Sr. Analyst, Inventory Planning

With a career at The Home Depot, you can be yourself and also be part of something bigger.

Position Purpose:

The Senior Inventory Analyst serves as the analytical engine of the Merchandise Planning team, driving profitability through data-driven sales forecasting, inventory optimization, and proactive markdown and risk management.

The Senior Inventory Analyst is responsible for developing and managing Open to Buy (OTB) plans aligned with corporate growth strategies, setting guardrails for sales, discounts, and ending inventory. This role analyzes historical category performance to create bottom-up pre-season forecasts and reconciles those plans with executive-level top-down financial targets. In season, the Senior Analyst updates OTB weekly based on actual sales performance, re-forecasting demand by analyzing trends and variances versus plan and last year. The Senior Analyst optimizes inventory by monitoring sell-through, weeks of supply, and sales trends to determine reorders, promotions, or markdowns, pivoting quickly as business needs change. In partnership with the Assortment Planning team, the Senior Analyst recommends buy depth and breadth using historical data to balance risk and opportunity. The role also manages fashion purchase orders in close collaboration with Product Development, overseeing costing, MOQs, lead times, and tracking POs from inception through receipt, while working cross-functionally with Merchandising, Finance, Vendors, and Logistics to achieve business goals. A typical Senior Analyst manages approximately 25 vendors, oversees $50M+ in inventory, and supports $200M in annual sales.

Key Responsibilities:

• 30% In partnership with the Merchant, create strategies and tactics that deliver financial objectives: o Sales , Margin, Turns o Product transitions, flow and exit strategies o Seasonal category and SKU strategies to both enter and exit season o Pricing and promotional activity
• 10% Achieve in-stock and turn targets
• 10% Coordinate needs across supply chain partners
• 10% Manage category to open-to-buy targets
• 10% Provide analysis to improve category performance
• 10% Build and maintain relationships with merchants, suppliers, stores, and supply chain partners
• 10% Train new associates
• 10% Contribute to cross functional project teams

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:

• Position reports to Manager, Inventory Solutions
• No direct responsibility for supervising others.

Travel Requirements:

• Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% of the time.

Physical Requirements:

• Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.

Working Conditions:

• Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Must be eighteen years of age or older.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.

Preferred Qualifications:

• BA/BS Degree preferred
• Candidate must have demonstrated strong analytical and problem solving skills. Ability to quickly retrieve, manipulate, analyze, and interpret data.
• Strong quantitative skills through knowledge of statistics and quantitative data analysis and interpretation

Minimum Education:

• The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a high school diploma and/or GED.

Preferred Education:

• No additional education

Minimum Years of Work Experience:

• 3

Preferred Years of Work Experience:

• No additional years of experience

Minimum Leadership Experience:

• None

Preferred Leadership Experience:

• None

Certifications:

• None

Competencies:

• Ability to translate analysis to audience and communicate recommendations.
• Critical thinking skills to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions; ability to understand and foresee implications of new information for current and future problem solving.
• Good written and verbal communication skills. Ability to persuade or influence others.
• Strong ability to multitask and handle competing priorities at once.
• Strong self-starter with ability to work with little supervision and ability to work with a team.
• Extensive knowledge of Microsoft Excel

For California, Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nevada, New York City, Ithaca (NY), Westchester County (NY), and Washington residents:
 

The pay range for this position is between $50,000 - $140,000