Global Director of Inventory Management

Our client is a leading global manufacturer of thermal management systems, delivering innovative, high-quality solutions across a range of industrial and mission-critical applications. With a strong international footprint and a reputation for engineering excellence, the business is recognised as an industry leader, combining innovation, operational excellence, and customer focus to deliver world-class solutions.

The Opportunity

The Global Director of Inventory Management will lead the company's global inventory and material management strategy, ensuring a resilient, efficient, and cost-effective supply chain that supports operational excellence and sustainable competitive advantage.

This executive leadership role is responsible for developing global standards, processes, and teams across inventory management, material planning, supplier scheduling, warehouse operations, and freight optimisation. Working closely with Supply Chain, Procurement, Manufacturing, Sales, Engineering, and regional leadership teams, the successful candidate will drive improvements in inventory performance, material availability, working capital, supplier collaboration, and end-to-end supply chain effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Organisation

• Lead, develop, and coach the global Material Management organisation, ensuring teams have the appropriate capability, structure, and resources.
• Drive consistent application of talent development, performance management, succession planning, and training across the function.
• Build a high-performing global material planning organisation through collaboration with regional and site leadership.

Material Planning & Supply Continuity

• Ensure materials and services are available in the right quantities and at the required time to support business operations.
• Establish and maintain global standards for material planning and supplier scheduling processes, including MRP, reorder point planning, spot purchasing, and other replenishment methodologies.
• Develop processes that effectively balance customer demand, supplier lead times, production schedules, and inventory levels.
• Partner with IT and cross-functional stakeholders to improve planning systems and address ERP capability gaps.
• Maintain planning parameters within ERP systems, including minimum and maximum stock levels, reorder points, minimum order quantities, lead times, and related planning data.
• Ensure supplier order book information is accurate and maintained, including delivery dates, quantities, and planning commitments.

Inventory & Warehouse Management

• Develop and implement global inventory management standards that optimise stock levels while maintaining service performance.
• Provide regular reporting and visibility of inventory performance, identifying opportunities for improvement and driving corrective action.
• Establish corporate standards for inventory control, cycle counting, and annual stock counting processes.
• Define best practices for warehouse operations, including goods receipt, storage design, inventory transactions, and material handling processes.

Supplier Performance & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Monitor supplier delivery performance and provide regular reporting against agreed performance measures.
• Identify and elevate material availability risks that could impact customer delivery or business operations.
• Work closely with Procurement to improve supplier terms relating to lead times, minimum order quantities, packaging, delivery frequency, Incoterms, and overall supply performance.
• Ensure material planning requirements and supplier delivery performance form part of supplier evaluation and selection processes.
• Collaborate with Sales, Manufacturing, Engineering, Procurement, and Operations to ensure planning decisions support wider business objectives.
• Establish global freight management standards and drive initiatives to optimise transportation costs and service performance.
• Support freight sourcing activities and develop efficient logistics networks.
• Lead initiatives focused on cross-site freight consolidation and network optimisation.
• Support manufacturing locations in selecting appropriate logistics models and Incoterms.

Governance & Continuous Improvement

• Develop, implement, and maintain global procedures, operating standards, work instructions, and reporting systems.
• Ensure consistent execution of material management processes across all business locations.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance planning accuracy, operational efficiency, inventory performance, and supplier collaboration.
• Provide meaningful management reporting to support strategic decision-making and improve communication across global operations.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate is likely to bring:

• Extensive leadership experience within global supply chain, material management, or planning functions in a complex manufacturing environment.
• Strong expertise in material planning, inventory management, supplier scheduling, and ERP planning systems.
• Proven ability to lead international teams and implement global processes across multiple manufacturing locations.
• Experience partnering with Procurement, Manufacturing, Logistics, Engineering, and Commercial teams.
• Strong analytical capability with experience using KPIs and data to drive operational improvements.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, and communication skills.
• A continuous improvement mindset with experience leading transformational change across global operations.