What Supply Chain Analyst Salary Can You Earn?

Supply chain analysts play a critical role in a business’ product procurement, financial forecasting and day-to-day functioning. The role can be tough, but for someone with an analytical mind and a passion for the finer details, it promises a fulfilling and exciting career. It also tends to be well-paid and with good opportunities for progression.

Read on as we explore typical supply chain analyst salaries, along with what a supply chain analyst does and common supply chain analyst interview questions.

What Does a Supply Chain Analyst Do?

A supply chain analyst evaluates data to improve how a company delivers a product to its customers. You’ll achieve this by reviewing the supply chain, from production through to warehousing, transportation, local storage and item delivery.

For example, if your company sold roasted coffee, you might analyze coffee supplies in various countries, the local harvesting and processing of the coffee beans, the sampling process, the beans’ storage and transportation to the point of export, the export process, international transportation, customs at the port of arrival, in-country transportation to the roaster, the roasting process and then transportation to the point of sale.

When analyzing the supply chain, your objectives will normally be to improve profitability and quality, predict supply and demand, identify and monitor potential issues or simply ensure smooth operations. You could find yourself working on demand planning, inventory management, distribution planning or other, more niche aspects of supply chain management.

Returning to our roasted coffee example, this means you might pay attention to shifting coffee prices and currency rates, harvest levels, weather patterns, shipping routes, packaging materials, local politics, taxation rates in multiple countries, gas prices, shifting consumer behavior and more.

Supply chain analysis is a complex and multi-faceted task. As such, many analysts, especially those working in larger organizations, specialize in specific areas of the supply chain. Common job descriptions include sourcing analyst, transportation analyst, modeling analyst, deployment analyst and materials analyst.

What is the Typical Supply Chain Analyst Salary?

Although supply chain analysis can be challenging, it’s normally well compensated. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that as of May 2021, the average annual salary for a supply chain logistician was $77,030. That rose to $88,710 for logisticians working for the federal government. Moreover, the top 10% of earners had a salary of more than $122,390.

You can also find self-reported supply chain analyst wage data online. While slightly less accurate, because it relies on analysts deciding to share their salaries, it can give up-to-date insights on how average supply chain analyst salaries can vary by location and experience level.

For example, Indeed calculates that the average supply chain analyst salary in the US is $69,022. However, this rises to $78,685 in Boston. Meanwhile, at certain companies, the average reported salary is higher than $100,000.

Payscale’s data gives a lower average salary than Indeed or the BLS, at $61,910. However, their analysis suggests that even entry-level analysts can earn a generous salary. The average reported salary for supply chain analysts with less than a year of experience is $58,929.

How to Become a Supply Chain Analyst

There’s more than one path to becoming a supply chain analyst, but there are several prerequisites that most companies will expect you to meet. These include:

• A degree in supply chain and logistics, inventory management, operations management or another related field
• Several years of project management experience, ideally within the realm of sourcing or inventory management
• Analytical experience with a sound knowledge of mathematics and/or statistical modeling
• Evidence that you have done courses on supply chain management, if you don’t have a degree specifically in that field

Potential employers will also look positively on any experience specific to the supply chain they’re operating in.

Supply chain analysis is generally not an entry-level role. You will likely need to work as a supply chain and logistics coordinator, inventory clerk, junior analyst or in a similar position first. However, requirements will vary according to the company and industry.

Common Supply Chain Analyst Interview Questions

When applying for supply chain analyst roles, you can expect to be asked tough questions by recruiters. Potential interview questions include:

• What draws you to supply chain analysis?
• Why are you interested in this particular supply chain?
• What makes you a good supply chain analyst?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What do you think are the biggest sourcing issues facing this industry right now?
• What industry-specific opportunities do you see emerging in the next couple of years?
• Tell me about a time that you improved the efficiency or productivity of an organization.
• If you had to recommend either a high-quality and affordably priced material sourced from a politically unstable region or a lower-quality and more expensive material from a more stable region, how would you evaluate the options and reach your recommendation?
• How would you react if your forecasts suggested an insufficient supply of a popular product in the near future? What recommendations would you make?
• Imagine that profitability levels dropped on one of our most popular products. How would you tackle this from the perspective of supply chain analysis?
• How would you manage risk in the supply chain?
• What do you find most challenging about supply chain analysis?
• How do you avoid errors in your work?
• Tell me about a time you made a poor recommendation/mismanaged inventory/made a mistake. What happened and how did you fix it?
• Tell me about an accomplishment you’re proud of.

Ahead of your interview, make sure to prepare responses for these potential supply chain analyst interview questions. It’s also worth picking a few professional anecdotes that are applicable for multiple answers and practicing using the STAR model — situation, task, action, result — to describe them. This will help you frame your answer in a way that focuses on the positive outcome of your actions.

A Supply Chain Analyst Resume Template to Impress Interviewers

If you’ve decided that supply chain analysis is the right career for you, then you’ll need a resume that catches recruiters’ eyes.

Supply chain analysis can be a demanding job, and recruiters will have high expectations. To stand out from the crowd, your resume should concisely highlight your best features while being tailored to each company and role you apply for.

Here at Rocket Resume, we have a wide range of supply chain analyst resume templates that will set you up for success. Each one is fully customizable, machine-readable and comes with recruiter-suggested phrasing for key supply chain analysis skills. Plus, our resume builder will suggest the ideal structure and layout based on your experience and qualification levels.

Build your resume in minutes, so you can make a positive first impression on recruiters.