Forecasting Analyst

Job Overview

The WDW Forecasting team leverages a deep understanding of the operating environment, Guest demographics and behaviors, trends, pricing strategies, and marketing plans to support the strategic direction and key projects for Walt Disney World (WDW). 

With this posting we are recruiting for an Analyst to support WDW forecasting.  Responsibilities may include but are not limited to development of short-term/long-term forecasts and annual operating plans, evaluating proposed strategic initiatives, and providing data-driven insights. This work requires partnership with many areas across the company including Operations, Lines of Business, Finance, Pricing & Revenue Management, Industrial Engineering, Consumer Insights, and Commercial teams.

We are seeking a detail-oriented individual who has a natural curiosity to proactively identify, evaluate, and communicate business performance. The ideal candidate should be a self-starter with superior analytical and data exploration skills who can leverage highly complex data sets to deliver concise analytics using various visualization techniques. The candidate should also have excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Support development of weekly/monthly forecasts and annual operating plans
• Develop a thorough understanding of Guest behavior to deliver insights
• Maintain and improve predictive forecasting models
• Utilize data visualization techniques to identify, evaluate, and communicate business trends and key metrics, clearly representing the story and key takeaways to Senior Leaders
• Analyze large data sets by leveraging SQL, Tableau and/or Power BI, and Excel
• Collaborate and partner with other areas across the company to influence decision-making across a variety of audiences
• Translate business performance drivers and metrics into insightful analysis and recommendations
• Exercise strong conceptual thinking skills to understand complex concepts, articulate linkages/gaps, and evaluate relative meaningfulness
• Understand and evaluate new business initiatives to provide strategic direction

Basic Qualifications

• Enjoy working in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment where thought partnering and working with peers and leaders is common
• Technical ability to leverage data, including translating it into insights that can be shared with Senior Leaders
• Strong analytical skills in forecasting/statistical analysis
• Comfortable making data-driven decisions in uncertain environments, with the ability to explain rationale and analyze unexpected outcomes to refine future forecasts
• Strong communication skills in developing and presenting fact-based insights and recommendations to Senior Leaders
• Open to learning new data visualization tools and statistical analysis software
• Ability to meet deadlines, handle multiple priorities, and perform job responsibilities accurately with minimal supervision
• Strong sense of responsibility, ownership, and pride in delivering quality results
• Highly skilled in Excel
• Ability to share and cover team workload on some weekends, holidays and evenings as dictated by business needs

Preferred Qualifications

• Preferred 1-2 years of experience in an analytical role
• Knowledge of WDW property
• Experience working with Python, Snowflake, SQL, and Tableau/Power BI

Required Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Industrial Engineering or other quantitative field