Inventory Planning Manager (IC)

CVS Health • Island, KY

1d

About The Position

We’re building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time. Team Summary: The Pharmacy Returns & Redeploy team is a pharmacy inventory management team within CVS Supply Chain with a primary focus on our 9,000 retail pharmacy locations. The team delivers value through a series of reverse logistics and supply chain programs and plays a critical role in future innovative solutions to ensure inventory optimization. The team oversees existing programs, future development, and manages financial lines related to Pharmacy Retail Returns, Waste, and Uninsured Loss. The team partners and supports various cross functional partners including Pharmacy Inventory Management, Operations, Merchandising, Long-Term Care, PBM, Specialty, Mail Order, Caremark, IT, Finance, Patient Safety, Health Safety & Environmental, Compliance, Facilities, 3rd-party Returns and Waste partners, and more. The Pharmacy Returns team consists of three key pillars which drive financial value, innovation, implementation, and process improvements. The pillars are: Portfolio Discovery/Development – Pipeline investigation and innovation, value sizing and diagnostic, cost/benefit analysis and solution design and go-forward assessments. Project Delivery – Go to market strategy, project planning and roadmap, system business requirements and testing, pilot design, program testing and management, expansion and scalability strategy and delivery. Program Management – Program steady-state management, new program integration, standard operating procedure (SOP), reporting and monitoring, field engagement and continuous improvement. Position Summary The Manager, Rx Returns & Redeploy (Delivery) plays a key role in creating and testing continuous improvement solutions that drive P&L margin savings and/or operational excellence. This hybrid role blends advanced analytics with program management, operational support, and cross‑functional collaboration. The ideal candidate brings 3–5 years of analytical or operational experience, a strong problem‑solving mindset, and a desire to influence enterprise‑level outcomes through data‑driven decision-making. As a Manager, you will focus on partnering with your team and others to perform root cause analysis leveraging data, business insights, and cross functional learnings. Your work will directly support enterprise initiatives by identifying actionable insights that improve program performance and inventory optimization across CVS’s ~9,000 retail pharmacy locations. You will leverage a suite of analytics tools like Excel, Tableau, Power BI, ThoughtSpot, and others to extract, manipulate, and visualize data. You will absorb findings which can drive tactical and strategic decisions, support pilot and delivery initiatives, and be shared with stakeholders to drive continuous improvement across pharmacy inventory programs. This position is designed for mid-level professionals who are ready to expand beyond individual contribution into foundational leadership, blending hands-on analytics with program ownership and cross-functional influence. In this position, you will operate with increasing autonomy, guiding initiatives, mentoring peers, and shaping strategic decisions that impact CVS Health’s pharmacy inventory operations at scale.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in continuous improvement, supply chain, analytics, program management, retail, or healthcare roles
• Bachelor’s degree: Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Management Information Systems (MIS), Operations, Data Science, Engineering, or a related years of experience
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, formulas, data visualization, reporting templates, dashboards)
• Proficiency in SQL knowledge for data querying and manipulation
• Experience with BI tools such as ThoughtSpot, Tableau, or Power BI
• Experience with Snowflake or other cloud-based data platforms
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal with the ability to flex based on the audience
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and work independently in a fast-paced environment
• Collaborative mindset with cross-functional teams with the skillset to influence, delegate, and hold partners accountable to reach goals

Nice To Haves

• Previous experience in pharmacy operations and supply chain processes
• Experience with pharmacy inventory strategies
• Experience in continuous improvement, supply chain, healthcare, or retail analytics
• Working experience in connecting operational knowledge to data insights
• Experience in learning new business intelligence tools and transition between analytics platforms as needed to support evolving business requirements
• Data manipulation and querying in SQL including writing complex queries, joins, subqueries, etc.
• Building interactive dashboards using calculated fields, parameters, and advanced visualizations for tailored visual storytelling
• Supply chain experience in cloud-based data warehouses and understanding data architecture
• Data governance and quality to ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness
• Proficiency in data cleaning and transformation to resolve data quality issues, normalize datasets, and prepare data for analysis or integration
• Experience applying descriptive statistics to summarize and interpret data distributions and variability

Responsibilities

• Analyze large financial and operational datasets to identify trends, risks, and opportunities across pharmacy reverse logistics programs (Waste, Returns, Uninsured Loss).
• Utilize tools such as Snowflake, SQL, ThoughtSpot, and Excel to extract, manipulate, and visualize data for reporting and decision-making.
• Create dashboards, scorecards, and ad hoc reports to monitor program performance and compliance.
• Conduct root-cause analysis to support business questions and uncover operational inefficiencies.
• Identify, create, & lead pilot and delivery initiatives by providing data-driven insights and measuring impact to brand new opportunities.
• Translate analytical findings into actionable insights that inform enterprise initiatives and operational execution.
• Use data analysis to influence the broader inventory management team to aid in new inventory optimization strategies related to enterprise-level requests, working capital optimization, inventory levels, brand and generics, price changes, cold chain and fridge asset utilization, and more.
• Lead cross-functional teams to execute business strategies that drive performance in areas such as inventory management, pharmacy operations, and supply chain optimization.
• Develop and implement process improvements that enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and support enterprise-wide goals.
• Identify process gaps and collaborate on solutions—manual or automated—that improve performance and efficiency.
• Support and lead pilot initiatives to test, validate, and scale value-add inventory programs.
• Maintain and update standard operating procedures for reverse logistics workflows.
• Build and manage Excel-based templates and reporting tools to support program execution.
• Lead, contribute, & delegate in operational workflows and problem-solving efforts that align with analytics findings.
• Communicate regularly with team members and partners to support program execution and outreach across the enterprise.
• Manage personal relationships with peers in different departments including Rx Operations, Patient Safety, Finance, 3rd-party vendors, etc.
• Demonstrate initiative and curiosity by proactively reaching out with questions and insights, seeking to understand operational workflows and program nuances.
• Use this knowledge to strengthen data analysis and connect findings to real-world processes and outcomes.
• Influence cross-functional partners by communicating insights, recommendations, and program impacts clearly.

Benefits

• Affordable medical plan options, a 401(k) plan (including matching company contributions), and an employee stock purchase plan.
• No-cost programs for all colleagues including wellness screenings, tobacco cessation and weight management programs, confidential counseling and financial coaching.
• Benefit solutions that address the different needs and preferences of our colleagues including paid time off, flexible work schedules, family leave, dependent care resources, colleague assistance programs, tuition assistance, retiree medical access and many other benefits depending on eligibility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees