Country Store Manager

About the role:

• The role holder will be in charge of overseeing inventory management, retail operations, and reverse logistics across Sun King's nationwide network. The role ensures inventory accuracy, operational efficiency, and system compliance across 160+ retail locations, while steering a large team and managing inventory movements exceeding $1.5 million monthly. By driving process improvements, performance management, and cross-functional team work, the Country Store Manager plays a critical role in assisting sales growth, customer fulfillment, and overall operational excellence.

What you would be expected to do:

Shop & Field Operations

• Oversee operational delivery for retail shops and field inventory processes across the country within defined SLAs.
• Ensure healthy inventory availability and replenishment across the field network, targeting >90% stock availability with <3% stock-out rate.
• Drive adherence to operational SOPs, controls, and inventory governance standards across the network.

Field Inventory Governance

• Oversee field inventory accuracy (target >98%), reconciliation processes, and inventory visibility across operational systems (ERP & CRM).
• Ensure compliance with FIFO inventory management concepts across all field locations and minimize aging inventory (<5% of total units/value >360 days)
• Coordinate regular inventory validations, audits, reconciliations, and corrective action tracking.

Reverse Logistics & Operational Controls

• Coordinate reverse logistics processes for serialized and unserialized inventory across the field network.
• Ensure timely receipt confirmation and visibility of inventory returns into warehouse systems (target < 7-day turnaround with >99% accuracy).
• Drive improvements in reverse logistics turnaround time, cost optimization, visibility, and process compliance.

ERP / CRM Systems Governance

• Drive operational governance and stabilization of ERP (SAP), In-house CRM, and related operational systems for field operations.
• Work closely with Data evaluation teams, Sales & Marketing, Risk, Training and Operations teams to identify and resolve process gaps affecting field operations.
• Steer User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for system changes and ensure data integrity.

Strategic Planning & Continuous Improvement 

• Steer annual field operations strategy development and execution, targeting efficiency gains.
• Drive process optimization, digital transformation, and operational innovation initiatives.
• Identify operational risks and implement controls to protect inventory integrity and compliance.

Operational/Performance Evaluation & Reporting

• Develop and maintain operational dashboards and reports for field inventory, replenishment, service levels, and operational performance tracking.
• Generate regular operational performance reports for management review with insights and recommended actions..
• Use data evaluation to identify improvement opportunities and drive continuous improvement

Team Management & Capability Development

• Guide a team of >25 reports across inventory control, operations coordination, and administrative assistance
• Drive structured performance management, coaching, capability development, and succession planning
• Foster accountability, ownership, and high-engagement culture across field operational structures.

Any other duties as may be assigned.

You would be a strong candidate if you:

• Hold a bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Procurement & Logistics, Business Administration, Operations Management, or related field. A master's degree is an added advantage.
• Have a minimum of 8 years’ experience in operations, retail operations, field inventory management, or supply chain management at a senior level.
•  Demonstrate strong comprehension of inventory governance, replenishment processes, reverse logistics, and operational controls.
• Have hands-on experience working with a combination of robust ERPs, CRMs, and operational reporting systems.
• Demonstrate advanced evaluation and problem-solving skills.
• Have strong people management and stakeholder management capability.
• Are able to work remotely under minimal supervision