Stock Controller

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📍 Location: Heywood, UK (On-site)
🕒 Job Type: Full-Time
📅 Department: EMEA Logistics & Distribution
🧑‍💼 Reports To: Regional Warehousing & Logistics Manager

About Neogen

At Neogen, we are dedicated to improving food and animal safety worldwide through innovation, scientific expertise, and operational excellence.

We are seeking a proactive, self-driven Stock Controller to lead inventory governance and physical inventory management across Neogen Europe's UK warehouses in Heywood and Ayr.

About the Role

This is a unique opportunity to build and shape inventory control standards across a growing European warehouse network. The successful candidate will act as the inventory control subject matter expert, driving stock accuracy, physical inventory processes, and inventory best practices across multiple warehouse locations.

We are seeking a candidate with strong stock control experience within a manufacturing and distribution environment, with a solid understanding of inventory movements with relation to production processes, material traceability, and inventory accuracy controls.

We are looking for someone who understands what good inventory management looks like and can operate effectively in a developing environment. The successful candidate will be proactive in identifying opportunities for improvement, implementing robust processes, influencing stakeholders, and driving continuous improvement to enhance inventory accuracy, control, and overall operational performance.

Success in this role will depend on the ability to engage and motivate teams across Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and Customer Service, creating a culture of inventory ownership and accountability throughout the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

Inventory Management & Physical Inventory Leadership

• Own and coordinate physical inventory activities across Neogen Europe's warehouse network, including annual stock takes, cycle counts, and inventory verification programmes.
• Establish and maintain inventory control standards, processes, and best practices that ensure inventory accuracy and traceability.
• Monitor inventory performance, investigate variances, identify root causes, and drive sustainable corrective actions.
• Control and reconcile raw materials, packaging, work in progress and finished goods including production issues, returns, receipts, scrap and inventory variances.
• Ensure inventory records, transactions, and controls are maintained in accordance with company standards and audit requirements.
• Act as the inventory control subject matter expert and champion inventory excellence across the business.

Warehouse Operations & Inventory Governance

• Oversee inventory movements and inventory lifecycle management across warehouse operations.
• Ensure effective management of quarantined, damaged, obsolete, expired, and non-conforming stock.
• Maintain accurate batch, lot, expiry and material traceability across production and distribution with appropriate controls of released, quarantined, rejected and rework stock.
• Promote compliance with inventory management principles including FIFO and FEFO.
• Partner with Warehouse, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance teams to improve inventory accuracy, visibility, and control.
• Support audits, compliance activities, and inventory-related projects across the warehouse network.

Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement & Continuous Improvement

• Develop inventory reporting, KPIs, and dashboards that provide clear visibility of inventory performance using Excel.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that improve inventory accuracy, process consistency, and operational efficiency.
• Influence and motivate stakeholders across multiple functions and locations to adopt inventory best practices.
• Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement for inventory management.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen inventory governance and support the growth of Neogen Europe's distribution network.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

✔️ 3+ years' experience in inventory control, stock management, warehouse operations, or supply chain.

✔️ Proven stock control and inventory management experience within a manufacturing environment,   including inventory governance, material traceability, inventory accuracy, and collaboration with Production, Supply Chain, and Quality teams.

✔️ Experience leading physical inventory programmes, stock counts, or inventory control activities.

✔️ Strong understanding of inventory management best practices and warehouse operations.

✔️ Experience with ERP and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS).

✔️Understanding of production orders, bills of materials, material consumption, yields, scrap and manufacturing inventory variances.

✔️ Self-starter with the ability to work independently, handle issues methodically and drive results with minimal supervision.

✔️ Demonstrated ability to build processes, establish standards, and implement operational improvements.

✔️ Strong analytical, problem-solving, and root cause investigation skills.

✔️ Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.

✔️ Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills.

✔️ Proven ability to engage and motivate stakeholders at all levels to achieve operational objectives.

Desirable

➕ Experience in a regulated environment such as life sciences, diagnostics, healthcare, pharmaceutical, or food industries.

➕ Experience supporting multi-site warehouse operations.

➕ Experience with Power BI or similar reporting tools.

➕ Knowledge of Lean, Continuous Improvement, or Operational Excellence methodologies.

What Success Looks Like

• Establishing a best-in-class inventory control framework across Neogen Europe.
• Delivering high levels of inventory accuracy and inventory compliance.
• Achieving accurate and timely manufacturing inventory transactions, WIP reconciliation, batch traceability and closure of material usage and production variances.
• Leading effective physical inventory programmes across multiple sites.
• Driving stakeholder engagement and accountability for inventory performance.
• Creating sustainable processes that support operational excellence and future business growth.
• Being recognized as the go-to expert for inventory management across the European warehouse network.

Please press Apply to submit your application.

From inside the farm gate to our dinner plates, Neogen protects the world’s food supply. Through a variety of animal healthcare products, to food safety solutions for dangerous bacteria, allergens, toxins, drug residues and much more, Neogen is there — and you can be too.