Copy of Distribution Operations Manager

As a Distribution Operations Manager at Expeditors, you will lead the day-to-day execution and performance of Distribution operations, ensuring safe, efficient, accurate, and customer-focused service across warehouse and customer-facing activities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide daily leadership and direction for Distribution operations
• Oversee receiving, put-away, inventory management, picking, packing, staging, shipping, RMA, and other value-added services
• Ensure customer requirements, service commitments, and operational cutoff times are consistently achieved
• Establish daily priorities and ensure supervisors and leads have clear direction
• Monitor workload, capacity, staffing, and operational constraints throughout the day
• Identify potential service failures early and drive timely corrective action
• Maintain strong communication between warehouse operations, Customer Service, Inventory Control, and leadership
• Support implementation and execution of customer-specific SOPs and work instructions

People Leadership & Development:

• Lead, coach, and develop Operations Supervisors, Warehouse Leads, and operational team members
• Establish clear expectations for ownership, accountability, communication, and performance
• Conduct regular one-on-one meetings and employee development discussions
• Identify training and cross-training requirements
• Develop bench strength and succession opportunities within Distribution
• Promote an environment where employees are empowered to identify problems and recommend solutions

Customer Service & Account Performance:

• Maintain a strong understanding of operational requirements for assigned customer programs
• Partner with Customer Service teams to provide timely and accurate communication regarding operational status, exceptions, and customer requests
• Participate in customer business reviews and operational meetings as required
• Lead operational response to escalations and service failures

Inventory Control & Quality:

• Maintain a strong culture of inventory accuracy and transactional discipline
• Ensure physical material movement aligns with system transactions
• Partner with Inventory Control on cycle counts, inventory reconciliations, audits, and root-cause investigation

KPI & Performance Management:

• Establish and monitor operational KPIs covering areas such as receiving performance, order processing and shipping performance, inventory accuracy, productivity, labor utilization, customer service performance, quality/error rates, and safety
• Review performance trends and identify areas requiring corrective action

Continuous Improvement:

• Identify opportunities to improve productivity, accuracy, safety, and customer experience
• Drive standardization of warehouse processes and work instructions
• Champion 5S, visual management, standard work, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement practices

Systems & Technology:

• Develop strong working knowledge of Distribution warehouse management and customer systems
• Ensure employees receive appropriate system training and understand the relationship between physical warehouse activity and system transactions

Safety, Security & Compliance:

• Maintain a safe, organized, and professional warehouse environment
• Reinforce established safety requirements and immediately address unsafe conditions or practices

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Demonstrated experience in warehouse, distribution, logistics, fulfillment, or supply-chain operations
• Previous experience leading employees in an operational environment
• Strong understanding of warehouse processes including receiving, inventory management, order fulfillment, and shipping
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple customers, priorities, and operational issues simultaneously
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proven ability to investigate problems, determine root causes, and implement corrective actions
• Strong customer-service mindset with the ability to manage escalations professionally
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 applications
• Comfortable working directly within warehouse operations and not exclusively from an office environment