Operations Research Analysis Manager jobs in Indiana

About Our Company

Lids Sports Group is the largest licensed sports retailer in North America, selling fan and fashion-oriented headwear and apparel across the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. Operating out of Indianapolis, IN, our retail stores offer officially licensed headwear and apparel from collegiate and professional sports teams, plus top brands like Nike, New Era, Adidas, and Mitchell & Ness.

We currently operate 1,200 locations domestically and 50 internationally, including specialty concept stores for the NBA, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, and numerous MLB teams. In recent years, Lids has built partnerships with iconic global brands including Marvel, Playboy, and the Harlem Globetrotters, and gained ambassadors like Justin Jefferson, Quavo, and Josephine Skriver – creating a community for both sports fans and fashion lovers.

The company is currently expanding with the goal of becoming the largest licensed brick-and-mortar sports retailer across the globe.

General Position Summary

The Store Operations Planning & Analysis Manager is responsible for managing and overseeing the day-to-day functions of the Operations Planning & Analysis (“OP&A”) department, which is tasked with managing the financial and operational basis of all Lids stores worldwide. The OP&A team is tasked with the analysis of past and present financial operational data, along with working directly with leadership throughout the Store Operations and office to further promote actions that are positive and to facilitate change with opportunistic actions. This team will be tasked with managing, reporting, and evaluation store/company level KPI and traffic metrics.  They will also be tasked with preparing, implementing, and evaluating the store wage structure.  In this role, the manager will oversee all of these activities and be tasked with communicating and working across the organization, including directly with executive-level teammates.   

Principle Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage the Lids store operations team through involvement in operational finance activities relating to Key Performance Indicators (Store traffic data, Sales budgets, and Store conversion, Store Wages, Store Scheduling). 

• Develop daily reporting on key business performance metrics to track, evaluate performance, forecast opportunities and results. 

• Develop ad-hoc reports on an as-need basis and communicate key takeaways to senior leadership, District Sales Managers, including identifying opportunities or risks. 

• Partner closely with Lids District Sales Managers and Regional Directors on performance results to find areas of opportunities to increase store performance. 

• Assists in identifying, developing, and analyzing new KPIs and key operational initiatives and makes recommendations to management for improvement in any aspects relating to increased store performance. 

Additional Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Aid in the development and maintenance of the long-range strategic forecast to provide the business with financial insight into current growth plans.

• Create, analyze, and provide actionable data to answer business questions, while ultimately providing data-driven stories to improve results for Lids Retail Functions.

• Support the field operations team through involvement in operational finance activities relating to wage planning, sales budgets, and store bonus calculations/ payouts.

• Provide reporting and communicate directly with leaders throughout the company, including executive-level teammates.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance 

• 3-5 years of experience in accounting and/or financial analysis 

• Retail experience or understanding the retail environment 

• Excellent proficiency in excel (can perform complex functions) 

• Proficient in MS Office and general ledger packages 

Preferred Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• Exceptionally proficient in cross-functional data sets and identifying trends/anomalies against expectations 

• An excellent communicator and a great team player 

• Intellectually curious and interested in understanding the impact and the “why” relating to different aspects of the role 

• Excited about working in a fast-paced environment with the opportunity to drive change 

Reports To

Director of Operations