Director, Sourcing & Inventory Management

Position Overview

As Director, Sourcing and Inventory Management, you lead Caribou’s strategic sourcing and inventory management functions to manage direct (beverage ingredients, food, packaged coffee, merchandise, retail packaging) and indirect (store supplies, store equipment) sourcing, demand planning, supply planning, and inventory management capabilities for all business channels. Your team delivers value to Caribou by developing and maintaining a reliable, diverse supplier network and inventory strategies that drive global retail sales growth, achieve cost and expense objectives, and support unit growth through efficient use of inventory assets.

You will articulate the Sourcing and Inventory Management vision and roadmap, put transparent measures in place to stay on track, and maximize resources while growing company value through rigorous cost management, planning, and prioritization. You lead cross‑functionally by partnering with the Product Innovation, Store Operations, Supply Chain, Quality Assurance, Legal, and Finance teams to implement sourcing, demand planning, supply planning, and inventory management strategies and tactics in support of delivering Caribou’s company goals and objectives.

• Strategic Sourcing: Develop a sourcing vision and roadmap that supports Caribou’s growth objectives and ESG commitments; oversee management of the supplier matrix to ensure reliable, cost‑effective access to all inventory, store supplies, and store equipment; partner with Culinary R&D, Category Management, and Supply Chain teams to develop and enable sourcing solutions that fully integrate into the product lifecycle; foster creation and maintenance of efficient processes for supplier identification, qualification, approval, contracting, onboarding, and item specification management;
  
  lead contract management and negotiate new/renewing purchasing contracts; maintain an item cost management model and champion item data management to keep all purchasing and logistics attributes in the system.
• Demand Planning: Lead development of annual planning inputs for COGS and profit based on sourcing strategies in coordination with product category sales and store operations plans; oversee collection, validation, and aggregation of multi‑channel demand forecasts; enable integration of store segmentation into demand and supply planning; oversee management and execution of new item launch and limited time offering store‑level inventory allocation planning;
  
  partner with cross‑functional teams to create inventory forecasting and efficiency KPIs that support financial objectives.
• Inventory Management: Oversee inventory purchasing and movement through the supply chain to support replenishment, new item launches, promotions, limited time offerings, and new store openings; enable inventory management tactics directly connected to sales and demand plans; oversee processes and systems to create orders, track purchase order logistics, and troubleshoot replenishment and forecast metrics while maintaining optimized inventory levels within distribution centers.

• Lead a high‑functioning team by consistently demonstrating and championing Caribou’s culture and core values.
• Strong business and financial acumen – prioritize guest and team when establishing plans and decision frameworks.
• Strategic vision – establish a clear roadmap and vision for success and impact to the organization.
• Decision making – demonstrate confidence to make strong decisions, ensuring rationale, decisions, and outcomes are transparently communicated and admit mistakes while instilling confidence in overall abilities.
• Build teams – foster and explore diverse perspectives to ensure voices are heard and ideas evaluated on merit and rationale.
• Drive results and manage performance – foster a results‑oriented mindset that drives continuous improvement in team and business performance.
• Elevate Caribou’s talent and culture through transparent performance management.
• Develop strong relationships – build and maintain productive, trusted relationships with leaders, peers, and cross‑functional partners.
• Influence others – create…