Retail Product Operations Specialist

Kathe Wohlfahrt of America•White Bear Lake, MN

21h•$57,000 - $75,000•Onsite

About The Position

Kathe Wohlfahrt is seeking an analytical, detail-oriented Operations Specialist to help optimize inventory management, product planning, logistics and operational reporting across their growing business. This is a newly created position designed to bring together key analytical and operational responsibilities. The Product Operations Specialist will initially focus heavily on inventory operations, sales analysis, reporting tool development, and process coordination, with the opportunity to take on increasing responsibility for product performance, merchandising, sourcing, assortment planning, and product development. The ideal candidate enjoys solving problems, identifying trends, improving processes, and using data to drive smarter business decisions. You'll work closely with leadership and cross-functional teams to improve inventory accuracy, purchasing decisions, and operational efficiency. This role combines business analysis with hands-on operational execution. It is a retail consumer product role, not a software product management position.

Requirements

2+ years of relevant experience in data management, inventory planning, operations analysis or business analytics.
Advanced Excel skills: VLOOKUP, pivot tables, formulas, validation, data cleansing, Power Query, Power Pivot, macros
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate data into recommendations.
Experience with inventory management, ERP or POS Systems
Excellent organizational and project management skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in an often fast-paced seasonal business
Strong communication and cross-department coordination skills.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States.
This position is not eligible for current or future employment-visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading projects or supervising employees
Strong technical aptitude and ability to learn new systems
Ability to travel internationally on an occasional basis

Responsibilities

Co-owner of RunIt inventory management and POS system, which will involve managing, implementing and recommending strategies to optimize business operations as we grow.
Support inventory transfers, annual physical inventory, pricing updates, reports to Germany and inventory accuracy initiatives.
Independently design and build Excel-based tools, reports, and dashboards to analyze sales, inventory, product movement, and operational performance.
Develop and document scalable standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Support data cleansing and ongoing maintenance of customer and operational databases.
Analyze historical sales, inventory performance and consumer trends to recommend product assortment and annual order quantities.
Forecast product demand and recommend order quantities to support seasonal sales while minimizing excess on-hand inventory.
Maintain annual product ordering calendar and product database.
Coordinate with a few assigned U.S. vendors for annual order.
Partner with the retail team to optimize product assortment and merchandising decisions.
Coordinate inbound domestic and international shipments.
Work with freight forwarders, custom brokers and carriers to ensure timely delivery and shipments.
Monitor freight costs, tariff implications and HTS classifications.
Continuously improve workflows across purchasing, receiving, warehouse and inventory management – from warehouse space planning to store planograms.
Support product setup and data uploads into Big Commerce platform.
Identify trends and provide recommendations to improve profitability and operational performance.
Build and maintain Excel dashboards and other KPI reporting.
Provide variance analysis between budgeted and actual inventory/purchasing – and provide recommendations.