Supply Chain Lead

Company Description

Blend is a premier AI services provider, committed to co-creating meaningful impact for its clients through the power of data science, AI, technology, and people. With a mission to fuel bold visions, Blend tackles significant challenges by seamlessly aligning human expertise with artificial intelligence. The company is dedicated to unlocking value and fostering innovation for its clients by harnessing world-class people and data-driven strategy. We believe that the power of people and AI can have a meaningful impact on your world, creating more fulfilling work and projects for our people and clients. For more information, visit www.blend360.com.

Job Description

We are seeking a seasoned supply chain strategist to join our team and lead end-to-end discovery engagements for global apparel and footwear brands building next-generation supply chain control towers. The Discovery Lead owns the 6–10 week assessment that produces a current-state diagnostic, target-state vision, sequenced 2–3 year transformation roadmap, and capital investment case. This role is the client’s primary interlocutor from kickoff through roadmap sign-off and must be equally credible with a Chief Supply Chain Officer and a warehouse operations manager.

Qualifications

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Discovery Engagements: Own the end-to-end discovery lifecycle – stakeholder interviews, process walkthroughs, data audits, current-state assessment, and gap analysis across plan, source, make, deliver, and return.
• Build the Control Tower Vision: Define what a supply chain control tower looks like at each maturity horizon – from visibility and exception detection through constraint-aware recommendations to agentic automation of routine decisions.
• Develop Sequenced Roadmaps: Translate findings into a phased 2–3 year implementation roadmap that balances foundational data work, quick wins, and advanced capability build-out. Clearly articulate the sequencing logic (dependency-driven, ROI-driven, or hybrid).
• Quantify the Business Case: Build defensible TCO, ROI, and value-attribution models. Partner with client finance teams to stress-test assumptions and produce board-ready investment cases.
• Assess Data Foundations: Evaluate master data maturity, data lineage, governance, and integration readiness. Identify binding constraints early and design parallel workstreams where data remediation and solution build can co-exist.
• Engage Senior Stakeholders: Serve as the trusted advisor to C-suite and VP-level supply chain leaders. Facilitate executive workshops, present findings, and navigate organizational politics with credibility.
• Coordinate Delivery Teams: Direct a cross-functional team of functional analysts, data engineers, and solution architects during discovery. Define workstream charters, manage timelines, and ensure deliverable quality.
• Evaluate Technology Fit: Assess integration requirements against existing ERP, planning, and WMS platforms (SAP, Oracle, Blue Yonder, Kinaxis, o9, etc.). Recommend build-vs-buy-vs-integrate strategies without defaulting to rip-and-replace.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 12+ years in supply chain consulting, transformation, or operations leadership, with at least 5 years in a client-facing advisory or delivery lead role.
• Industry: Demonstrated experience in apparel, footwear, or fashion retail supply chains – including familiarity with seasonal demand patterns, color/size/style matrices, 12–18 month sourcing lead times from Asian factories, and omnichannel fulfillment.
• Planning Expertise: Deep working knowledge of demand planning, supply planning, S&OP/IBP processes, inventory optimization, and allocation. Ability to assess maturity and design target-state processes.
• Control Tower / Decision Automation: Prior involvement in designing, implementing, or operating a supply chain control tower, nerve center, or exception-management platform.
• Data & Integration: Practical understanding of master data management, data governance, and system integration patterns (APIs, middleware, data lakes). Able to evaluate data readiness without conducting a months-long audit.
• Financial Acumen: Experience building business cases, TCO models, and value-attribution frameworks for multi-year supply chain programs.
• Communication: Executive-level presentation and facilitation skills. Comfortable presenting to C-suite audiences and translating technical concepts into business language.