How to hire an inventory planner

How to hire an inventory planner, step by step

Here's a step-by-step inventory planner hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an inventory planner job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new inventory planner
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an inventory planner do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring an inventory planner, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An inventory planner's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, inventory planners from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of inventory planners.

   Type of Inventory Planner	Description	Hourly rate
   Inventory Planner	Material recording clerks track product information in order to keep businesses and supply chains on schedule. They ensure proper scheduling, recordkeeping, and inventory control.	$21-44
   Master Scheduler	A master scheduler is in charge of overseeing and developing a company's overall production schedule, ensuring quality and workforce adherence. Their responsibilities revolve around liaising with clients to determine their needs, developing daily schedules and objectives, disseminating scheduling notices, and conducting regular inspections to ensure the completion of projects in a timely and efficient manner... Show more	$28-48
   Material Coordinator	A material coordinator is in charge of processing requisitions and ensuring that all departments receive necessary goods and materials within a company. Aside from this, they must maintain positive engagements with vendors, suppliers, and business partners, negotiate contracts, manage schedules of deliveries, and prioritize cost-efficient goods... Show more	$14-25

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Supply Chain
   • Purchase Orders
   • Logistics
   • Manage Inventory
   • Inventory Planning
   • Historical Data
   • Demand Planning
   • Safety Stock
   • Gross Margin
   • Inventory Strategies
   • MRP
   • Inventory Targets
   • Inventory Control
   • Inventory Issues

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Develop process to manage import orders to manage time and inventory more effectively JDA E3 certify.
   • Participate in SIOP meeting and coordinate with all function teams and regional/global team to achieve corporate KPI.
   • Develop and implement purchasing and contract management, policies and procedures and manage ISO documents and improvements.
   • Review stock levels, imbalances and data integrity in JDA to ensure the supply plan is generating accurate information.
   • Handle complex monthly reconciliations and daily/weekly journal entries to ensure AR balance accuracy.
   • Facilitate communication channels between the sales groups and corporate logistics to drive improve demand forecast.

   More inventory planner duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your inventory planner job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An inventory planner salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, inventory planners' average salary in wyoming is 57% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level inventory planners earn 52% less than senior-level inventory planners.
   • Certifications. An inventory planner with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an inventory planner's salary.

   Average inventory planner salary

   $65,504yearly

   $31.49 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level inventory planner salary

   $45,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average inventory planner salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$96,069	$46
   2	Washington	$80,195	$39
   3	New Jersey	$78,407	$38
   4	New York	$67,788	$33
   5	Massachusetts	$67,499	$32
   6	Michigan	$66,727	$32
   7	Virginia	$64,506	$31
   8	Pennsylvania	$62,953	$30
   9	Ohio	$62,394	$30
   10	Arizona	$61,809	$30
   11	Texas	$58,144	$28
   12	Colorado	$55,612	$27
   13	Wisconsin	$55,533	$27
   14	Illinois	$54,764	$26
   15	Georgia	$54,509	$26
   16	Tennessee	$52,563	$25
   17	North Carolina	$51,434	$25
   18	Missouri	$50,940	$24
   19	Florida	$50,597	$24

   Average inventory planner salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Entegris	$96,522	$46.40	2
   2	Bed Bath & Beyond	$95,680	$46.00
   3	JCPenney	$93,497	$44.95	3
   4	RH	$87,852	$42.24	9
   5	Volvo Trucks	$87,362	$42.00
   6	Amazon	$85,895	$41.30	65
   7	Merchants Fleet	$84,587	$40.67
   8	Walmart	$82,586	$39.70	14
   9	Woodgrain	$81,240	$39.06	1
   10	Thermo Fisher Scientific	$80,796	$38.84	32
   11	Plug Power	$79,901	$38.41
   12	Pfizer	$79,250	$38.10	2
   13	PVH	$78,956	$37.96	6
   14	Goodman Manufacturing	$78,924	$37.94
   15	Halliburton	$78,337	$37.66	6
   16	Gap Inc.	$77,988	$37.49
   17	Boston Scientific	$77,695	$37.35	11
   18	PPG	$75,721	$36.40	4
   19	Carrier	$74,143	$35.65
   20	Schneider Electric Industrial Services	$71,980	$34.61	1

4. Writing an inventory planner job description

   A job description for an inventory planner role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's an inventory planner job description:

   Inventory planner job description example

   Lead the development and implementation of Allocation and Replenishment strategies for clearance merchandise, promotional buys and other discount merchandise in collaboration with the Manager of Planning and Forecasting and Merchandise Planners. These strategies will determine how to most effectively utilize our aged and discounted inventory to support the merchandise plan, advertising, regional, and competitive initiatives. This role will be responsible for ensure optimal inventory and assortment mix across the company's value-based retail channels, including building and maintaining by store capacity plans for new and existing stores of clearance platforms
   
   * Create merchandise allocation and replenishment buy strategies in partnership with Merchandise Planners, Regional Merchandise Directors and Manager of Planning and Forecasting. Leverage enhanced reporting to most effectively increase inventory productivity in all clearance selling platforms of business through analysis and collaboration with business partners. Allocate and administer replenishment transfer orders for product across all categories of business. Maintain proper inventory levels by store location to support sales, margin and turn goals.
   
   * Lead meetings with Regional Merchandise Directors and Merchandise Planners on item flow (i.e. store/department plans, backstock management, replenishment forecasts, OTB, and advertising schedule) and determine actions to correctively solve any issues. Partner with appropriate team members to execute the recommendations. Actively participate in clearance business review meetings, providing insight into what is working, what is not working, regional and seasonal opportunities for business, etc.
   
   * Collaborate with Director, Clearance Optimization to develop a high level inventory strategy. Utilize knowledge of inventory productivity to adapt the clearance servicing network with changes in business environment to provide optimal results for the company.
   
   * Create ad-hoc analysis to react to current and future business trends and present findings to Director of Clearance Optimization, Manager of Planning and Forecasting and Merchandise Planners. Collaborate with the stores and distribution centers on inventory strategies to support the business. Create financial inventory target and merchandise assortment plans for new store specific to value-based platforms.Monitor new store performance after opening, communicate with new store team and field support team to ensure optimal inventory levels are maintained.
   
   * Ensure new stores open with the correct assortment and appropriate inventory levels as determined by the new store plan. Manage and oversee category and vendor eligibility for all value-based selling platforms through business collaboration and MDM attribution. Research and respond to store merchandise needs and wants.
   
   * Participate in Regional and Store specific conference calls to identify store needs and opportunities. Develop action plan to resolve these needs and capitalize on opportunities. Build relationships with vendors in order to lead conversations regarding replenishment needs, current performance, opportunities for efficiencies, etc.
   Qualifications
   
   * Bachelor's Degree
   * 5 - 7 Years with 3+ years of business experience (Retail buying, planning or allocations preferred).
   * Advanced level Excel skills (Vlookups, pivot tables, advanced formula calculations)
   * JDA Allocations and/or E3 experience a plus
   * TEAM (store) communication skills a plus

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find inventory planners for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your inventory planner job on Zippia to find and recruit inventory planner candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with inventory planner candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new inventory planner

   Once you've selected the best inventory planner candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new inventory planner first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an inventory planner?