About the job Inventory Planner and Coordinator
About the role
The Inventory Planner & Coordinator owns inventory across the full lifecycle: forecasting demand, sizing and submitting purchase orders, tracking production, chasing suppliers, and making sure the right stock lands in the right warehouse at the right time.
This is an analytical role with sharp execution. You will live in our inventory data, build and maintain the SKU-level forecasts that drive every PO, and partner directly with the Founders on what we buy, when, and how much. You will also be the single point of contact with our suppliers — pushing them on timelines, flagging risks early, and making sure nothing slips.
How we work: AI-first
Cean is being built as an AI-native company. We are actively embedding Claude (Anthropic’s AI) into every part of our business operations — from analytics and reporting through to customer service, supplier communications and decision support.
This role sits at the centre of that effort on the supply side. We expect you to use Claude every day to accelerate your work: forecasting demand, sizing POs, drafting supplier communications, summarising production updates, building dashboards, and surfacing risks faster than a traditional planner could.
More importantly, you will design our inventory dashboards and PO tools so that Claude is embedded directly into them. The goal is that when the Founders open the inventory dashboard or a monthly PO review, they can ask Claude follow-up questions in natural language — “which SKUs are at stockout risk before the next PO arrives?”, “what would happen if we doubled growth on the top 10 SKUs?”, “how much working capital is sitting in slow movers?” — and get instant, contextual answers grounded in our actual data.
If you are excited by the idea of working alongside AI as a true collaborator (not just a chatbot on the side), and helping shape how a modern brand runs its supply chain, this role is for you.
Key responsibilities
Demand forecasting
Build and maintain SKU-level demand forecasts across approximately 550 SKUs (26 products, 11 colours, 5 sizes).
Translate sales velocity, growth targets, marketing plans and seasonality into a forward view of demand.
Continuously refine forecasts as actuals come in — flag where the model is drifting and recalibrate.
Purchase order planning and execution
Own the rolling monthly PO cycle end-to-end: size each PO using the agreed planning model, generate the supplier-ready PO file, and submit on cadence.
Maintain reorder points, safety stock and cover targets at SKU level.
Apply judgement on top of the model — push, wind down or expedite specific SKUs based on commercial context.
Keep the PO planning template up to date as inputs change (lead times, demand multiplier, capital cap, new product launches).
Supplier coordination
Track every open PO from submission through to warehouse receipt — quantities, ETAs, shipping milestones, customs.
Chase suppliers proactively. We need to know what is coming and when, and we need to push back hard when timelines slip.
Negotiate expedites for at-risk SKUs and escalate to the Founders when commercial trade-offs need to be made.
Inventory health and working capital
Maintain a live view of stock on hand, in transit, and on order across the full catalogue.
Identify dead stock, overstock and slow movers — quantify the working capital tied up and recommend actions (promotion, markdown, discontinuation).
Flag pre-arrival stockout risk early enough to do something about it.
Monitor sell-through by colour and size to inform the next buy.
Reporting and dashboards
Maintain the inventory tracker, PO planning template and 6-month forward plan.
Produce a weekly inventory flash for the Founders covering open POs, stockout risks, capital position and key changes.
Build self-serve dashboards so the leadership team can answer their own top-line inventory questions.
Cross-functional partnership
Work closely with the Commercial Analyst on sales forecasts, margin impact of buying decisions, and cash flow tied to the PO schedule.
Partner with our 3PL on receiving, inbound visibility and warehouse accuracy.
Surface insights and trade-offs to the Founders ahead of any meaningful buying decision.
Required experience and skills
4 to 6 years of experience in inventory planning, demand planning, supply chain or merchandise planning.
Direct experience with a DTC e-commerce or retail business — ideally fashion, apparel, beauty or wellness.
Hands-on experience with Shopify and inventory planning tools such as Cin7, Prediko, Inventory Planner, NetSuite, Pipe17 or Logiwa (or other similar tools).
Advanced Excel and Google Sheets — comfortable building forecasting and reorder models from scratch.
Strong understanding of inventory fundamentals: lead times, safety stock, reorder points, cover days, sell-through, working capital.
Highly analytical and numerate — you can read a dataset, spot the anomaly, and work out what to do about it.
Strong stakeholder management — you can push suppliers and internal partners to meet timelines without losing the relationship.
Genuine enthusiasm for AI tools — particularly Claude — and a track record of using them to do better work, not just faster work.
Excellent written English — you will be writing supplier communications, weekly reports and recommendations that the Founders read each week.
Highly organised, self-directed and comfortable working independently across time zones.
Nice to have
Experience scaling inventory operations for a brand growing through low to mid eight figures.
Familiarity with overseas manufacturing relationships and the realities of Asian supply chains.
Experience with Australian e-commerce, freight and import/duty considerations.
SQL skills, or willingness to learn quickly.
Experience with the Anthropic API, Claude Projects, or building AI-enabled workflows.
What this role is not
Margin, marketing or cohort analysis — that sits with the Commercial Analyst.
Bookkeeping, accounts payable/receivable or payroll — that sits with our accountant.
Customer service or order processing.
Hands-on Shopify merchandising or product page builds.
Warehouse operations — we work with a 3PL.