Demand & Inventory Analyst at Sitka Seafood Market in Madison, WI

Description

Demand &Inventory Analyst

Position Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Reports To: Controller

Position Summary

The Demand & Inventory Analyst serves as Sitka Seafood Market’s central owner of inventory intelligence, ensuring accuracy, integrity, and optimization of inventory across all systems, warehouses, and sales channels. This role combines inventory systems management, SKU governance, planning, and financial analysis to maintain reliable data, align inventory levels with customer demand, and provide clear visibility into performance and working capital. Given Sitka’s focus on wild, seasonal, and perishable seafood, the role is critical in balancing availability, operational capacity, and financial discipline. The analyst partners cross-functionally with operations, procurement, sales, marketing, logistics, and finance to support scalable processes and data-driven decision-making.

Core Responsibilities

Own inventory systems, data integrity, and SKU governance across all platforms (Shopify, Katana ERP, and third-party warehouses), ensuring accurate, consistent, and reliable inventory data across systems and sales channels. Maintain and improve processes for inventory synchronization, system integrations, and reporting automation.

Manage the full SKU lifecycle, including creation, product attributes, categorization, and updates, partnering with operations, marketing, and procurement to support new product launches and transitions.

Lead inventory audit processes and operational compliance across warehouse locations by coordinating audits, reconciling discrepancies, enforcing inventory control standards, and driving continuous improvement in inventory procedures.

Develop and refine inventory planning methodologies (including ABC classification, safety stock, and min/max strategies) by analyzing demand patterns, SKU velocity, and inventory turnover to optimize stock levels and support business growth.

Translate sales forecasts into inventory requirements across species, product formats, and channels, collaborating cross-functionally to align supply with demand while proactively identifying and mitigating stockouts, excess inventory, and operational constraints.

Analyze the financial impact of inventory decisions, including COGS, margins, and working capital, and provide regular insights on inventory value, carrying costs, product aging, and species mix. Partner with finance to support accurate inventory valuation and reporting.

Monitor inventory risks such as overstock, slow-moving or aging inventory, spoilage, and demand volatility, and recommend actions to improve inventory flow and reduce financial and operational risk.

Develop and maintain dashboards and KPIs that provide visibility into inventory performance, including turnover, days on hand, forecast accuracy, stockouts, carrying costs, and SKU-level profitability. Deliver regular reporting and actionable insights to leadership.

Support scenario planning and strategic analysis by modeling the impact of changes in demand, supply, and operations on inventory needs, helping guide inventory investment and planning decisions.

Collaborate cross-functionally with operations, procurement, logistics, sales, marketing, and finance to ensure alignment between demand planning, operational capacity, and inventory strategy.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Success in this role will be measured through improvements in key inventory and operational metrics, including:

• Inventory turnover
• Days of inventory on hand
• Forecast accuracy
• Inventory value and working capital efficiency
• Stockout rate
• Slow-moving inventory percentage
• Inventory aging
• Inventory carrying cost
• SKU-level margin performance
• Spoilage and waste rates
• Inventory data accuracy across systems

Success in This Role

Success in this role will result in:

• Highly accurate inventory data across systems and warehouses
• Improved inventory turnover and working capital efficiency
• Reduced stockouts and excess inventory
• Strong alignment between sales forecasts, operations capacity, and inventory levels
• Clear and actionable visibility into inventory performance and financial impacts.

Requirements

Desired Skills & Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Analytics, Finance, Operations, or a related field, with 3–6 years of experience in inventory planning, supply chain analytics, operations, or e-commerce environments.

Advanced proficiency in Excel (including modeling, pivot tables, and complex analysis), with experience using inventory management systems or ERP platforms—preferably Shopify or similar e-commerce tools. Familiarity with BI platforms (e.g., Power BI, Looker) and reporting automation or AI-enabled analytics tools is a plus.

Strong understanding of inventory planning methodologies, including safety stock, ABC classification, demand forecasting, and inventory turnover optimization. Experience working with perishable, lot-controlled goods, food distribution, or cold-chain logistics is strongly preferred.

Highly analytical with strong problem-solving abilities, excellent organizational and communication skills, and a high level of attention to detail and operational discipline. Alignment with Sitka Seafood Market’s mission to support sustainable fisheries and coastal communities is essential.