Inventory Controller - Food & Nutraceutical Ingredients

About Arboreal

Arboreal is an award-winning ingredients technology company specializing in the development of innovative and functional food and nutraceutical ingredients.

Our mission is to enable pioneering brands with differentiated ingredient solutions that improve taste, texture, nutrition and functionality. We work closely with leading and emerging food, nutraceutical and Better-for-You brands to develop, launch and scale category-defining products.

Our ingredient platforms span alternative proteins, sugar reduction and sweetening solutions, cacao-based ingredients, collagen, functional nutrition and specialty food ingredients.

Arboreal is co-founded and led by Swati Pandey (IIT, Imperial College London), Manish Chauhan (BITS Pilani, London Business School) and Suresh Chander (University of Helsinki, Anna University).

For our pioneering work, Arboreal has been recognized through 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, amongst others.

As Arboreal scales its sourcing, manufacturing and distribution operations, we are looking for a highly disciplined and detail-oriented Inventory Controller to ensure robust inventory accuracy, traceability and control across our operations.

Role Description

The Inventory Controller will be responsible for ensuring that Arboreal's physical inventory and system inventory remain accurate, traceable and tightly controlled at all times.

The role will cover raw materials, packaging materials, work-in-progress and finished goods across warehouses, manufacturing locations and third-party storage locations.

This role sits at the intersection of Supply Chain, Warehouse, Manufacturing, Quality and Finance and will play a critical role in ensuring reliable stock visibility, batch traceability, working-capital discipline and audit readiness.

This is not simply a warehouse operations role.

We are looking for someone who can independently control inventory, identify variances, investigate root causes, build disciplined systems and ensure that nothing enters, moves or leaves inventory without accurate system recording and documentation.

Key Responsibilities

1. Inventory Accuracy & Control

• Own inventory accuracy across all relevant stock locations.

• Ensure that physical stock matches ERP / system stock at all times. • Track inventory across:

o Raw materials

o Packaging materials

o Work-in-progress

o Finished goods

o Samples

o Rejected stock

o Quality-hold stock

o Damaged or expired stock

• Investigate and resolve stock discrepancies quickly and systematically. • Establish clear controls around stock adjustments, reversals and corrections.

2. Batch & Lot Traceability

• Maintain accurate batch-wise, lot-wise and expiry-wise inventory records. • Ensure complete traceability from inward receipt through storage, processing and dispatch.

• Coordinate with Quality and Warehouse teams to ensure stock status is correctly identified as:

o Released

o Under testing

o Quarantined

o Rejected

o Blocked

• Ensure batch traceability is audit-ready at all times.

3. Cycle Counts & Physical Stock Audits

• Develop and execute regular cycle-count programmes based on stock value, movement and criticality.

• Conduct periodic physical stock counts.

• Reconcile physical stock with ERP records.

• Document discrepancies and establish root-cause corrective actions. • Support statutory, internal and customer inventory audits.

4. GRN & Inward Controls

Ensure that all incoming materials are correctly recorded with accurate:

• SKU

• Quantity

• Batch number

• Manufacturing date

• Expiry date

• Supplier information

• Purchase order reference

• Quality status

Verify that GRNs, stock receipts and system entries accurately reflect physical material received.

5. Material Movement Control

Ensure accurate recording of all inventory movements including:

• Warehouse-to-production issues

• Production-to-warehouse receipts

• Stock transfers

• Inter-location transfers

• Returns

• Rejections

• Samples

• Material consumption

• Repacking

• Rework

• Customer returns

Ensure there are no undocumented or informal inventory movements.

6. FIFO / FEFO Compliance

• Enforce FIFO / FEFO policies wherever applicable.

• Ensure older and near-expiry batches are prioritized appropriately.

• Monitor storage locations to ensure system allocation and physical picking are aligned.

• Escalate any deviation that could create expiry or ageing risk.

7. Ageing, Expiry & Slow-Moving Inventory

Maintain regular visibility into:

• Near-expiry stock

• Expired stock

• Slow-moving inventory

• Non-moving inventory

• Excess inventory

Develop ageing reports and work with Supply Chain, Sales and Procurement teams on liquidation or consumption plans.

Prevent avoidable inventory write-offs through early identification and escalation.

8. ERP & Inventory Master Discipline

• Maintain high standards of inventory data accuracy within ERP systems.

• Ensure SKU masters, units of measurement, batch information and stock locations are accurately

maintained.

• Identify system or process issues creating inventory mismatches. • Reduce dependency on manual spreadsheets wherever ERP-based control is possible.

9. Warehouse Process Controls

Work closely with warehouse teams to ensure disciplined processes around:

• Receiving

• Put-away

• Storage

• Picking

• Packing

• Dispatch

• Returns

• Damages

• Stock transfers

Ensure that warehouse operations comply with approved inventory-control procedures.

10. Inventory Reconciliation

Perform regular reconciliation between:

• ERP stock

• Physical stock

• Warehouse records

• Production consumption

• Purchase receipts

• Sales dispatches

Identify recurring variance patterns and implement corrective action.

11. Manufacturing Inventory Control

For manufacturing operations, monitor:

• Material issue to production

• Material consumption

• Yield variances

• WIP

• Finished-goods receipts

• Process losses

• Rework

• Scrap

Work with Manufacturing and Finance teams to identify abnormal consumption or yield losses.

12. Inventory MIS & Reporting

Develop and circulate regular dashboards covering:

• Inventory accuracy

• Stock variance

• Ageing

• Near-expiry stock

• Slow-moving stock

• Non-moving stock

• Inventory value

• Cycle-count results

• Inventory adjustments

• Warehouse discrepancies

Provide Supply Chain and Finance teams with reliable inventory visibility for planning and decision-making.

13. Working Capital Discipline

Support Supply Chain leadership in controlling inventory investment. Identify situations involving:

• Over-ordering

• Excess stock

• Duplicate inventory

• Unnecessary safety stock

• Slow inventory liquidation

Ensure inventory records are reliable enough to support accurate working-capital decisions.

14. Quality & Compliance

Work closely with Quality teams to ensure proper inventory controls around:

• Quarantine

• Release

• Rejection

• Sampling

• Retention samples

• Expiry

• Batch traceability

Support compliance requirements under FSSC 22000, HACCP, GMP and other applicable quality systems.

15. Process Improvement

Continuously identify weaknesses in inventory processes and develop stronger systems and SOPs.

Build processes that reduce:

• Manual errors

• Stock leakage

• Duplicate entries

• Inventory mismatches

• Traceability gaps

• Unapproved adjustments

The objective is to make inventory control system-driven rather than person-dependent.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have

1. 3–7 years of experience in inventory control, warehouse inventory, material management, supply chain or related roles.

2. Prior experience in food ingredients, nutraceuticals, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, chemicals or adjacent industries would be strongly preferred.

3. Strong understanding of:

o Inventory accounting

o Batch management

o FIFO / FEFO

o Stock reconciliation

o Cycle counting

o GRN

o Material movement

o Inventory ageing

4. Hands-on experience using an ERP / inventory management system.

5. Strong proficiency in Excel / Google Sheets.

6. Exceptional attention to detail and high comfort working with numbers.

7. Ability to independently investigate stock discrepancies and identify root causes.

8. Strong understanding of physical warehouse processes.

9. High ownership, discipline and a bias for follow-through.

10. Strong integrity and willingness to challenge incorrect processes or undocumented stock movements.

11.Ability to work effectively across Warehouse, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain and Finance teams.

12.A Bachelor's degree in Commerce, Supply Chain, Operations, Business, Engineering or a related discipline.

Experience with batch-controlled, expiry-sensitive or regulated inventory would be particularly valuable.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means that Arboreal can trust its inventory data without hesitation. We would expect:

• Physical and ERP inventory accuracy consistently above 99%.

• Minimal unexplained stock variance.

• Strong batch and expiry traceability.

• Regular cycle counts completed with disciplined closure of discrepancies.

• Significant reduction in expired and slow-moving inventory.

• No undocumented stock movements.

• Better visibility into ageing and excess inventory.

• Stronger warehouse discipline.

• Faster and cleaner month-end reconciliation.

• Improved audit readiness.

• Reliable inventory data supporting better supply-chain and working-capital decisions.

Ultimately, the Inventory Controller should make it possible for management to answer three questions instantly and confidently:

What do we have Where is it And is the system correct

What We Offer

1. High Ownership

You will own one of the most important control functions in Arboreal's supply chain.

Inventory accuracy directly impacts customer service, manufacturing, working capital, margins and financial reporting.

2. Exposure Across Operations

The role will work closely with Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Warehouse, Quality, Finance and Procurement, providing broad operational exposure.

3. Opportunity to Build Systems

As Arboreal scales, you will have the opportunity to build and strengthen inventory-control processes across increasingly complex manufacturing and warehouse operations.

4. Competitive Compensation & Growth

We offer competitive compensation commensurate with experience, capability and track record.

We do not follow conventional industry norms of linear compensation growth. Arboreal is a rapidly scaling business and offers disproportionate professional and financial growth opportunities to exceptional performers.

Strong performers can grow into broader roles across Inventory Management, Supply Chain Planning, Warehouse Operations or Materials Management.

Please Do Not Apply If

1. You view inventory management primarily as counting stock at month-end.

2. You are uncomfortable investigating differences between physical and system stock.

3. You are casual about documentation or system entries.

4. You believe small unexplained stock variances are acceptable.

5. You require repeated supervision to ensure routine controls are completed. 6. You struggle with detailed numerical work.

7. You are uncomfortable challenging incorrect stock movements or process deviations.

8. You prefer fixing inventory differences through adjustments rather than identifying the underlying cause.

9. You are not highly disciplined about accuracy, traceability and process compliance.

We are highly selective about the people we hire.

For this role, we are looking for someone who combines attention to detail, analytical discipline, operational understanding, integrity and relentless follow-through.

If you are the kind of person who cannot ignore a stock mismatch until you understand exactly why it happened, we would particularly like to hear from you.