Asset Protection Manager (Greater Northern Chicago Area)

Asset Protection Manager

The Asset Protection Manager plays a critical role in protecting company assets, team members, customers, and profitability across a defined geographic territory. This leader is responsible for supporting and executing asset protection programs, minimizing shrink and risk, and ensuring consistent safety and security standards in retail and pharmacy operations. The Asset Protection Manager conducts internal theft and fraud investigations, including interviewing team members to determine root cause and establishing responsibility consistent with Walgreens Asset Protection standards. This role partners closely with store, district, and support center leadership, analyzes operational and financial data, and provides strategic asset protection direction to field operations teams. The APM also collaborates with external partners in support of safety, security, and profitability across assigned locations. Success in this role requires strong communication skills, strategic and analytical thinking, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to lead in a dynamic, multi-unit retail environment.

Job Responsibilities:

• Applies knowledge of federal, state, and local laws as they relate to the rights of team members and non-employees.
• Proactively identifies and reports on potential and actual exposure to loss of Company assets. Develops means to minimize risk, ensure compliance to Company policy and provide guidance to store personnel on detecting and preventing loss.
• Establishes and maintains communication avenues with Store and District Management, the Asset Protection Solutions (APS) department, key Company stakeholders, and outside agencies to ensure that established Asset Protection goals and objectives are being met to minimize loss of profits and achieve comprehensive loss targets.
• Manages third party contracted guard force to ensure training on and adherence to policy and procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, developing and implementing post orders, training, and scheduling.
• Communicates and coordinates with the Asset Protection Solutions department including the Asset Protection Managers, Operations Loss Prevention, and other APS staff to reduce shrink and minimize risk in our stores and corporate facilities. Maintains regular communications with Pharmacy and Retail Operations, and other Corporate Departments to foster cooperative efforts to prevent or minimize profit loss, to include regular discussions, presentations, training, and reports.
• Reviews budget-to-plan and performs financial analysis of asset protection programs across the enterprise in order to recommend and implement cost savings initiatives.
• Provides guidance and programmatic oversight to other team members, including but not limited to, APS team members in the field.
• Ensures store security objectives are consistently applied based on location needs.
• Where applicable, develops and mentors staff through on-boarding, open communication, training and development opportunities and performance management processes; builds and maintains employee morale and motivation; ensures the team is appropriately staffed with required competencies; fosters a diverse and inclusive workplace.
• Develops and maintains comprehensive knowledge of Pharmacy and Retail Operations policies & procedures, and auditing standards. Maintains an awareness of research of developments in the Asset Protection field that relate to job responsibilities. Conducts testing of new solutions and leads cross-functional teams to ensure implementation is completed and within budgets.
• Collaborates with accounts payable, store managers and within APS to ensure payments are made to vendors within set time frames.
• Analyzes and distributes Area and District specific data to the field. Reviews data exceptions to support strategy implementation aligned with operational goals and objectives.
• Supports all business units within the geographic territory of responsibility and provides the designated service level agreements established to drive APS consistency and awareness around safety, security, profitability, and resiliency.
• Manages a robust case load that includes travel, training, meeting attendance, and other incremental support of the organization.
• Manages day-to-day activities of a group of employees. Assigns, monitors and reviews progress and accuracy of work, direct efforts and provide technical guidance on more complex issues. Oversees and initiates the hiring, firing, and performance review processes.
• Provides management to the team to meet objectives, improve processes and improve stakeholder's satisfaction. Erroneous decisions or failure to achieve results may add to costs and may impact the short-term goals of the department/company.