and senior business leadership. Over time, this position offers:
- A clear path toward the Pricing Director role within U.S. Commercial.
- Potential moves into Analytics leadership, Finance management, or Pricing roles supporting other divisions.
- Ongoing mentorship from an experienced Pricing Director — ideal for someone transitioning from a pure Analytics or Data Science track into broader Commercial leadership.
- The opportunity to shape how a newly independent company builds its Pricing capability during a defining period — foundational work that accelerates careers.
What Success Looks Like
- Pricing platform stability and evolution: The pricing platform runs reliably, is actively refined based on market feedback, and generates measurable margin improvement across regions and segments.
- Operational efficiency gains: Manual workflows that consume team bandwidth have been meaningfully automated, shifting time toward analysis and strategic pricing work.
- Field confidence in pricing tools: Sales leadership and reps actively use and trust the dashboards and pricing platform as core daily tools, with fewer escalations and pricing exceptions.
Ideal Background
- Hands-on proficiency with data manipulation, modeling, or workflow automation (e.g., Python, SQL, Alteryx, or similar).
- Strong experience building BI dashboards that drive decisions and action — not just visualize data. The field Sales organization will rely on these dashboards daily, so usability, speed, and adoption across different audiences are critical.
- Experience working with large, complex datasets across disparate systems; comfortable navigating imperfect data environments.
- Background in Pricing, Commercial Analytics, or Revenue Management within a B2B manufacturing, distribution, or industrial environment.
- A pragmatic, outcome-oriented problem solver who simplifies rather than over-engineers.
- Intellectual curiosity and energy for a high-visibility, fast-paced environment where Pricing is a strategic priority.
Logistics
- Location: Greater Pittsburgh, PA HQ. Remote arrangements considered for East Coast-based candidates with travel to HQ as needed.
- Reporting Structure: Reports to the Pricing Director, U.S. Commercial. The broader Pricing organization sits within Finance with a dotted line to the CFO.
- Direct Reports: Three experienced Pricing Operations analysts — tenured, operationally self-sufficient team members.
- Compensation: Competitive base salary plus annual incentive bonus and full benefits, calibrated for a senior-level individual contributor or early manager in a specialized Pricing Analytics function.
Pay: $135,000.00 - $170,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Remote
