Here at Investigo we have been operating in pricing strategy for the best part of 10 years and have been part of its continued growth across the corporate world.
Historically we have recruited a high volume of roles in FMCG, retail, hospitality, and consumer telecoms. However, there is a fast-growing demand of internal pricing resources in B2B businesses, particularly across SaaS and financial technology. This is reflected in the demands from management consultancies, who are also developing and expanding pricing-specific capabilities within larger strategy functions.
Further, we are seeing increased demand from our private equity clients, either bringing pricing in-house at fund level, or more crucially implementing pricing into their portfolio businesses as a lever to maximise EBIT value.
Pricing strategy in 2022/23
The biggest trend we have identified in pricing going into this year and beyond, is the emphasis on data integrity and pricing solutions. Right the way through to senior roles in pricing, we are seeing demands for competencies in working with technology/software teams or partners, to develop pricing tools and processes.
Whilst the broader aspects of day-to-day transactional pricing remain crucial skills, candidates are being increasingly questioned on the role they have played in continuing to modernise and evolve pricing functions from a technology perspective. This is mirrored in the equivalent teams in consulting, with new data science resources being allocated to pricing teams to ensure effective pricing solutions offerings as well as consulting services.
One of the challenges facing businesses, particularly in less mature markets, is the requirement for industry specific expertise. This has been evidenced with SaaS clients especially looking for exposure to pricing experience of SaaS products, creating a very limited talent pool in what is already a candidate-short market.
In 2022 it is crucial for businesses to explore multiple avenues for potential pricing talent. Not only does this include those with more of a data science or finance background, but also broader industry experience with similar styles of product.
Compensation
Below is a breakdown of data from over 300 roles in pricing strategy that Investigo has been instructed on. It is important to note that titles (and therefore the associated salaries) are somewhat inconsistent within pricing, as it is a relatively new and developing function within the corporate world. As a result there will be notable exceptions to the bandings below. e.g Pricing analyst has been the title for some roles paying circa £60,000-£70,000 but these levels are uncommon in association with that title.
Further salaries depend on company size and structure, as well as whether there is an existing strategy or pricing function.
