Inventory Controller
Company Overview
Arboreal is an award-winning ingredients technology company specializing in the development of innovative and functional food and nutraceutical ingredients. The company’s mission is to enable pioneering brands with differentiated ingredient solutions that improve taste, texture, nutrition, and functionality. Arboreal collaborates closely with leading and emerging food, nutraceutical, and Better-for-You brands to develop, launch, and scale category-defining products. Its ingredient platforms include alternative proteins, sugar reduction and sweetening solutions, cacao-based ingredients, collagen, functional nutrition, and specialty food ingredients. The company has received recognition such as the National Startup Award – Food Processing (2021), BIRAC Grant from the Department of Biotechnology, Cartier Women’s Initiative Award – APAC, and Women Transforming India Award by NITI Aayog.
Job Summary
The Inventory Controller will be responsible for maintaining accurate, traceable, and controlled inventory across all operations, including raw materials, packaging, work-in-progress, finished goods, and other stock categories. This role is critical in ensuring inventory accuracy, supporting audit readiness, and enabling reliable stock visibility to facilitate efficient supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and financial processes. The ideal candidate will demonstrate high discipline, attention to detail, and the ability to independently investigate and resolve inventory discrepancies.
Responsibilities
- Own inventory accuracy and control across all stock locations, ensuring physical stock matches ERP/system records at all times.
- Maintain batch-wise, lot-wise, and expiry-wise inventory records, ensuring complete traceability from receipt to dispatch.
- Develop and execute cycle count programs and conduct periodic physical stock audits, reconciling discrepancies and implementing corrective actions.
- Verify and control Goods Receipt Notes (GRNs) and inward materials, ensuring accurate recording of SKU, quantity, batch, expiry, supplier, and purchase order details.
- Ensure accurate recording of all material movements, including warehouse-to-production issues, stock transfers, returns, rejections, and rework.
- Enforce FIFO/FEFO policies to prioritize older and near-expiry batches, monitoring storage locations for compliance.
- Maintain visibility into ageing, expiry, and slow-moving inventory, working with relevant teams on liquidation or consumption plans.
- Uphold ERP and inventory master discipline, ensuring data accuracy and reducing manual spreadsheet dependency.
- Collaborate with warehouse teams to ensure disciplined warehouse processes around receiving, storage, picking, packing, dispatch, and returns.
- Perform regular reconciliation between ERP stock, physical stock, warehouse records, and production consumption.
- Monitor manufacturing inventory control, including material issues, yield variances, WIP, and scrap.
- Develop and circulate inventory MIS dashboards covering accuracy, variances, ageing, and stock status.
- Support working capital discipline by controlling over-ordering, excess stock, and slow inventory liquidation.
- Work closely with Quality teams to ensure proper controls around quarantine, release, rejection, sampling, and batch traceability.
- Continuously identify process weaknesses and develop stronger systems and SOPs to reduce manual errors, stock leakage, and traceability gaps.
- Lead audit readiness and support statutory, internal, and customer inventory audits.
Qualifications
- 3–7 years of experience in inventory control, warehouse management, supply chain, or related roles.
- Prior experience in food ingredients, nutraceuticals, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, or chemicals industries preferred.
- Strong understanding of inventory accounting, batch management, FIFO/FEFO, stock reconciliation, cycle counting, GRN, material movement, and inventory ageing.
- Hands-on experience with ERP/inventory management systems.
- Proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets.
- Exceptional attention to detail and comfort working with numbers.
- Ability to investigate stock discrepancies and identify root causes independently.
- Strong understanding of warehouse processes.
- High ownership, discipline, and follow-through.
- Strong integrity and willingness to challenge incorrect processes or undocumented stock movements.
- Effective cross-functional collaboration skills with Warehouse, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance teams.
- Educational qualification: Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering, or related discipline.
Preferred Skills
- Experience with batch-controlled, expiry-sensitive, or regulated inventory.
- Knowledge of FSSC 22000, HACCP, GMP and other quality systems.
- Experience in developing inventory control systems and SOPs.
- Familiarity with automated inventory reconciliation and reporting tools.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Experience
- Minimum of 3 years in inventory management or related roles.
- Experience working in regulated or expiry-sensitive inventory environments is a plus.
Environment
- Location: On-site in Lucknow.
- Work setting: Primarily in a manufacturing and warehouse environment.
- Conditions: Requires physical presence for stock audits, physical stock checks, and collaboration with warehouse and manufacturing teams.
Salary
GrowthOpportunities
- Opportunities to build and strengthen inventory-control systems as the company scales.
- Potential to advance into broader roles in Supply Chain Planning, Warehouse Operations, or Materials Management.
- Exposure to cross-functional operations and strategic decision-making.
Benefits
