Job Description

About the Team

Marketing brings our brand to life through deep expertise and an authentic love for pets. The team is dedicated to delivering personalized experiences for our consumers, supported by best-in-class, data-driven marketing capabilities. The work spans key areas including Loyalty, Customer Analytics & Research, Brand Experience & Creative, and Omni-Channel Marketing. Each team member brings a unique perspective, working together to create meaningful and engaging experiences for both pets and pet parents.

About the Location

Collaborative Work Environment:At PetSmart, teamwork and connection are core to how we thrive. This role is based at our Phoenix Home Office, with an expectation of working a minimum of four days in the office each week. In a standard work week, associates may work up to one remote “flex day” (with leader approval). Our hybrid approach is designed to foster strong collaboration while also supporting flexibility and individual success.

About the Job

The Principal, Market and Competitive Intelligence leads the development and delivery of market, competitive, retail, shopper, and industry intelligence that informs PetSmart’s strategic priorities and day-to-day decision-making.

This role owns recurring market-share and competitive-performance reporting, syndicated-data strategy, industry monitoring, dashboard development, geographic performance analysis, and executive-level insight delivery. The role serves as a subject-matter expert on retail market dynamics and competitive intelligence, translating complex information from Nielsen, Yipit, Circana, Euromonitor, and other external sources into clear and actionable recommendations. The role partners closely with Merchandising, Marketing, Finance, Digital, Services, Strategy, and senior leaders to identify business opportunities, anticipate market developments, assess competitive threats, and guide strategic planning.

The ideal candidate will lead geographic deep dives to evaluate PetSmart’s performance across regions, states, markets, and cities. This includes identifying over- and under-performing geographies and diagnosing the underlying drivers, such as market potential, competitive presence, customer penetration, category dynamics, demographics, channel behavior, and local economic conditions.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Own and continuously enhance PetSmart’s market-share and competitive-intelligence reporting framework, ensuring accurate, timely, consistent, and decision-relevant insights.
• Lead recurring weekly and monthly market-share reporting and dashboards, identifying meaningful changes in PetSmart’s performance relative to the market and key competitors.
• Deliver monthly Yipit reports and presentations that highlight competitive performance, market trends, risks, opportunities, and strategic implications.
• Provide quarterly market and competitive-performance updates for executive leadership and Board-level presentations.
• Synthesize complex data sources including Nielsen, Yipit, Circana, Euromonitor, and other third-party data partners to identify market shifts, industry developments, shopper trends, and make recommendations on competitive opportunities.
• Establish standardized frameworks, definitions, scorecards, dashboards, and reporting tools to track competitor performance and activity over time.
• Develop and maintain data-governance standards that improve data quality, consistency, scalability, and adoption across the organization.
• Manage relationships with syndicated-data providers and external partners, including vendor performance, methodology reviews, data quality, licensing needs, and data optimization.
• Translate complex data and market dynamics into clear insights, strategic implications, and actionable recommendations for senior leaders and cross-functional partners.
• Partner with Merchandising, Marketing, Finance, Digital, Services, Strategy, and other teams to incorporate market and competitive intelligence into business plans, category strategies, and strategic initiatives.
• Lead geographic deep dives across regions, states, and cities to identify over- and under-performing markets and investigate the factors contributing to performance differences.
• Develop executive-ready presentations to support market prioritization, investment decisions, and resource allocation.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership by proactively identifying risks, opportunities, and implications for the business.
• Lead cross-functional projects from business-question development through analysis, insight development, recommendation, and implementation.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep knowledge of retail, market intelligence, competitive intelligence, market-share measurement, shopper behavior, and industry dynamics.
• Demonstrated experience working with Nielsen, Circana, Yipit, Euromonitor, and other syndicated or third-party data sources.
• Proven understanding of retail performance metrics, including market share, sales trends, category growth, pricing, assortment, promotions, customer penetration, and channel mix.
• Ability to translate complex data and market dynamics into strategic recommendations for senior leaders.
• Experience leading geographic, regional, state, city, or local-market analyses.
• Proven business, financial, analytical, statistical, and strategic acumen.
• Experience developing dashboards, scorecards, reporting frameworks, and data-governance standards.
• Demonstrated ability to manage vendors, syndicated-data providers, and external partners.
• Excellent storytelling and executive-communication skills, with the ability to influence decisions and become a trusted partner
• Proven project-management skills and the ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Ability to mentor others, establish high standards, and lead through influence.
• Proactive, intellectually curious, and comfortable working with ambiguity and incomplete information.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with accurate, timely execution under tight deadlines.

Position Requirements, Education, and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, Market Research, Analytics, Data Science, or a related field required.
• MBA, master’s degree, or equivalent advanced education preferred.
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience in competitive intelligence, market intelligence, retail analytics, syndicated-data analysis, strategy, consumer insights, merchandising analytics, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience influencing senior leadership and informing strategic business decisions.
• Experience managing external data providers, vendors, or analytical partners preferred.

Additional Job Considerations

• This role requires collaboration, teamwork, and face-to-face interaction with colleagues, leaders, and/or clients.
• Being in the office ensures access to leaders, cross-functional partners, and resources necessary to make timely decisions and drive results.
• On-site presence in accordance with our FlexSmart policy supports our culture of innovation, mentorship, and engagement, which is integral to our success in developing the best team.
• This is not intended to be an all-inclusive, exhaustive list of all essential job functions for this position. PetSmart retains the right to change or assign other required job duties to this position.

About the Culture

Our associates are the heart of Team PetSmart. Together, we’re building the best team in retail through our values-based culture, connection, and teamwork. Our goal is to create a culture where associates learn and grow together, thrive as effective teams and challenge each other to be the best they can be.

Our home office offers outstanding amenities in a fun and rewarding workplace including:

• Pet-friendly environment, bring your pets to work and enjoy the on-site dog park!
• On-Site Events & Adoptions, enjoy community-building opportunities, including pet adoption days, seasonal celebrations, family events, art events, & holiday festivals
• “Top Dog” gym with equipment, fitness classes, massage therapists, personal trainers, and wellness spaces
• “Sit & Stay” Café serving fresh breakfast and lunch options, snacks, & more
• “Lil Paws” NAEYC-accredited onsite childcare facility providing high-quality early education
• Paid Volunteer Opportunities to spend time doing good for causes close to heart
• Print Center and Business Services, Dry Cleaning, Mother's Rooms, Sustainable Infrastructure & more

PetSmart provides an equal opportunity for all associates and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or other legally protected characteristics.