Job Title: Sr. Regional Inventory Manager:
Location:
The Sr. Regional Inventory Manager (Sr. RIM) partners with the Regional Vice President, Area Sales Management, and Category Management as the lead for inventory management for a specified region. The ultimate goal of the Sr. RIM is to execute towards inventory availability and turns objectives of the region through partnership with local resources. To achieve their goals, the Sr. RIM will focus on training local resources on inventory management fundamentals, development of consensus forecasts, and optimizing inventory from a turnover and obsolete perspective. The Sr. RIM excels in understanding their regional business and operations, and exhibits exceptional customer service, strong analytical skills, and detailed knowledge of demand planning applications. The Sr. RIM serves as the primary point of contact for the region they support, ensuring branches within the region have the correct inventory levels based on market demand, impacting $70-90M in average inventory and $250M+ in annual COGS. Additionally, the Sr. RIM provides thought leadership towards improvements in systems, processes, and procedures for the Inventory, Planning, and Replenishment (IPR) team. Sr. RIM’s in largest sales regions may manage a direct report, the Regional Inventory Support Specialist.
REQUIRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
· Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, or Finance
· Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in forecasting and demand planning; other areas within Supply Chain are a plus
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills
· Passion for providing excellent customer service
· Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to interact with senior management
· Experience working with Blue Yonder planning software (Demand and Fulfillment)
· Experience generating statistical analyses using very large data sets
· Advanced capability using MS Excel
· 1-2 years managing direct reports preferred
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
· Lead regional strategy and execution of key targets for Inventory and Replenishment for the assigned Region, serving as a key point of contact for field leadership
· Meet and improve upon regional In-Stock and Inventory Turns goals
o Leverage forecasting and inventory planning tools (Blue Yonder Demand, MS Excel, etc) to manage the weekly forecast process
§ Development and maintain baseline statistical forecasts
§ Identify and lead the implementation of opportunities to improve forecast accuracy
o Optimize inventory parameters to balance inventory efficiency vs. customer service levels
o Interact with other IPR teams (DC Inventory, Vendor Purchasing) to proactively identify and take corrective action on potential stockouts
· People
o Where applicable: Oversee, train, and mentor direct report(s)
o Provide guidance and thought leadership to other RIMs and the IPR team at large
· Identify opportunities for progress and develop/lead projects designed to improve processes, strategies, and tools
· Support the Regional team by:
o Partnering with branch operations leaders to analyze inventory data, identify opportunities for efficiency, and collaboratively develop strategies that reduce costs and enhance overall operational success.
o Working with regional sales team to leverage local market intelligence to determine trends, identify new products, and new customers to develop and document sales forecasts and inventory requirements
o Supporting SKU assortment requirements by acting as a point-of-contact for initial setup and ongoing maintenance
o Holding weekly Area forecast planning and inventory review meetings
o Leading training and development initiatives for branch teams, mentoring staff on best practices for inventory management to foster continuous improvement and ensure consistent execution of inventory policies across the region
o Attending quarterly in-market visits to provide on-site support for operational and inventory management procedures
o Required travel: 10%