Senior Supply Chain Analyst
Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Activision Blizzard is a global interactive entertainment software leader and the world's largest independent video game publisher.
It is the umbrella organization over Activision Publishing and Blizzard Entertainment, and provides corporate shared services, such as Legal, HR, Finance, IT, Accounting, Facilities, Supply Chain and Sales, for both companies.
The company's product portfolio includes Activision Publishing's Call of Duty®, and Skylanders Spyro's Adventures™ franchises and such established licensed properties asSpider-Man™, X-Men™, James Bond™, and Transformers™, as well as Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft®, Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises.
BASIC FUNCTION:
The Senior Supply Chain Analyst is a key member of the Supply Chain Planning team and is responsible for managing the inventory planning process focused on continuous improvement, supporting the S&OP planning process and providing strategic and tactical inventory reporting metrics and ad-hoc analyses.
Operational:
• Develop timely new release and catalog material and finished good build recommendations that are well thought out and supported by appropriate research and analysis including Brand Management perspective, Business Intelligence perspective, field forecast risks and opportunities, internal and external benchmarks, competitive landscape, software and hardware industry trends, and any other emerging trends or relevant information that may influence build decisions.
• Responsible for developing and maintaining collaborative relationships between Sales, Finance, Brand Management, Operations and keeping these functions constantly informed of the process and any issues that might arise.
• Proactively work with Operations team to manage and prioritize production planning schedules and timelines to prevent/minimize out of stock situations and where applicable minimize inbound costs.
• Provide timely, accurate, and consistent updates to Excel based inventory planning tools and reports including projected ending inventory estimates.
• Proactively monitor inventory to maximize sales revenue by identifying and reporting excess, aged, and obsolete inventories and properly alerting Sales and Supply Chain leadership.
• Collaborate with Sales Planning Forecast Managers to review, understand, build, and maintain account and product based demand plans for initial build and replenishment inventory recommendations. This includes gaining an in depth knowledge of customer specific characteristics such as promotions, special programs, and ad activity that impact inventory needs and allocation of product to support these activities.
• Analyze all data pertinent to the sales forecast including historical sales, market trends, seasonality, promotions, sell-thru, channel and owned inventory, competitive landscape, and WOS.
• Provide decision support to Inventory Allocation Analyst on daily inventory allocations and actively participate in helping to improve the allocations processes and procedures including implementation of the reservation feature in Oracle.
• Develop initiatives to provide continuous focus on developing, analyzing, recommending and implementation of "best practice" opportunities.
• Perform ad hoc analyses and inquiries regarding inventory
• Perform all other duties as assigned and required.
Project Management:
• Create and actively coordinate and manage calendar with all due dates, key deliverables, and activities related to the successful completion of inventory requirements for all new release and catalog titles for the North America Santa Monica and Minneapolis business units.
• Lead new release and catalog inventory build meetings. This includes presenting recommendations for initial inventory build recommendations for new release titles to the Executive Leadership Team.
• Lead development and provide recommendations on catalog promotions used to help reduce excess, aged, and obsolete inventory items or to help extend the life of well performing catalog titles.
• Schedule and lead quarterly scrap meetings and present recommendations for finished good and component scrap.
• Ability to develop and execute project plan to implement a process and set of procedures related to the use of MRP in Oracle.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Education and Experience:
• Bachelor's degree in a business-related discipline (e.g. Supply Chain, Logistics, Transportation, Finance, Statistics, and Quantitative Business Analysis) or related field. MBA is preferred. APICS/CPIM certification is a plus.
• Must have at least 3 -4 years of related experience, and at least two years managing others in an inventory or production planning role.
Skills:
• Must have excellent organizational skills, be process and detail oriented and capable of working under minimum supervision with critical time constraints.
• Must be driven and self-motivated, as well as a quick learner
• Strong leadership and management skills are required: Ability to provide direction, facilitation, support, reinforcement and coaching to individuals and teams. Commitment to meeting deadlines. Perform well under pressure.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to communicate and work effectively as a team member.
• Must be able to exercise sound planning and business decision-making skills in a multi-tasking environment
• Ability to critically evaluate and troubleshoot complex problems with a customer-oriented approach.
• Proficient in the use of a wide variety of computer applications including MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Access.
• SAP or other ERP experience is required, with specific knowledge of MRP, inventory management, forecasting, and/or purchasing.
• Strong analytical skills - ability to analyze and understand quantitative data
• Excellent prioritization skills