Inventory Intelligence & Planning Platform Leader

Mission Brief: Lead the Transformation of Lenskart's Inventory

This is a high-impact leadership role focused on building and operationalizing a world-class, proprietary Inventory Planning Platform. You will be the architect responsible for transforming how Lenskart manages over $1 billion in inventory, moving us from static planning methods to a real-time, AI-driven decision engine.

Your mission is to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and exponential retail growth. You will be defining and delivering the system that ensures we have the right product, in the right place, at the right time, maximizing profitability and customer satisfaction globally.

🔑 Core Mandate: Platform Development & Business Transformation

1. Internal Planning Platform Creation (The Builder's Focus)

Platform Visionary: Own the strategic vision, architecture, and deployment of Lenskart's proprietary AI/ML-based planning platform (the Inventory Decision Engine). This includes key modules for predictive demand sensing, optimal allocation, dynamic safety stock calculations, and system-driven buying signals.

Technical Partnership: Act as the primary business lead, translating complex inventory and retail requirements into actionable technical specifications for Data Science and Engineering teams.

Systems Design Ownership: Lead the design and configuration of all core replenishment algorithms and logic, ensuring they maximize inventory turnover and fill rates while intelligently navigating complex fashion cycles and global supply chain volatility.

2. Strategic Inventory & Growth (The Business Focus)

P&L Impact: Directly influence working capital performance by minimizing inventory obsolescence and maximizing product availability across our extensive network of stores and e-commerce channels.

Forecasting Excellence: Implement and manage advanced models to continuously improve forecast accuracy (MAPE/WAPE) across millions of SKUs, driving significant improvements in financial planning and operational execution.

Strategic Buying: Define the logic and processes for transitioning tactical purchasing to strategic oversight, ensuring system-generated buying signals and Open-to-Buy (OTB) strategies are dynamically linked to real-time sales and financial goals.

3. Cross-Functional Leadership & Adoption

Change Agent: Lead the cultural and technical adoption of the new platform across the organization (Merchandising, Finance, Retail Operations). Challenge the status quo and enforce a data-driven decision-making culture.

New Product Integration: Design the system capabilities to seamlessly integrate new product introductions (NPIs) and manage product lifecycle events, ensuring rapid scaling and minimal end-of-life write-offs.

The Essentials

Experience: 7+ years of progressive leadership experience in Inventory Planning, Supply Chain Systems, or Merchandise Planning, with a strong track record of defining, building, or significantly revamping a core planning platform (internal or external).

Technical Acumen: Proven experience as a business lead for enterprise planning solutions, with a deep, practical understanding of time-series forecasting, statistical modeling, and machine learning applications in demand planning.

Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Research, Engineering, or a highly quantitative field.

The Mindset

Systems & Product Thinking: You possess the intellectual curiosity and technical capability to define the architecture of a global retail planning system. You see planning as a product that requires continuous development and optimization.

Analytical Rigor & Speed: You thrive on data complexity, transforming ambiguity into clear, scalable, and profitable solutions at the pace of a high-growth tech company.

Transformational Leadership: You are a compelling communicator capable of driving strategic change, securing organizational alignment, and mentoring a team of high-performing planners and analysts.