What are the responsibilities and job description for the Inventory Control Manager position at Golden State Foods?
Description
The Manager of Inventory Control is responsible for leading all aspects of inventory management of materials (raw, packaging and finished goods), while providing production support in a custom food manufacturing environment. This role ensures the timely and accurate flow of materials through the warehouse and operations floor to meet customer specifications while maintaining compliance with food safety and regulatory standards. This position owns and manages the process for finished goods inventory, cycle counting, product holds, release protocols, and traceability ensuring full alignment with quality assurance and customer expectations.
Essential Functions
Directly manages 1-2 supervisors and a team of 5-10 inventory staff. Provides strategic direction, daily oversight, and performance coaching. Reports to the Director of Supply Chain.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)
Education:
The Manager of Inventory Control is responsible for leading all aspects of inventory management of materials (raw, packaging and finished goods), while providing production support in a custom food manufacturing environment. This role ensures the timely and accurate flow of materials through the warehouse and operations floor to meet customer specifications while maintaining compliance with food safety and regulatory standards. This position owns and manages the process for finished goods inventory, cycle counting, product holds, release protocols, and traceability ensuring full alignment with quality assurance and customer expectations.
Essential Functions
- Ensures compliance with company inventory accuracy targets, financial reporting and auditing requirements.
- Maintain inventory control procedures, such as executing daily cycle counting activities, scanning audits and performing periodic physical inventory counts to ensure consistent and predicable inventory accuracy.
- Owns and manages the materials hold process. Coordinates with QA, Warehouse and Operations to manage product release or disposal decisions, ensures all held products are traceable and dispositioned accurately, and maintains full documentation for audits.
- Manages timing and execution of finished goods rework and inspection process ensuring finish goods meet customer specific requirements.
- Develops and executes inventory control strategies tailored to custom food production. Ensure raw materials and packaging inventory support dynamic production schedules, minimize waste, and meet shelf-life requirements through the administration of Allergen Control, FEFO / FIFO adherence and expiration management.
- Lead daily and weekly reporting of material availability, usage, inventory levels, and production yields. Collaborates with finance and operations to reconcile variances and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
- Investigate inventory variances, discrepancies, stockouts, and other inventory related issues while driving process failures and material losses to root cause and execution of corrective actions.
- Partners with Quality Assurance, Production, R&D, and Customer Service teams to align raw material availability with production runs, manage spec changes, and LTO exposure.
- Leads and develops an inventory team that fosters a culture of accountability, safety, and continuous improvement. Provides training, coaching and guidance to associates whose role impacts inventory management.
- Ensures full compliance with FDA, HACCP, BRC/SQF, and customer-specific food safety standards. Leads audit preparation related to materials and inventory, including raw material traceability and product recall readiness.
- Oversee the maintenance and improvement of ERP/MRP systems (e.g. SAP, D365, or similar) to support real-time inventory visibility, lot tracking, and integration with QA and production records.
- Manages the departmental budget, identifies cost-saving initiatives, and improves material usage efficiency without compromising quality or compliance.
Directly manages 1-2 supervisors and a team of 5-10 inventory staff. Provides strategic direction, daily oversight, and performance coaching. Reports to the Director of Supply Chain.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)
- Raw and packaging material availability
- Inventory accuracy and material yield
- Finished goods hold duration and resolution rate
- Traceability and audit readiness
- Vendor on-time delivery and compliance
- Budget adherence and cost variance
- Team performance and development
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in: Supply Chain Management, Food Science, Business, or related field required.
- APICS, CPIM, or HACCP certification preferred.
- 8–10 years in food manufacturing, with 3 years in materials or inventory management.
- Strong experience managing food holds, traceability systems, and regulatory compliance.
- Deep understanding of custom food production workflows and ingredient-level traceability.
- Strong working knowledge of food safety systems (HACCP, SQF, BRC) and related regulatory frameworks (FDA/USDA).
- Skilled in ERP systems, lot tracking, and warehouse operations in a food environment.
- Proven leadership in managing diverse teams and collaborating cross-functionally.
- Excellent communication, problem-solving, and vendor negotiation skills.
- Interpret purchasing or inventory anomalies and identify appropriate solutions
- Communicate and coordinate effectively with internal and external customers verbally and in writing
- Read and process written information with a high degree of accuracy
- Work effectively in a general business environment, with a focus on high levels of quality and customer service
- Act in accordance with GSF’s Values and Creed