Director, Inventory – Planning & Replenishment

Company Background:

Established in 1928, Genuine Parts Company is a leading global service provider of automotive and industrial replacement parts and value-added solutions. Our Automotive Parts Group operates across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australasia, France, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, while our Industrial Parts Group serves customers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australasia. We keep the world moving with a vast network of over 10,700 locations spanning 17 countries supported by more than 63,000 teammates. Learn more at genpt.com.

Position Purpose:

GPC is seeking world-class talent to join Supply Chain Technology as the Director of Inventory Planning & Replenishment. This leader will own the technology strategy, engineering delivery and operational health of GPC’s inventory planning, assortment decisioning and replenishment platforms, including GPC’s Assortment Planning application (Pulse.ai), the Advanced Planning System (APS / RELEX) and the current Manhattan Demand Forecasting & Inventory Optimization (DFIO) platform during transition.

The Director will lead a multi-year transformation from legacy, DC-centric planning to an integrated, multi-echelon planning capability spanning stores, flow centers, inbound distribution centers, downstream distribution centers and suppliers. The role is accountable for delivering scalable forecasting, inventory optimization, assortment recommendations and automated replenishment while maintaining business continuity and retiring legacy technology as capabilities migrate to the target platform.

This position requires a strong technology and engineering leader who can translate merchandising, inventory and supply chain objectives into a clear product and platform roadmap. The successful candidate will combine package implementation expertise, cloud and data/AI engineering leadership, operational discipline and strong business partnership to improve in-stock performance, inventory productivity, planner effectiveness and supplier outcomes.

Responsibilities:

· Own the technology strategy, target architecture and multi-year roadmap for Inventory Planning & Replenishment, including Pulse.ai, APS / RELEX, DFIO and the integrations, data products and analytics that support them.

· Lead the implementation and scaled rollout of APS / RELEX for demand forecasting, inventory optimization, automated replenishment, multi-echelon planning, scenario simulation and supplier collaboration.

· Maintain the reliability, scalability and business continuity of DFIO during the transition; prioritize required enhancements, integrations and controls, and execute a disciplined retirement plan as APS capabilities are deployed.

· Advance Pulse.ai as GPC’s AI-guided assortment and inventory decision platform, including inventory health scoring, Best-In / Worst-Out recommendations, matching parts, space and budget scenarios, explainability and integration with enterprise planning.

· Establish an integrated operating model across assortment planning, demand forecasting, inventory placement, replenishment and allocation so that planning decisions are coordinated from supplier through store.

· Partner with Inventory, Merchandising, Store Operations, Network Transformation, Finance, Product Management, Data & Analytics and enterprise architecture leaders to define outcomes, prioritize capabilities and drive adoption.

· Build and lead high-performing engineering, data science, product and platform teams. Recruit, coach and develop managers and technical leaders while creating clear accountability across employees, contractors and implementation partners.

· Provide overall engineering accountability for platform design, configuration, custom development, data pipelines, APIs, testing, release management, observability, security, resiliency and production support.

· Ensure data quality and model governance for SKU-location forecasts, inventory signals, item and location masters, supplier data, order recommendations and downstream execution feeds. Establish monitoring, reconciliation and scorecards for critical data products.

· Drive planner adoption and process change so teams increasingly manage by exception rather than through manual, order-by-order activity. Partner with business leaders on training, standard operating procedures and benefit realization.

· Define and manage measurable platform and business outcomes, including in-stock percentage, forecast accuracy and bias, inventory dollars and days of supply, replenishment automation, SKU-locations planned per planner, recommendation adoption, supplier OTIF, platform availability and incident recovery.

· Simplify the application landscape, reduce technical debt and total cost of ownership, and ensure that legacy platforms, interfaces and infrastructure are decommissioned at the appropriate cutover points.

· Lead vendor and systems-integrator relationships, including delivery performance, architecture quality, commercial adherence, knowledge transfer, support readiness and long-term sustainability.

· Own annual CapEx and OpEx planning for the domain; manage delivery and run spend within approved budgets and communicate trade-offs, risks and benefits to senior leadership.

· Promote agile product delivery and DevSecOps practices that enable incremental business value, automated quality, predictable releases and rapid learning.

· Other duties as assigned.

Measures of Success:

· APS / RELEX is implemented and scaled across prioritized stores, distribution centers, suppliers and future network nodes, with stable operational adoption and measurable benefit realization.

· Pulse.ai recommendations are embedded into recurring assortment and inventory decisions, with transparent model performance and increasing user adoption.

· DFIO remains stable through transition and is retired on an agreed roadmap without disruption to replenishment operations.

· In-stock, inventory productivity, planner productivity and supplier performance improve while platform availability, data quality and delivery predictability meet agreed service levels.

· Teams demonstrate strong ownership, sustainable support practices, effective vendor management and disciplined financial performance.

Location

· GPC has two work locations to choose from, Duluth or Atlanta office.

· We offer a Flexible Work Policy that permits eligible employees to work a hybrid remote schedule.

Preferred Qualifications

· Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, supply chain, operations research, analytics, business or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience. An advanced degree is preferred.

· 12+ years of relevant technology, product, engineering or supply chain systems experience, including significant leadership responsibility across multiple teams or platforms.

· Demonstrated experience implementing and operating enterprise supply chain planning solutions such as RELEX, Manhattan Associates, Blue Yonder, SAP IBP, Kinaxis or comparable APS platforms in a large retail, wholesale or distribution environment.

· Deep knowledge of demand forecasting, inventory optimization, safety stock, service levels, replenishment, assortment planning, multi-echelon inventory optimization, allocation and supplier collaboration.

· Experience leading a major package implementation and migration from a legacy planning platform while sustaining business-critical operations.

· Experience with AI/ML-enabled decision products, model lifecycle management, feature and data pipelines, explainability, experimentation and production monitoring.

· Strong technical understanding of cloud platforms, modern data architectures, APIs, event-driven integration, DevSecOps, automated testing, observability and platform resiliency. Google Cloud Platform experience is beneficial.

· Proven ability to connect business outcomes to product roadmaps and measurable KPIs, and to communicate investment decisions, risks and progress to executive audiences.

· Mastery of leading in a fast-paced, fluid environment where priorities shift and delivery requires cross-functional alignment across technology and business organizations.

· Proven experience recruiting, managing, coaching and retaining managers, engineers, architects, data scientists and product professionals in a blended employee, contractor and partner model.

· Strong vendor, contract, financial and delivery management capabilities, including CapEx / OpEx planning, benefits tracking and total-cost-of-ownership management.

· Industry recognition, significant domain expertise or a record of thought leadership within supply chain planning, inventory management or retail technology is preferred.

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GPC conducts its business without regard to sex, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, national origin, citizenship status, age, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, military status, status as a veteran, or any other protected characteristic. GPC's policy is to recruit, hire, train, promote, assign, transfer and terminate employees based on their own ability, achievement, experience and conduct and other legitimate business reasons.

About Us

Since 1928, GPC has set the standards for performance and value for our customers and our stakeholders. Today, we’re proud to say we’re the largest global auto parts network and a leading industrial parts distributor, one that offers rewarding careers that combine small company feel with a global scale. Our strengths are in the relationships we build and the value we deliver by merging local expertise with a global force.