Strategic Planning & Insights Associate

At Burton, we are a purpose-led brand rooted in snowboarding and the outdoors. We fight for the future of our people, planet, and sport. We aim to maximize our positive social impact and minimize our negative environmental impact while delivering high-quality performance products. 

As a global leader in snowboarding, we’re committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion for the long-term health of our company, sport, and community. Through these efforts, we aim to make snowboarding and the outdoors accessible to all.

The Breakdown:  

The Strategic Planning & Insights Associate will co-lead and support a variety of cross functional projects to advance Burton’s long-term strategy and drive many aspects of the Long-Range Planning process. Projects will range across a variety of focus areas including profit improvement, strategic planning, corporate development & new business evaluation.  In service of this work, the Strategic Planning & Insights Associate is responsible for primary / secondary research, market sizing, competitive analysis, business case development, and financial modeling.  

They help build actionable recommendations for executive decision-makers, ensuring a clear understanding of the implications of current and potential strategic decisions, and support strategic action across the company through timely, impactful deliverables.  

The Strategic Planning & Insights Associate’s work will require extensive cross-functional collaboration, frequently at the Director / Manager levels and above – stemming from both the broad nature, as well as the strategic importance, of the projects the Strategic Planning & Insights Associate will be tasked with owning.  This will require the Strategic Planning & Insights Associate to develop working knowledge across a wide variety of functional areas.  

Within the SIP team, the Strategic Planning & Insights Associate will work collaboratively alongside the department’s senior team members supporting market insight generation, a range of quantitative analyses, financial modeling activities, business intelligence activities, etc.  

This position reports directly to the Strategic Planning and Insights Manager.  

What You Get To Do:  

• Strategic Planning
  • Support & co-lead, on an end-to-end basis, Burton’s Long Range Planning process, inclusive of top-down target setting and bottom-up operational planning 
  • Co-lead the strategic target development process, highlighting biggest areas of market/consumer opportunity, sizing our growth potential (across products, channels, geographies, etc.), and coordinating with CFO & other senior team members to ensure alignment
• Business Strategy& Strategic Projects
  • Manage deliverable creation for high-priority strategic projects; develop project plans, collaborate closely with senior cross-functional stakeholders, and deliver actionable recommendations supported by financial models and communicated through business case presentations
  • Synthesize, extract & merge the most critical insights from varied internal & external data sources to support recommendations for action
  • Support the financial and strategic evaluation of corporate development& investment opportunities(develop full three-statement financial models, forecast models, business cases, scenario models, sensitivity analysis, etc.)
  • Create models to identify key trends/patterns in external and internal data, forecast business performance, simulate the impact of potential strategic options/decisions
  • Maintain library of model documents, templates, or other reusable knowledge assets
  • Identify and draw on leading-edge analytical tools and techniques to develop creative approaches and new insights
• Market Insights& Business Intelligence
  • Conduct deep dive analysis of markets Burton is either currently in or contemplating entering. Typical types of analysis include: market size and growth& competitive dynamics, potential partners, competitors and M&A targets, in-depth company research of potential partners and acquisition targets to uncover risks and opportunities 
  • Identify and analyze industry trends and extract implications on strategy, and share with senior leadership on a regular cadence
  • Co-create business intelligence tools, systems and processes, including design of related databases, spreadsheets, or outputs
  • Collect business intelligence data from available industry reports, public information, field reports, or purchased sources
  • Develop creative solutions to overcome data availability challenges
  • Partner with Consumer Insights team to develop surveys, interview guides, focus group discussion guides, etc. and extract critical, actionable findings
  • Communicate with customers, competitors, suppliers, professional organizations, or others to stay abreast of industry or business trends
• Advance and drive positive culture and performance by leaning in with new ideas, proactively embracing diversity, inclusion and customer-centricity, leading with a team vs “I” mindset, and owning accountability for continuous improvement and better outcomes

What You’ll Bring To The Team: 

• 2+ years of experience in a top-tier management consulting firm, investment bank, private equity, venture capital, corporate strategy/ development, strategic finance, or other strategic function with extensive exposure to consulting, analytics, business case development and modeling
• Excellent analytical skills and ability to interpret patterns across multiple data sources and translate into visualizations and narratives
• Experience engaging with & influencing senior company management
• Comfort working across a wide range of functional areas
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral
• Expert proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; other data analytics tools or programs a plus 
• Strong project management skills
• Highly motivated self-starter able to work independently in a fast-paced environment
• Comfort solving complex and ambiguous problems
• Demonstrated initiative and keen desire to learn and grow
• Collaborative team player adaptive to changing needs
• Attention to detail and ability to deliver high quality work within defined timelines
• BS/BA degree in Business, Analytics, Finance, Economics, Mathematics or other STEM/related major preferred 

Work/Physical Environment:

• This is an office position. Extended periods of sitting/standing at a computer/workstation expected.
• We highly prefer this role to be an on-site role in our Burlington HQ offices. We are committed to providing relocation assistance to VT for all successful candidates.

More Info to Seal the Deal: 

Burton’s benefits package includes health insurance (medical, dental and vision), life insurance (company paid), flex spending, short- and long-term disability insurance (company paid), great parental benefits, 401k plan with company match, and paid time-off. Other perks include a discounted season pass, free lessons, product discounts, free demo equipment, ride days, casual work environment, and many more…