How To Become An Inventory Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is an inventory manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

An inventory manager is a person responsible for overseeing and coordinating the storage, tracking, and ordering of a company's products or materials. They work to ensure that inventory levels are optimized to meet customer demand while minimizing costs and waste. Inventory managers use various tools and software to monitor inventory levels, forecast future needs, and identify trends.Their ultimate goal is to maintain the right balance of inventory to maximize profits and customer satisfaction.

ScoreInventory ManagerUS Average

Salary

4.9

Avg. Salary $62,768

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.9

Growth Rate -6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.66%

Asian 8.46%

Black or African American 7.78%

Hispanic or Latino 13.06%

Unknown 4.71%

White 65.33%

Gender

female 30.62%

male 69.38%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress Level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.6

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being an Inventory Manager?

Pros

Job security
Opportunities for advancement
Exposure to different areas of the business
Opportunity to work with technology and automation
High earning potential with experience

Cons

Stressful and high-pressure environment
Requires strong attention to detail and accuracy
Long hours and irregular schedules may be necessary
Repetitive and monotonous at times
Continual need for process improvement can be overwhelming

Key steps to become an inventory manager

Explore inventory manager education requirements

Most common inventory manager degrees

Bachelor's

54.1 %

Associate

19.0 %

High School Diploma

15.3 %

Start to develop specific inventory manager skills

Skills	Percentages
PET	75.11%
Direct Reports	4.49%
Customer Service	3.92%
Inventory Control	1.87%
Logistics	1.72%

Complete relevant inventory manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New inventory managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an inventory manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real inventory manager resumes.

Research inventory manager duties and responsibilities

Accomplish and operate MRP and produce purchasing orders to optimize inventories of materials and supplies necessary to achieve production demands.
Manage a wide variety of customer service and administrative software such as TallyWizard and QuickBooks.
Manage control measures to ensure mistakes, inaccuracies and discrepancies are highlight, addressed and resolve.
Manage credit control, monthly reconciliations, management analysis and internal control.

Prepare your inventory manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your inventory manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an inventory manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Inventory Manager Resume templates

Build a professional Inventory Manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Inventory Manager resume.

Apply for inventory manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an inventory manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do inventory managers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Inventory Manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

Well when looking in the figures you will understand immediately how the organization doing, then when you send the info and your are correct and they don't listen then they realize that you where right, you look at there faces you will feel like you own the world.

Cons

we put a lot of hours, we earn our salaries from our eyes so salary is not up to what we do. but i do it because i love this job.