Manager, Inventory Optimization & Planning

Build Your Career with Ashley Join The #1 Furniture Brand Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. is the largest furniture manufacturer in the world. Established in 1945, Ashley offers one of the industry's broadest product assortments to retail partners in 123 countries. Ready to grow? You've come to the right place. Ashley Furniture has a "Growth Mindset", and once you join our team, you'll learn from the best in the business. Apply today and find your home at Ashley! Manager, Inventory Optimization & Planning Location: Onsite – Tampa, FL What Will You Do? Ashley is hiring a Manager, Inventory Optimization & Planning to own how inventory targets are set, placed, and continuously calibrated across our distribution network, inbound pipeline, and retail footprint. This role runs the recurring workstreams that put those targets into motion—target-setting logic, set-level balancing, end-of-life disposition, and inter-facility transfer processes—and works hands-on with the systems and AI agents that translate targets into ranked, executable recommendations for field teams. The traditional version of this role focuses on tuning settings within a planning system. That is the floor, not the ceiling. Ashley is rebuilding its tooling, operating model, and the way humans and AI share the work—moving from periodic manual recalibration to an agent-supported, recommend-and-execute model where targets self-tune against demand, supply, and service signals. This manager will be a hands-on owner of that system as it is built. Primary Responsibilities Own the Methodology Define the day-to-day decision logic behind inventory target setting, segmentation, service-level policy, and stock placement across the network—including set-level ratios and how a balanced position is defined Shape how targets are set, not just what they are Build the Agent-Supported Operating Model Move the organization from periodic, manual recalibration to a near-continuous process supported by AI agents and a ranked recommendation queue, starting with repeatable monthly cycles for transfers and rebalancing Stand up and tune AI agents that support the work: write the rules, validate outputs, and determine when an agent recommends versus when a human owns the decision Co-Design the Next Generation of Tools Partner directly with teams building recommendation engines and rebalancing tools; contribute to the logic, validate outputs, and ensure recommendations reflect what should be acted on Support the evaluation and evolution of the planning stack; serve as a key voice in tooling decisions and help carry the path forward Co-design next-gen recommendation tools alongside systems and intelligence partners—bringing the inventory and policy perspective while partnering with engineering teams to build durable solutions Validate and Scale Run rigorous validation cadences against new models, agents, and methods—including data tests with operating teams before scaling Defend, revise, or discontinue approaches based on evidence Connect Forecast to Execution Own the forecast-to-target handshake, ensuring forecasting signals route into the right inventory policy decisions and that the feedback loop runs both ways Tell the Story to Leadership Communicate the policy story: why targets are set the way they are, what is drifting, what it is costing, and what actions are being taken Develop the Team Develop analysts into agent operators and tool builders, not report builders Document the playbook so it can survive platform changes and team turnover Own Network-Level Supply Chain Performance Maintain accountability for inventory health KPIs across site, regional, or network levels, including inventory turns, service levels, excess/obsolete inventory, and stock positioning effectiveness Who You Are You thrive in the mess. Half-defined processes with conflicting data and legacy tools? That's your happy place. You make problems cleaner, not wait for them to become cleaner. You're AI-native, not AI-curi…

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