Senior Product Manager, Warehouse Execution Systems (WES) & Material Handling

We’re building a homegrown Warehouse Execution System (WES) – the orchestration layer between our WMS (S1W) and the physical automation on our DC floors (goods‑to‑person, AS/RS, sortation, conveyor, robotics). You’ll define real‑time work release logic, prioritize tasks, balance labor and automation resources, and handle exceptions. This is not a vendor‑integration role; you’re building the brain that unifies automation into a single system. You’ll also spend meaningful time supporting Stord’s Innovation Lab, running structured experiments on new material‑handling concepts and automation pilots before they become roadmap items. About the Role This senior role, with director‑level scope, owns the product strategy, architecture, and stakeholder alignment across Product, Engineering, Ops, and DC leadership. What You’ll Own WES Product Strategy & Roadmap Define and own the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for WES, including work‑release logic, task/order prioritization, labor‑and‑automation resource balancing, and exception handling. Own the build‑vs‑defer trade‑offs on WES scope; decide what’s in v1 versus later versions. Material Handling & Automation Orchestration Design how WES coordinates across heterogeneous automation types – goods‑to‑person, AS/RS, conveyor/sortation, robotics – within the orchestration layer we build. Partner with Engineering and Controls/Automation to define contracts (data, timing, failure modes) between WES and physical equipment. Build operational logic for real‑world failure conditions: equipment down, congestion spikes, mixed manual/automated backup flows. Design and own the plan for building a plug‑and‑play integration layer. Innovation Lab Support Scope, run, and evaluate structured pilots on new material‑handling and automation concepts prior to roadmap inclusion. Build robust “is this worth building” cases – cost, throughput, labor impact, integration complexity – to inform decisions. Translate Innovation Lab findings back into the core WES roadmap. Cross‑Functional & Stakeholder Leadership Serve as the connective tissue among DC Operations, Engineering, Controls/Automation, and executive stakeholders. Own metrics that tie WES performance to business outcomes, such as throughput, order cycle time, labor utilization, automation uptime, and exception rate. Present roadmap, trade‑offs, and pilot outcomes to SLT with concise, executive‑level clarity. What You’ll Need (Non‑Negotiables) 5‑7+ years in product management, chiefly within operationally complex, physical‑world environments such as warehouse/DC operations, supply‑chain systems, manufacturing execution, or robotics/automation. Direct exposure to warehouse execution, WMS, WCS, or material‑handling automation concepts; understand distinctions among WMS, WCS, and WES. Demonstrated ability to navigate from system architecture to floor‑level workflow and back. Track record of owning ambiguous, build‑it‑yourself product scope. Strong written and verbal communication across engineers, ops leaders, and executives. Comfort with experimentation and structured ambiguity for Innovation Lab work. Willingness to travel to DC sites; role is based at the Innovation Lab in Atlanta. Hands‑on exposure to MHE/automation platforms (AutoStore, Knapp, Dematic, Honeywell Intelligrated/Momentum, HAI Robotics, Swisslog). Knowledge of how these systems behave under load is a real advantage. Nice‑to‑Haves Experience building 0‑to‑1 internal/homegrown platforms. Background in industrial engineering, operations research, or a discipline focused on labor and automation resource balancing. Experience with real‑time systems, event‑driven architectures, or optimization/scheduling logic. What Success Looks Like (First 3 Months) WES v1 core work‑release and prioritization logic is live in at least one DC with data‑backed expansion case. At least one Innovation Lab pilot moved from concept to documented go/no‑go decision with real operational data. DC Ops and Engineering describe you as “the person who actually gets what happens on the floor.” SLT has a clear, credible picture of WES’s trajectory and ROI without additional explanation. A Word of Caution (Read Before Applying) This role sits at the intersection of unfinished software and real steel in a warehouse that does not pause for sprint planning. If you want a clean roadmap and a vendor to blame when integrations break, this is the wrong job. There’s no vendor here—just you, engineering, and the floor. If that sounds interesting rather than scary, apply. #J-18808-Ljbffr 慨正橡扯