Group Inventory Manager

 Purpose of the job

To manage the entire group stock procurement & stock management process so as to maximise stock availability for customers whilst minimising exposure to excess or aged inventory & subsequent financial exposure.

Job Context and Content

1. Team - Manage, support coach and build a strong, dependable, commercially savvy inventory team, who provide a highly professional service to the company, its customers and its’ suppliers.
2. Procurement - Ensure goods are procured & expediently landed in quantities to provide high stock availability and an uninterrupted supply to our customers, without exposing to excess stocks.  This to be achieved through pro-active assessment and extraction of information from multiple sources, including existing sales run rates, extracting forecasts from sales, awareness of seasonality, local market trends & promotional activities from product management, sensitivity to stages in product lifecycles and any other general product related intelligence.
3. Vendor Relations - Play an active part in vendor relations throughout their lifecycle. This to include influence in initial contract negotiations - extracting favourable inventory & operational terms.  Building and developing contact relationships at a high level to ensure we have appropriate escalation points when things don’t run as planned.  Finally, to manage the termination process to a successful end, resulting in a clean, cost free exit from an inventory perspective.
4. Vendor Review – maintain an on-going objective scorecard of all vendors, bench marking them against one another, sharing their scores and driving improvement through suggested best practice where they fall short.
5. Excess stocks – constantly monitoring stock, to identify potential problems well before they become major issues.  Working pro-actively with the vendor, the product manager and sales to build and drive the execution of strategies to reduce excess/aged stock levels through a variety of means including, contractual returns with the vendor, pro-active sales campaigns, utilisation of alternate sales channels such as  A&B Class, eBay, Merchants at Amazon and as a last resort, clearance houses.
6. Cash flow – considering the impacts of cash flow with respect to all aspects of inventory management, working closely with the finance team to achieve this.
7. Freight In - Ensure goods are procured and shipped to at the lowest possible cost and in the most expedient, commercially viable fashion. 
8. Process & working practices - Constantly re-assess our supply chain & methods of working, exploring & suggesting new and innovative ways of working, developing efficiency gains / cost reductions whilst ensuring the company’s legal requirements are met.
9. Make the Director of Logistics & Procurement aware of any impending threats to the company.

10.  Any ad-hoc duties deemed appropriate by the Director of Logistics & Procurement.

Performance Standards:

1. Manage inventory within agreed stock days targets, working closely with finance
2. Order fill rates & stock out measures to be kept within agreed standards
3. Aged stock levels and values to be kept within agreed standards
4. Meeting objectives & completing tasks within agreed time scales.
5. Set high standards of professionalism.

Candidate Profile

Work History

Must have:

1. At least 5 years experience within Distribution. Preferably in IT or consumer electronics industry focussed on inventory management, at a senior level
2. Experience must include procurement/buying preferably within Distribution
3. Proven Track record in Inventory Management which can be demonstrated during interview process
4. Experience of managing and developing the skills of a team of direct reports

Qualifications/Training

Desirable:

Educated to Degree Level

Some relevant post graduate training

Personal Attributes

Must have:

Commercially aware

Strong Team Building and influencing skills

Strong Excel skills

Ability to project manage & complete projects in a timely and accurate manner

Attention to detail

Starter and finisher

Tenacity

Strong team builder

Resilient – this is a tough job!