Inventory Management Analyst, June 2025 Executive Development Program

Serving the needs of all families with young children, Carter’s Inc. is the largest North American apparel retailer exclusively for babies and young children, encompassing Carter’s, OshKosh B’gosh, Skip*Hop and Little Planet brands. Meaningful work, constant learning, genuine people, and a community guided by core values that promote inclusion and innovation is in everything we do. There are many reasons to build your career at Carter's.

HOW YOU'LL MAKE AN IMPACT:

This role is responsible for optimizing the distribution of inventory to each store to maximize sales and profitability. The allocation analyst must be highly organized, attentive to detail, self-directed, and possess strong analytical skills as well as an innate sense of curiosity. 

This role typical reports into the Sr Analyst / Manager, Inventory Management and is based in our Buckhead office in our hybrid work environment.

25%: Execute the inventory allocations for each item, multiple times/week

35%: Use analytics and critical thinking to shape the inventory strategy, being flexible to course correct and make data-driven decisions

• Analyze store inventory at the style/size level, identify over and under performers and provide suggestions to improve
• Ensure inventory is balanced across stores, considering sales volume, store type, and capacity of each store (weekly)
• Ad hoc analysis to Planners and Merchants identifying opportunities and risks(e.g. lost sales); markdown recommendations; and future buy recommendations (e.g. buy quantities, assortment)

20%: Create, build, and maintain partnerships with all levels of the organization

• In partnership with the Planner, determine how much inventory of each item to allocate to stores (weekly) based on assortment/planning strategies
• Manage weekly/monthly replenishment forecasts to the DC/Store Ops teams to help with workflow planning
• Partner with OML team to execute Order Management activities
• Act as liaison to the field through proactive communication and addressing concerns

10%: Responsible for creating, managing and analyzing inventory purchase orders for both ecommerce and brick & mortar stores

• Validate, write and troubleshoot POs for seasonal buys
• Recommend inventory sharing opportunities across channels during product lifecycle
• Report out on inbound receipts to cross-functional partners
• 10%: Summarize and communicate findings, insights and reporting to leadership   

We’d Love to hear from you if:

Must have:

• Detail-oriented
  • Ability to finish tasks on time with accuracy and consistency, easily recognize mistakes, and produce high quality work
• Analytical / genuine curiosity
  • Ability to analyze data, and communicate key findings effectively to business partners and leadership
  • Can review multiple metrics and identify outliers when analyzing business opportunities
  • Creates strategies or solutions based off multiple data points
• Strong communication
  • Able to share inventory concerns with business partners (e.g. Planners, Merchants)
  • Communicates ideas or strategy clear and concisely
  • Can identify what and when information should be communicated to the leadership team and does so in a succinct matter
• Knowledge of allocation/inventory principles, retail fundamentals, ad hoc reporting/analysis
• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (3.2 GPA or higher strongly preferred)
• Required to have graduated within 6 months of class start date
• Must be able to start in the role full time by June 2025

Preferred skills and experience:

• The ability to prioritize effectively while balancing feedback from multiple stakeholders
• Intermediate Microsoft Excel skills (Pivot tables, Vlookups, etc)
• Proficient in developing strong relationships with all levels of the business
• Ability to synthesize and communicate results clearly and effectively
• Energetic self-starter
• Highly organized with a strong attention to detail
• Adept in diagnosing, isolating, and resolving complex issues
• Retail store experience and/or knowledge of distribution and replenishment systems a plus

OUR Team Members:

• Lead Courageously: Have a strong sense of personal values that align with our Company values
• Collaborates Broadly: Build cooperation, trust, and thrive in a consensus driven environment
• Customer Focus: Proactively seek opportunities to leverage data and fact-based in