Jobs In Supply Chain Management (With Salaries And Skills)

Updated 8 September 2023

Supply chain management refers to the process of the production, shipment and distribution of products. A degree in supply chain management trains students in economics, logistics and finance to enhance their problem-solving, organisational and critical thinking skills. As a supply chain management graduate, you have the necessary interpersonal and organisational skills to work in various careers. In this article, we discuss the jobs available for supply chain management graduates and the skills required to succeed in these roles.

Jobs in supply chain management

The following jobs in supply chain management can help you utilise your skills to build a career in this field:

1. Purchasing agent

National average salary: ₹19,439 per month

Primary duties: Purchasing agents purchase equipment, parts or services required for the operations of a manufacturing establishment. They solicit bid proposals, prepare purchase orders and review the acquisition of goods and services. As a purchasing agent, you also negotiate and manage contracts with suppliers, vendors and other representatives.

2. Operations manager

National average salary: ₹38,980 per month

Primary duties: Operations managers handle and manage the overall operations of a public or private organisation. They direct and coordinate the production activities, pricing, sales and distribution of products. As an operations manager, you review performance data to measure your company's productivity and identify areas that can benefit from cost reduction or process improvement.

3. Logistics analyst

National average salary: ₹40,797 per month

Primary duties: Logistics analysts analyse supply chain processes to identify and recommend optimisations and improvements to ensure a smooth delivery process. They maintain various databases that compile and organise a company's logistics information. As a logistics analyst, you provide constant analyses on transportation costs, parts procurement, back orders or delivery processes.

4. Purchasing manager

National average salary: ₹26,823 per month

Primary duties: Purchasing managers deal with planning and directing the buyers' activities while overseeing the purchasing officers and other stakeholders involved in purchasing various materials, products and services. They often represent companies during negotiating contracts and devising policies with multiple suppliers. As a purchasing manager, you also interview and hire new employees and oversee the training and development of the existing staff.

5. Supply chain manager

National average salary: ₹6,09,364 per year

Primary duties: Supply chain managers direct and coordinate the supply chain processes to manage costs and improve accuracy while providing customer service and security. They monitor many forecasts and quotas to identify the changes in the supply chain activities and their impact on existing supply chain management. As a supply chain manager, you also develop procedures to coordinate your supply chain efforts with other departments, including sales, finance, production and quality assurance.

6. Logistics manager

National average salary: ₹24,494 per month

Primary duties: Logistics managers coordinate and oversee an organisation's purchasing, warehousing, distribution, forecasting, customer service and planning efforts in the supply chain process. They manage the personnel, system and processes involved in the daily logistics operations of an organisation. As a logistics manager, you collaborate with other departments to integrate logistics with business systems or processes to maximise efficiency and productivity.

7. Storage and distribution manager

National average salary: ₹3,92,581 per year

Primary duties: Storage and distribution managers oversee an organisation's or facility's storage or distribution operations of its materials and products to the customers. The distribution managers interview, supervise, select and train the warehouse personnel to conduct their tasks smoothly. As someone in charge of the storage and distribution department, you also develop and implement warehouse safety and security activities and programmes.

Get your personalized job feed on Indeed

Be the first to see new jobs in your area

Some standard supply chain management skills

There are many exciting careers in a domain as broad as supply chain management. Some standard skills can help you excel in a variety of these job roles, including:

Data analysis

As a supply chain manager, you handle a lot of data daily. Good data analysis skills can help you interpret and analyse the vast statistics and use them in your company's strategies to meet objectives. It also enables supply chain managers to develop a proactive approach in their daily activities and analyse their counterparts' progress to improve their firm's performance. As a supply chain manager, you constantly develop solutions to decrease extra costs and manage your time effectively. Having good analysis skills helps you achieve those goals by removing irrelevant activities that demand more time and money.

Inventory management

Ensuring that the right amount of stock is in the inventory is crucial for any supply chain management job. As someone involved in the supply chain management process, inventory management helps keep the store within your budget by eliminating extra costs. Combining this skill with data analysis can help you locate the loopholes in the supply chain process and take adequate measures to overcome any shortcomings.

Flexibility

As a supply chain manager, your job is more than a desk role and involves constant activity, movement and mobility on your part. Being flexible to the job role means you are open to adapting to complex situations and flexible enough to adjust your work approach in a way that suits a policy change or a new management initiative to meet the desired organisational goals. Being flexible also helps you identify the changes in the market and use them in your business strategy to help you excel at your job.

Order placement

As a supply chain manager, a customer and their interests are your priority. Ensuring that they experience a smooth order placement process is key to turning them into long-term customers. You confirm that the order placement process is convenient for your customers by taking care of transportation and delivery of the order. At this stage, customer satisfaction is crucial, as excellent customer service ensures effortless order placement.

Customisation

Maintaining customisation in orders helps you ensure you do not miss out on the specifics during order placement. As a supply chain manager, your job involves dealing with vendors, suppliers and manufacturers to deliver customised orders to your customers. However, receiving bulk orders can sometimes affect the customisation process. You can prevent wrong order placement by keeping track of all orders and ensuring that you deliver the order as per the customer's needs while also adhering to the individual needs of suppliers and vendors.

Information technology and automation

Supply chain managerial job roles demand information technology and automated processes and systems to provide excellent customer service. Knowledge of technology tools like warehouse management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems can help ensure that you effectively manage your daily data management and analysis tasks. Familiarity with analytics software can also help you excel during leadership support decisions, where you present your insights to improve your business's performance.

Market dynamics and economics

The supply chain market is constantly changing, so having expert knowledge of the market dynamics and consumer behaviour can help supply chain managers make helpful business decisions. Understanding your target market's needs means adapting to their ways of operations and meeting their needs accordingly. For example, a purely local market can grow into a global market. As a supply chain manager, incorporating this change in your order placement, delivery and customer service practices can be crucial to your business's success.

Cost management

Supply chain managers can benefit from understanding the actual cost-to-serve of their customers since their cost management skills can determine the organisation's profitability. Weighing in all relevant solutions and outcomes with data analysis can help you make decisions that positively affect the costs involved in the supply chain management process. Good cost management skills can help supply chain managers develop a custom approach for every customer's order while considering the actual costs required to achieve those goals.

Project management

As a supply chain manager, you operate in multiple job roles before leading up to high managerial and leadership positions. Having excellent project management abilities helps ensure you deliver the highest quality service to your customers and clients and quickly serve higher leadership roles. Supply chain managers enhance their project management skills by being aware of the fundamental principles and challenges involved in the supply chain process to manage their daily tasks effectively.

Communication

To succeed in any supply chain management role, you require excellent communication skills to explain and describe your services and answer your customer's queries politely and proficiently. Your communication skills determine the number of customers you may get and develop a long-term working relationship with them, where they decide to avail of your supply services over others. Knowledge of other languages and having the ability to explain supply chain concepts to an outsider can help you excel as a supply chain manager.

Salary figures show data listed on Indeed Salaries at the time of writing the article. Salaries may vary depending on the hiring organisation and a candidate's experience, academic background and location.

Jobs In Supply Chain Management (With Salaries And Skills)