Warehouse Operations Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Company: Wild Oak Boutique
Location: Sioux Falls — On-site
Employment Type: Full-time

Position Summary

Wild Oak Boutique is seeking a hands-on Warehouse Operations Manager to lead all daily warehouse and fulfillment operations.

This person will oversee the complete product and order lifecycle—from receiving inbound shipments and preparing products for inventory through picking, packing, shipping, replenishment, and returns processing.

The ideal candidate is an organized, data-driven leader who can establish clear expectations, develop employees, improve productivity, and hold the team accountable for accuracy and results. This role requires someone who can work strategically while remaining willing to step into daily operations when necessary.

Key Responsibilities

Warehouse Leadership

• Manage daily warehouse, fulfillment, inventory, and returns operations.

• Set daily priorities and assign work based on inbound shipments, order volume, inventory needs, and returns volume.

• Create employee schedules and ensure appropriate staffing coverage.

• Train, coach, and develop warehouse and returns employees.

• Establish clear productivity and accuracy expectations for each function.

• Monitor individual performance and address attendance, productivity, quality, or conduct concerns promptly.

• Build a dependable team that can operate successfully without constant oversight from the Operations Manager.

Inbound Receiving and Product Preparation

• Coordinate and receive inbound product shipments.

• Verify shipment quantities and identify shortages, damages, or vendor discrepancies.

• Ensure products are tagged, labeled, barcoded, and prepared accurately.

• Oversee timely product setup, putaway, and movement into available inventory.

• Prioritize new arrivals and time-sensitive products to prevent launch delays.

• Maintain organized receiving and product-staging areas.

Inventory Management

• Maintain accurate inventory quantities and warehouse locations.

• Oversee product putaway, transfers, replenishment, and cycle counts.

• Ensure pickable locations remain stocked based on sales and order volume.

• Investigate inventory discrepancies and implement corrective actions.

• Monitor damaged, misplaced, unprocessed, and non-sellable inventory.

• Partner with merchandising and operations on inventory concerns and product priorities.

Picking, Packing and Shipping

• Oversee order picking, verification, packaging, and shipment preparation.

• Ensure orders are shipped accurately and within established service expectations.

• Monitor picking and packing productivity, order accuracy, and daily backlog.

• Improve warehouse layout and workflows to reduce unnecessary movement and delays.

• Ensure packaging materials and operational supplies remain available.

• Resolve shipping holds, order exceptions, and operational issues promptly.

Returns Management

• Manage the returns team and daily returns workload.

• Establish measurable expectations for returns processed per employee and per labor hour.

• Monitor the age and size of the returns backlog.

• Ensure returned products are inspected, processed, restocked, or dispositioned accurately and promptly.

• Maintain refund, damage, and inventory-control standards.

• Identify employees who are not meeting expectations and provide documented coaching and accountability.

• Improve returns throughput without sacrificing accuracy or customer experience.

Performance and Process Improvement

• Maintain scorecards for receiving, inventory, fulfillment, replenishment, and returns.

• Review productivity, accuracy, backlog, labor, and inventory data regularly.

• Identify operational bottlenecks and their root causes.

• Develop and maintain clear standard operating procedures.

• Implement process improvements and measure whether they produce sustained results.

• Provide regular performance updates, risks, and recommended actions to the Operations Manager.

• Partner with customer service, merchandising, purchasing, and other departments to resolve cross-functional issues.

Safety and Organization

• Maintain a safe, clean, and organized warehouse.

• Ensure employees follow all safety procedures and equipment guidelines.

• Coordinate required safety and OSHA-related training.

• Report and address hazards, injuries, and equipment concerns promptly.

• Protect company inventory, supplies, equipment, and facilities.

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this role will be measured using areas such as:

• On-time receiving and putaway

• Product-tagging and barcode accuracy

• Inventory and location accuracy

• Replenishment completion

• Orders shipped on time

• Picking and packing productivity

• Order accuracy

• Returns processed per labor hour

• Returns backlog and processing time

• Labor efficiency

• Damage and inventory-loss rates

• Employee attendance and performance

• Warehouse safety

• Achievement of the warehouse and returns scorecards

Qualifications

• Three or more years of warehouse, fulfillment, inventory, or distribution experience.

• Two or more years of direct team-management experience preferred.

• Experience managing receiving, inventory, picking, packing, shipping, and returns.

• Proven ability to set productivity expectations and hold employees accountable.

• Strong leadership, communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.

• Comfortable reviewing operational data and using it to make decisions.

• Experience creating and improving warehouse procedures.

• Familiarity with warehouse-management systems such as ShipHero or a comparable platform is preferred.

• E-commerce or retail-fulfillment experience is strongly preferred.

• Ability to remain calm and make sound decisions during high-volume periods.

• Willingness to work on the warehouse floor and support the team when needed.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to stand and move throughout the warehouse for extended periods.

• Ability to bend, reach, lift, and perform normal warehouse activities.

• Ability to lift up to 60 pounds.

• Ability to work in an active warehouse environment.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first several months, the Warehouse Operations Manager should:

• Take full ownership of daily warehouse and returns operations.

• Establish clear expectations and accountability for every warehouse function.

• Improve receiving, fulfillment, replenishment, and returns productivity.

• Reduce warehouse and returns backlogs.

• Improve inventory and order accuracy.

• Develop a reliable leadership structure within the warehouse.

• Provide useful, data-supported recommendations for continued improvement.

• Allow the Operations Manager to oversee warehouse performance without managing its daily execution.