Operations Risk & Inventory Analyst
Location: Worcestershire - 2-4 days per month in office
Salary: £35,000p/a
Hours: Full Time

Are you a commercially minded analyst with a passion for driving profitability, mitigating risk, and ensuring operational excellence? We''re looking for an Operations Risk & Inventory Analyst to join our client''s dynamic business, playing a key role in protecting margins, optimising inventory, and supporting informed commercial decision making. 

This is a unique opportunity to sit at the intersection of Finance, Product, and Operations, providing critical insight and oversight that directly impacts business performance.

The Role
As Operations Risk & Inventory Analyst, you''ll be responsible for auditing product profitability, monitoring supplier commitments, managing inventory risk, and ensuring commercial discipline throughout the lifecycle.
You''ll act as a trusted partner to multiple departments, ensuring that pricing decisions are commercially sound, supplier contracts are effectively managed, and capacity commitments are continually reviewed to minimise financial exposure.

Key Responsibilities
Inventory Management

• Act as the key point of contact between Product, Operations, and Finance teams.
• Monitor inventory performance and identify underperforming allocations early.
• Coordinate strategic releases and promotional activity to minimise penalties and maximise revenue opportunities.
• Support inventory optimisation initiatives to improve profitability.

Costing, Audit & Approval

• Serve as a key stakeholder in the approval process, pricing models, and structures before launch.
• Analyse historical supplier costs, previous performance, and market factors to validate pricing assumptions.
• Ensure margin targets are achieved across all packages.
• Audit embedded costs ensure accurate pricing.
• Maintain accurate contract information within internal systems, ensuring data integrity throughout the approval process.

Contract & Milestone Tracking

• Own and maintain the central supplier contract database.
• Track key supplier milestones.
• Audit supplier contracts to identify and mitigate commercial and financial risks.

Cost Optimisation Analysis

• Monitor and identify potential commercial risks.
• Explore cost saving initiatives.
• Analyse opportunities such as supplier renegotiations.
• Produce financial insights and recommendations to support go/no-go decisions.

About You
We''re looking for a highly analytical and commercially aware professional who enjoys working with data and influencing business decisions.
Essential Skills & Experience

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including:
• Pivot Tables
• VLOOKUPs/XLOOKUPs
• Data analysis and manipulation
• Financial modelling
• Strong analytical and numerical capability.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Understanding of margin management, pricing structures, and profitability analysis.
• Awareness of economic factors such as inflation.
• Ability to communicate financial information clearly to a range of stakeholders.
• Strong inventory and risk analysis skills.
• Confident challenging assumptions and influencing decisions where commercial performance may be impacted.

Desirable

• Internal audit experience.
• Knowledge of supplier contracting and inventory management processes.

What''s on Offer?

• Opportunity to make a genuine commercial impact within a growing organisation.
• A varied and collaborative role working across Finance, Product, and Operations.
• Exposure to strategic decision making and senior stakeholders.
• A business that values analytical thinking and continuous improvement.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.

If you''re passionate about using data to drive commercial decisions and have the confidence to challenge, influence, and improve business performance, we''d love to hear from you.
 
For more information on this position, please contact Harriet Ali at Four Squared Recruitment.
If you have not heard from us within three weeks of submitting your application, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. We thank you for your interest and encourage you to apply for future opportunities.