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SAS Partner Services, a work group within the SAS Global Hosting and US Professional Services
Division, is in search of candidates that meet the following job description. Send candidates for
consideration to Tim.Zeroski@sas.com .
CONSULTING OPPORTUNITY
(4-18-2018)
| Job Title | SAS Retail Forecaster- Statistician |
| SAS Client | Retail Chain |
| Start Date | August, 2018 |
| Duration | 6 Months |
| Hours Per Week | 40 hours per week |
| Rate | $125/HR (Travel & Expenses will be re-imbursed) |
| Number of Resources | 1 |
| Client Location | San Francisco, CA |
| Working Location | 70/30 onsite-remote working model. First 4 weeks most likely
onsite, then every other week of onsite/remote mix |
| Citizenship Requirements | | US Citizen, Green Card, Canadian TN, H1B |
|
DESCRIPTION and RESPONSIBILITIES
SAS is seeking a full-time SAS Retail Forecaster/Statistician consultant to work with our client,
a Retail chain client in San Francisco, CA.
The consultant will perform data mining, predictive modeling, statistical analysis and
forecasting to analyze and interpret customer behaviors, product performance and trends. The
consultant must have SAS Forecast Server (Forecast Studio) experience and data comes from
the SAS Merchandise Intelligence Planning application, so that would be secondary expertise
would be preferred.
Client is looking for a Predictive Modeler/Statistician to join our team with the main focus of
designing sophisticated methods of forecasting and analyzing retail top-line sales and initiative
performance. You will play a critical role in improving our team's planning, forecasting and
validating models. You should be able to convey complicated forecasting analyses in simple
terms. You should be agile with data analytics and visualizations to provide intuitive, compelling
insights to enable decision making.
The consultant must have excellent communication skills and must be able to communicate
about the techniques developed and results of analysis both to executives and other analysts in
the organization.
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QUALIFICATIONS – ESSENTIAL
• A Master's degree or above in Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research,
Computer Science, Data Science, Economics or a related field
• Minimum of 8 years' prior experience in predictive modeling, forecasting, analytics, and data
mining preferred.
• SAS Forecast Server/Forecast Server, SAS/ETS experience is preferred
• Strong proficiency with data mining/visualization tools as SAS, including SAS Enterprise
Miner, Enterprise Guide, Base SAS, Forecast Server/Forecast Studio, SAS/STAT and
SAS/ETS.
• Experience in Response Modeling and Demand Forecasting is preferred
• Experience designing and implementing new forecasting methodology and tools
• Expertise in statistical modeling techniques such as linear regression, logistic regression,
forecasting, cluster analysis, principal components, and feature creation, validation coupled
with programming experience with SAS.
• Proficiency in econometric modeling and advanced forecasting methods (marketing analytics
a plus)
• Ability to independently own and drive model development, balancing demands and
deadlines, able to balance competing and changing priorities
• Intellectual curiosity, along with excellent problem-solving and quantitative skills, including
the ability to disaggregate issues, identify root causes and recommend solutions
• Ability to articulate complex analyses in a simplified manner
• Prepare data mining data sets for modeling.
• Develop an understanding of the client's data environment and how that applies to
developing predictive models; that is, analyze and determine what data is available and
necessary to create desired data mining model(s), to include reviewing available data
sources and identifying appropriate variables (existing, or to be created) for the models.
• Develop SAS programs to access data from various sources (e.g., reading in data sources
and producing datasets suitable for SAS analytics); this will most often include data
preparation, analysis and predictive model development.
• Interpret statistical model results into business insights and presents findings to
management.
• Provide on-going tracking and monitoring of performance of decision systems and statistical
models.
• Ability to write SAS/SQL statements to store, retrieve, manipulate, integrate, validate, and
summarize data.
• Good written and spoken communications skills in English and thought-leadership skills.
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Responsibilities:
• Designing sophisticated statistical methods of analyzing performance, using our
Transaction Level Detail and Product Mix databases
• Designing tools to create sales forecasts and "what-if” scenarios to provide strategic
guidance and insights during the planning process
• Owning the development and communication of the Plan and Projected forecast
• Incorporating causal factors such as media levels, pricing, macroeconomic indicators,
weather, customer experience metrics, seasonality and trading day adjustments into
forecasts and analyses to gain a deep understanding of our sales drivers
• Accounting for and communicating variances of Actuals vs Business Plan vs Projected
View for executive reviews
• Interpreting and evaluating daily, weekly, and monthly analyses of business trends,
including Key Performance Indicators to identify accuracy risks and opportunities
• Partnering with other business insights managers to develop the broader business story
• Designing, developing and implementing methods and strategies to continually improve
analytics processes