Data acquisition specialist – cpg purchase data

As a Data Acquisition Specialist – CPG purchase data, you will own the review, acquisition, and management of our consumer purchase data partners. This role will be responsible for identifying and acquiring high-quality purchase datasets from retailers, data providers, aggregators, and other third-party sources. The ideal candidate understands the CPG data ecosystem and is comfortable working with data vendors, negotiating data access, evaluating data quality, and translating business requirements into actionable data acquisition strategies.

The successful candidate will play a critical role in expanding and maintaining our CPG purchase-data assets used for consumer insights, audience creation, analytics, and measurement.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and evaluate potential sources of CPG purchase and transaction data, including retailers, loyalty programs, point-of-sale systems, data aggregators, panel providers, and alternative data sources.
• Manage the end-to-end data acquisition process, from initial source identification and due diligence through contracting, onboarding, delivery, and ongoing data management.
• Work with internal stakeholders to understand data requirements, including product/category coverage, geography, transaction detail, consumer attributes, time periods, and refresh frequency.
• Partner with Legal, Product, Finance, Data Engineering, and Analytics teams to facilitate data licensing and onboarding.
• Review data-provider documentation, schemas, sample files, APIs, and delivery specifications.
• Conduct initial data-quality assessments and identify gaps, anomalies, or inconsistencies before datasets are incorporated into analytical environments.
• Monitor ongoing data feeds and vendor performance, escalating delivery or quality issues as needed.
• Maintain documentation covering data sources, licensing terms, methodologies, coverage, and limitations.
• Research emerging data sources and technologies that could improve visibility into consumer purchasing behavior.
• Support vendor comparisons, RFPs, pricing evaluations, and contract negotiations.
• Ensure acquired data complies with applicable contractual, privacy, security, and regulatory requirements.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in data acquisition, data partnerships, data procurement, data operations, market research, or a related field.
• Experience working with CPG, retail, consumer transaction, point-of-sale, loyalty, panel, or shopper data.
• Strong understanding of data-provider ecosystems and third-party data licensing.
• Experience evaluating datasets and assessing data quality and usability.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to translate business and analytical requirements into clear data specifications.
• Strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple vendors and initiatives simultaneously.
• Proficiency with Excel/Google Sheets; familiarity with SQL, APIs, data warehouses, or other data technologies is a plus.
• Ability to work effectively across technical and non-technical teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Existing relationships with CPG/retail data providers or aggregators.
• Familiarity with syndicated data and market measurement platforms.
• Knowledge of UPC/GTIN/product hierarchies and CPG product taxonomies.
• Experience with data licensing, usage restrictions, privacy considerations, and commercial data contracts.
• Familiarity with cloud data platforms, APIs, SFTP.

Primary Location City/State: Homebased - Conway, Arkansas

Additional Locations (if applicable): Acxiom is an equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veteran status (EOE/Vet/Disabled) and does not discriminate in recruiting, hiring, training, promotion or other employment of associates or the awarding of subcontracts because of a person's race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, protected veteran, military status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics or other protected status.

Attention California Applicants: Please see our CCPA/CPRA Privacy Act notice here.

Attention Colorado, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington Applicants: This position is not located in the aforementioned locations but applications for remote work may be considered. For information about this role under state or local equal pay or pay transparency laws, please contact compensation@acxiom.com.