Inventory Manager: Job Profile and Role

If you have a knack for organisation, working with others, and managing things, you could be well suited for the job of an inventory manager – the go-to person when it comes to a company’s supplies and stocks. He or she must ensure that all products are always stocked sufficiently and, therefore, needs to liaise with suppliers, among other people. 

In this blog, we explore the job of an inventory manager in depth. To help you decide whether this is a suitable career choice for you, you find out which hard and soft skills you need. You also get information on the expected salaries and potential employers, as well as insights into your possible career progression and what a day in the life of an inventory manager looks like. To help you thrive, you get three valuable and helpful tips tailor-made for an inventory manager.

Short Summary

• As an inventory manager, your main priority is to ensure that your company’s products and supplies are in sufficient stock.
• As an inventory manager, you allocate stock to its designated space/shelf in the warehouse and distribute it accordingly, for example, when it is being prepared for shipment.
• As an inventory manager, you research and analyse market trends and your company’s overall sales performance to plan efficient long-term inventory strategies.

Job description

In your job as an inventory manager, you are the go-to person when it comes to everything connected to your company’s products and supplies. Therefore, you naturally need to know what quantities of a respective product are in stock and which might need reordering. For this, you liaise with your trusted suppliers. To ensure your company’s success, you also need to keep an eye on sales figures and develop efficient long-term inventory strategies. What arrives at your warehouse goes out again at some point, meaning that another one of your jobs is to prepare and document shipments, all the while working closely with your team and other inventory management-related departments.

Responsibilities

• Preparing/Documenting Shipments
• Technology/Systems Management
• Inter-Departmental Collaboration
• Maintaining Inventory Database
• Procurement and Purchasing
• Stock Allocation/Distribution
• Inventory Planning/Control
• Data Analysing/Reporting
• Sourcing Supplies

Different types of Inventory Managers

• Seasonal Inventory Manager
• Bulk Inventory Manager
• Stock Control Manager
• Consignment Manager
• Safety Stock Manager

Salary

Based on various factors, such as your form of employment, your level of work experience, your employer, and your location when working in inventory management, you can expect an annual salary between ￡26,000 and ￡39,000. Note that these two figures “bookend” your annual salary range, with the lower wages being a typical starting salary.

Keep in mind that the location factor can have one of the biggest impacts on your annual wages. While it is an unofficial rule that the highest wages tend to be paid in the south of the United Kingdom, this does not automatically apply to the job of an inventory manager. Currently, you can factor in considerably higher wages in the Scottish metropolitan areas (Glasgow) where an inventory manager’s annual salary can be as high as ￡57,000.

Working hours

Typically, you work between 35 and 40 hours a week, most of which will happen in an office setting. Nevertheless, some of your working time is also spent “on-site” where you do live inventory checks in the warehouse to ensure everything is running smoothly. Depending on your contract and your employer’s operating hours, you may have to work evenings and weekends. Here, you are working according to a rota and do shift work. 

Employers

Knowing how much you will earn and which hours are expected of you is all well and good. But where, exactly, will you earn your wages by doing 35 to 40 hours a week? Generally, inventory managers are employed by any industry dealing with products and supplies. This can be retail as well as grocery stores, pharmaceutical companies, or logistics and transport companies. Equally, you can find employment in the technical sector which can range from electronics to automotives, and construction and engineering.

Qualifications

Every managerial role comes with entry qualifications. To be more precise, these first qualifications are your secondary education and the GCSEs or your A levels. They allow you to enter a university course, a college course, or an apprenticeship related to inventory management.

Note that the pass grades tend to be lower for a college course where you typically need two or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D). University courses and apprenticeships generally necessitate grades 9 to 4 (A* to C).

Since a lot of work processes are now digital, you should also gain relevant software experience. This can include inventory management software like Sage 50cloud and Cin7 and stock management software like Oracle NetSuite and SAP Business One.

Skills

Outstanding business management skills and knowledge will be part of your ticket to get a job as an inventory manager. Naturally, there are further skills you should have or develop – and your employer and the job post respectively will tell you exactly what is expected of you in that department (therefore, please always check the skills section carefully). To give you an idea of the competencies needed from you, we now explore three skills an inventory manager should have.

Communication Skills

Yes, we know. The products and supplies you are inventorying do not actually speak to you. But the people you are getting them from and delivering them to do. Therefore, strong communication skills are a must if you want to prosper as an inventory manager. Besides your suppliers, you also need to communicate clearly with your team and your directors. We recommend that you not only focus on your verbal communication but also your written and non-verbal communication. Combined, these competencies will get you to the top of inventory management. 

Analytical Skills

One of your key responsibilities is to research, collect, and analyse sales data and figures as well as market trends. Knowing what is hot and what is not ensures that you only stock and restock best-selling products whereas “shelf huggers” can slowly be phased out, so to speak. Your analytical skills result in efficient supply chains, inventory management, and high-profit margins for your company. 

Supply Chain Knowledge

As you have seen from the educational approaches, you can become an inventory manager through a supply chain qualification or degree. It may therefore not surprise you that supply chain knowledge is a valuable asset in inventory management. You need to know how the supply chains in your company work. Who do you buy your products from, who – apart from you – is responsible for stocking, preparing, and shipping them, who are your end customers? These are but a few aspects of this special competency.

Career Path

To get to the position of an inventory manager, you first have to complete your education and then prevail in an entry-level position, for instance, as a trainee or assistant inventory manager, an inventory coordinator, or a warehouse operative. Work experience and further training and qualifications can set you up for promotion to the job of an inventory manager. This, in turn, can lead to even more senior roles, for example, the job of a director or a Chief Operations Officer (COO).

Educational Background

To become a manager – regardless of the field you end up working in – you benefit the most from completing an undergraduate degree. For the job of an inventory manager, suitable options are a Bachelor’s degree in inventory management, business administration, or supply chain management.

Then again, an academic approach might not be your perfect choice. Therefore, you may be more interested in doing an advanced apprenticeship, for example, as a supply chain practitioner. This approach has several advantages, one of them being that you gain your first practical experience in inventory management.

As a third option, you can complete an appropriate college course. Here, you can get in touch with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) which offers various certifications, such as the Level 2 Diploma in Warehousing and Storage or the Level 4 Certificate in Purchasing and Supply Operations.

Entry Level

Your career starts with your first job. Before you can advance to the position of an inventory manager, you need to excel at the job of either a trainee or an assistant inventory manager. Alternatively, your first job could be the job of an inventory coordinator or a warehouse operative. Even though the general timeframe for this position is about 12 months, you should always check with your employer how long you are expected to work in an assistant role.

Continuous Learning

If you are diligent and eager to learn, you may be able to fast-track your career. Sometimes, the necessary qualifications and further training can get you to more senior positions in less time. In inventory management, these can be qualifications and certifications earned through the CILT (as mentioned above), including a Level 4 Certificate in Purchasing and Supply Operations or an IOM Level 5 Award in Supply Chain and Inventory Management. 

It is always helpful to also check with City & Guilds since they offer further accredited qualifications and training courses, for example, a Level 3 Warehousing and Storage qualification. 

A Day in the Life of an Inventory Manager

Get your software up and running – and maybe your kettle or coffee machine! Your day as an inventory manager in the UK is about to start and it will entail performing various interesting jobs. In this section, we give you a first overview of the potential tasks awaiting you daily in inventory management. 

Analysis of Inventory

One of your first jobs of the day is to analyse your inventory. What is in stock, what is running low, where do you need to make adjustments, and which orders need fulfilling? These are some of the most pressing concerns you have to deal with daily. Luckily, you have a top-notch inventory system that enables you to get a quick overview of your warehouse’s status quo. After you have checked and analysed everything, you can advance to restocking or preparing stock for shipping.

Receiving Stock

Alternatively, you spend some time on receiving new stock since last week’s inventory analysis has shown you which products and supplies needed to be reordered. When you receive new stock, you also need to inspect it. After all, no one will benefit from faulty products which you cannot even sell on. If everything passes your critical quality eye, you and your team can then start allocating everything to its predestined location in the warehouse.

Strategy Planning

Your company’s/employer’s success highly depends on your foresight and market knowledge. It is all well and good to stock products and supplies. But it is not so well and good when you only stock dust collectors that will never see the outside of your warehouse, never mind the inside of a store. Therefore, you must invest time in market research. The collected data give you an overview of the latest sales trends and figures which, in turn, helps you to develop successful long-term inventory strategies and plans.

Tips for Thriving as an Inventory Manager

A lot of the necessary training for becoming an inventory manager in the UK has already been covered by your education. Maybe you have also done an internship while completing your undergraduate degree. Long story short – continuously looking into beneficial training is one way to thrive in inventory management. That aside, polishing your software and soft skills also helps you to get to the top of the career ladder. Let’s take a look at how this can pan out for your job:

• Improve your software knowledge
• Work on your relationships
• Be and stay organised

Improve your Software Knowledge

Inventory and stock management software can be the proverbial “book of seven seals” – Oracle NetSuite being a prime example of software that can easily drive you up the walls. Unfortunately, this software will be one of the most important ones you work with daily. If you still struggle with this program, we recommend that you look into training and courses. Of course, you should not limit yourself to becoming an expert here but also look into any other software that benefits you, especially, with further qualifications.

Work on your Relationships

Being a manager means being responsible for a lot of jobs, a team, and – in your case – suppliers. It is one of our most important tips that you invest time in these vital relationships since they can make or break you. Strive for cordial relations, be it with your team or your suppliers. Where your team is concerned, we recommend that you involve every member in your daily decisions, trust them to take on responsibilities, and listen to their ideas and worries. Strong professional relationships help you thrive – and this can even extend to your private life.

Be and Stay Organised

Inventory management works best if you have an effective and functioning system. Therefore, you need to come up with a sensible storage system and a logical and accurate filing and documenting system. This way, you ensure that neither you nor anyone else involved in the daily running of a warehouse drowns under a pile of real-life or digital paperwork. Being and staying organised furthermore guarantees smoother workflows and less stress for everyone involved.

Getting FIFO in Inventory Management

FIFO is commonly used in accounting and for tax purposes – and it can be valuable knowledge for you as an inventory manager as well. FIFO stands for First In, First Out. In inventory management, it can refer to the products and supplies you have ordered first and which should also go out first – before any of the new stock you have ordered is shipped. This asset-management method can be highly beneficial when you deal with products with a sell-by date but benefits you with all other supplies as well.

Frequently Asked Questions