Supply Chain Analyst Interview Questions

1.1Supply chain overview - the end-to-end flow from raw material to end customer

1.2Supply chain strategy - cost, service, and risk trade-offs and how organisations make them

1.3Key supply chain concepts - lead time, safety stock, bullwhip effect, and working capital

1.4The supply chain analyst role - data analysis, modelling, and supporting supply chain decisions

2.1Demand forecasting methods - statistical forecasting, judgement, and consensus forecasting

2.2Forecast accuracy - measuring it, understanding what drives misses, and improving over time

2.3Demand planning process - the S&OP connection and how demand feeds supply planning

2.4Demand sensing - using short-term signals to improve near-term forecast accuracy

3.1Inventory optimisation - safety stock calculation, reorder points, and economic order quantity

3.2Inventory classification - ABC analysis, XYZ analysis, and managing the inventory portfolio

3.3Working capital and inventory - the trade-off between service level and cash tied up in stock

3.4Inventory performance metrics - days of inventory, inventory turns, and write-off analysis

4.1Spend analysis - categorising, visualising, and identifying opportunities in the procurement spend base

4.2Supplier performance analysis - on-time delivery, quality, and pricing trend analysis

4.3Should-cost modelling - building a cost model to understand fair pricing for a product or service

4.4Procurement data management - maintaining clean, reliable data for procurement decisions

5.1Transportation analytics - freight cost, carrier performance, and network optimisation

5.2Warehouse performance - throughput, accuracy, labour productivity, and capacity utilisation

5.3Distribution network analysis - optimal facility locations, flow paths, and cost-to-serve

5.4Last mile analytics - delivery cost, speed, and the trade-offs in last mile distribution

6.1Supply chain risk assessment - identifying, mapping, and quantifying supply chain vulnerabilities

6.2Single-source risk - identifying critical dependencies and the cost of diversifying supply

6.3Disruption analysis - modelling the financial and operational impact of supply chain disruptions

6.4Resilience metrics - measuring and improving supply chain flexibility and responsiveness

7.1Network optimisation modelling - using data to determine the optimal supply chain network configuration

7.2Scenario modelling - testing the impact of different assumptions on supply chain cost and service

7.3Make vs buy analysis - the analytical framework for sourcing strategy decisions

7.4Simulation - using simulation tools to model supply chain dynamics and test policies

8.1Supply chain scorecard - the metrics that matter for cost, service, quality, and sustainability

8.2OTIF - on-time in-full as the primary customer service metric and what drives it

8.3Supply chain reporting - building dashboards that give the right people the right information

8.4Root cause analysis - using data to go beyond the symptom to the actual cause of a supply chain problem

9.1Supply chain technology landscape - ERP, APS, WMS, TMS, and how the systems connect

9.2Excel and data tools for supply chain - building supply chain models and reports effectively

9.3Advanced analytics in supply chain - machine learning for forecasting, optimisation, and risk detection

9.4Supply chain visibility platforms - how technology is improving end-to-end supply chain transparency

10.1Technical questions - demand forecasting, inventory management, logistics analytics, and network design

10.2Analytical questions - working through a supply chain problem or data challenge under interview conditions

10.3Behavioural questions - managing data quality, presenting findings, and influencing supply chain decisions

10.4Salary negotiation, evaluating a supply chain analytics team, and questions that reveal the maturity of supply chain decision-making in the organisation