Specialist, Inventory Strategy Performance

Socket.dev; Dorval; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Air Canada is seeking a Senior Inventory Strategy professional to lead performance across service levels, inventory investment, and operational efficiency. You will own KPI governance, drive MOS reviews, and coordinate cross-functional teams to translate planning performance into actionable improvements.

The role emphasizes collaboration with Maintenance, Supply Chain, Engineering, Procurement, Finance, and IT to ensure readiness and material availability while managing cost-to-serve

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading KPI governance, MOS reviews, and cross-functional improvement initiatives.
• Strong ability to challenge assumptions and translate analysis into actionable steps with measurable impact.
• Excellent executive communication skills for leadership audiences.

Responsibilities

• Own the Inventory Strategy performance framework across service level, inventory investment, and operational efficiency.
• Define and govern Inventory Strategy KPIs, ownership, escalation triggers, and review cadence.
• Lead MOS performance reviews with clear decisions, owners, due dates, and follow-through.
• Monitor KPI trends, identify risks, and initiate corrective actions when performance falters.
• Translate stakeholder requirements and planning performance gaps into structured initiatives and actionable improvement plans.

Skills

KPI governance

MOS reviews

Root-cause analysis

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Data interpretation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Engineering, Business Administration, Aviation Management

Tools

Servigistics

TRAX

Power BI

ERP/MRP systems

Job description

Being part of Air Canada is to become part of an iconic Canadian symbol, recently ranked the best Airline in North America. Let your career take flight by joining our diverse and vibrant team at the leading edge of passenger aviation.

The Specialist, Inventory Strategy Performance & Governance is a strategic leadership role accountable for ensuring Inventory Strategy decisions deliver measurable business outcomes across service level, inventory investment, and operational efficiency.

Working in close collaboration with the Partner, Inventory Planning System Governance, this role provides ownership of business performance, governance discipline, KPI accountability, and continuous improvement execution. Together, the two roles ensure inventory decisions are supported by effective planning systems, data, processes, and performance management practices.

This position creates clear ownership for Inventory Strategy results, ensuring KPIs are not only monitored but actively challenged, escalated, and improved through structured MOS governance, root-cause discipline, and cross-functional action.

The incumbent strengthens TechOps Supply Chain decision-making by translating inventory planning performance, operational risks, stakeholder requirements, and financial constraints into prioritised actions that improve material availability, control inventory growth, and increase the effectiveness of inventory strategy decisions.

Responsibilities

• Own the Inventory Strategy performance framework and ensure service level, inventory investment, and operational efficiency outcomes are actively managed and improved.
• Define, maintain, and govern Inventory Strategy KPIs, including performance targets, ownership, escalation triggers, and review cadence.
• Lead recurring MOS performance reviews and ensure discussions result in clear decisions, accountable owners, due dates, and measurable follow-through.
• Monitor KPI trends, identify emerging risks, and initiate corrective actions when performance falls below target or become unstable.
• Own and prioritise the Inventory Strategy improvement pipeline based on KPI performance, operational outcomes, and strategic objectives.
• Translate stakeholder requirements, operational constraints, and planning performance gaps into structured initiatives and actionable improvement plans.
• Lead business performance root-cause reviews related to service-level performance, inventory growth, operational efficiency, and KPI outcomes.
• Challenge planning, recommendations, and proposed decisions when operational, financial, service-level, or inventory risks are not adequately addressed.
• Establish escalation discipline for unresolved performance risks, significant inventory strategy decisions, and cross-functional issues requiring leadership alignment.
• Act as a central coordination point between Maintenance, Supply Chain, Engineering, Procurement, Finance, Operations, and the systems governance function.
• Ensure inventory strategy decisions consider operational readiness, material availability, budget compliance, inventory growth, and cost-to-serve implications.
• Track execution of improvement actions, recovery plans, and initiative benefits to ensure performance issues are resolved and improvements are sustained.
• Develop governance standards, performance-management routines, action-tracking practices, and decision-support expectations for Inventory Strategy & Systems.
• Promote continuous improvement, standard work, decision discipline, and accountability across Inventory Strategy processes and stakeholder forums.
• Communicate performance risks, business impacts, recovery actions, and recommendations to leadership through clear, concise, and governance-ready reporting.

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Engineering, Business Administration, Aviation Management, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in supply chain, inventory management, maintenance planning, operational performance, continuous improvement, or related disciplines.
• Strong understanding of inventory strategy, forecasting, supply planning, service-level management, inventory investment, Capex/Opex trade-offs, and operational performance management.
• Demonstrated experience leading KPI governance, MOS reviews, performance recovery actions, root-cause analysis, and cross-functional improvement initiatives.
• Proven ability to challenge assumptions, structure ambiguous problems, identify performance risks, and convert analysis into practical actions with measurable business impact.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to align Maintenance, Supply Chain, Engineering, Procurement, Finance, Operations, and technology partners without direct authority.
• Excellent executive communication skills, including the ability to present performance issues, risks, trade-offs, and recommendations clearly to leadership audiences.
• Strong technical aptitude with planning, reporting, and analytical tools; experience with Servigistics, TRAX, Power BI, ERP/MRP systems, or equivalent supply chain planning platforms is considered an asset.

Conditions of Employment

Candidates must be eligible to work in the country of interest at the time any offer of employment is made and are responsible for obtaining any required work permits, visas, or other authorizations necessary for employment. Prior to their start date, candidates will also need to provide proof of their eligibility to work in the country of interest.

Linguistic Requirements

Based on equal qualifications, preference will be given to bilingual candidates.

Diversity and Inclusion

Air Canada is strongly committed to Diversity and Inclusion and aims to create a healthy, accessible and rewarding work environment which highlights employees’ unique contributions to our company’s success.

As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome applications from all to help us build a diverse workforce which reflects the diversity of our customers, and communities, in which we live and serve.

Air Canada thanks all candidates for their interest; however only those selected to continue in the process will be contacted.