Director, Operations

Director of Operations

Vessi is looking for a Director, Operations & Distribution to own the end-to-end performance of our IT infrastructure, logistics and fulfillment network across Canada and the US. This is a senior leadership role, but it is also a hands-on operating role. You will own the strategy, economics, key external relationships, and overall performance of the function while staying close enough to the operation to understand what is happening and step directly into important issues when needed.

You will be accountable for our internal systems, 3PL and warehouse network, freight and carrier strategy, cross-border operations, fulfillment performance, inventory movement, logistics costs, peak readiness, and continuous operational improvement.

You will also own the senior relationships with our key logistics partners, setting expectations, negotiating commercial terms, managing escalations, and ensuring our partners are delivering the level of service the business requires.

Responsibilities

Distribution & Fulfillment

• Own Vessi's distribution and fulfillment strategy across ecommerce, retail, and wholesale.
• Ensure product moves efficiently from factory handoff through warehouses and ultimately to customers, stores, and wholesale partners.
• Stay close to operational performance and step directly into complex or high-impact issues when needed.
• Continuously improve service, cost, capacity, and reliability across the network.
• Lead peak-season planning, readiness, and contingency planning.

Freight, Carriers & Cross-Border

• Own Vessi's freight, parcel, and transportation strategy.
• Negotiate rates and commercial terms with carriers and logistics partners.
• Oversee inbound freight from factory handoff through warehouse receipt.
• Own customs, brokerage, and cross-border logistics performance.
• Oversee duty drawback and other logistics cost-recovery opportunities.
• Step directly into high-impact freight, customs, or carrier issues when required.

Fulfillment Economics

• Own warehouse, freight, parcel, storage, and fulfillment cost performance.
• Build visibility into cost per order, cost per unit, and cost-to-serve.
• Identify and execute cost-reduction opportunities.
• Review major logistics invoices and commercial discrepancies.
• Partner with Finance on budgeting, accruals, and logistics cost reporting.

Inventory Flow

• Own the physical movement of inventory between warehouses, retail stores, and channels.
• Partner closely with Demand & Inventory Planning on inventory positioning and transfer requirements.
• Ensure inbound product is received accurately and on time.
• Identify inventory flow constraints early and resolve them before they impact availability.

Returns & Reverse Logistics

• Own the operational flow and economics of returns.
• Improve the speed and cost of getting returned inventory back into available stock.
• Partner with Ecommerce, Customer Experience, and Product teams on return-related operational issues.

Systems & Processes

• Act as the business owner for the IT, logistics and fulfillment system requirements across NetSuite, Shopify, 3PLs, EDI, retail systems, and carriers.
• Identify opportunities to automate manual work and reduce operational risk.

Data Infrastructure and Integrity

• Own the company's data infrastructure end to end: ERP administration, every integration across ecommerce, POS, EDI, 3PL/WMS, banking, and returns, and the integrity of the data flowing between them.
• Establish data-integrity discipline: daily variance monitoring across systems, root-cause analysis of discrepancies, and elimination of silent data drift.
• Own uptime and incident resolution across all channels, directing our MSP on endpoint, network, and identity administration.

AI-First Processes and Documentation

• Rebuild high-friction manual processes AI-first across IT and distribution, and productionize the automation prototypes the team has already built.
• Document every system and SOP as you build: process flows, owners, failure modes — no black boxes.
• Govern AI spend with clear budgets and per-model cost visibility.
• Ensure operational SOPs are clear, current, and consistently followed.

Operational Performance

• Own key operational KPIs including fulfillment SLA, shipping accuracy, receiving speed, carrier performance, inventory accuracy, and logistics costs.
• Review performance regularly and identify where intervention is required.
• Lead root-cause analysis for recurring operational failures.
• Ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustained.
• Build and own the company's operating dashboards, leading our migration from legacy BI to an AI-native analytics stack with a single source of truth for company metrics.
• Align metric definitions across finance and channel owners so the company works from one set of numbers.

Partner & Relationship Ownership

• Own the strategic and commercial relationships with Vessi's 3PLs, warehouses, carriers, freight forwarders, customs partners, and critical logistics vendors.
• Manage external IT partners and SaaS vendors, including scope, SLAs, renewals, and spend rationalization.
• Set expectations, service standards, and performance requirements for external partners.
• Lead commercial negotiations, contract renewals, and major rate reviews.
• Own senior-level escalations and hold partners accountable for performance.
• Ensure recurring issues are addressed at the root cause rather than repeatedly managed as exceptions.

Leadership

• Lead the IT, Logistics & Fulfillment team while remaining actively involved in the operation.
• Set clear direction and operating standards for the Manager and Specialist.
• Develop strong problem-solving, accountability, and escalation discipline across the team.
• Partner closely with Demand Planning, Finance, Ecommerce, Retail, Wholesale, Product, and Technology.

What Success Looks Like

• Fulfillment is reliable across all channels.
• Inventory moves where it needs to be without unnecessary delay or cost.
• External partners understand expectations and are held accountable for performance.
• Logistics costs improve over time.
• Peak periods are planned well and executed without major disruption.
• Operational issues are solved at the root cause.
• The Manager can run the daily operation effectively within the framework and relationships established by the Director.
• The Director remains close enough to the operation to make strong decisions without becoming the bottleneck.