Warehouse Operations Manager

Warehouse Operations Manager

Location: Burlington, New Jersey
Company: McCollister's Global Services
Employment Type: Full-time, On-site
Reports To: General Manager

Position Summary

McCollister's Global Services is seeking a hands-on Warehouse Operations Manager to lead daily warehouse and dock operations at our Burlington, New Jersey facility. This position is responsible for creating a safe, organized, efficient, and customer-focused operation that supports final-mile transportation, white-glove delivery, fitness equipment installation, warehousing, and other specialized logistics services.

The Warehouse Operations Manager will oversee receiving, inventory control, staging, load preparation, facility organization, labor planning, and employee development. The successful candidate will work closely with dispatch, central planning, drivers, owner-operators, installation crews, and branch leadership to ensure that every project is properly prepared and completed safely, on time, and profitably.

This position requires a visible leader who is comfortable working on the warehouse floor, developing employees, solving operational problems, and holding the team accountable to clearly defined standards.

Essential Responsibilities

Warehouse and Dock Operations

• Direct all daily warehouse activities, including receiving, unloading, inspection, storage, staging, order preparation, loading, returns, and inventory control.
• Develop a daily dock and labor plan based on scheduled inbound shipments, outbound routes, installation projects, and customer requirements.
• Ensure freight is properly labeled, scanned, documented, protected, and staged before dispatch.
• Coordinate with dispatch and central planning to confirm that crews, equipment, tools, materials, and freight are ready before each route departs.
• Maintain accurate inventory records and investigate discrepancies, missing items, damaged products, and scanning exceptions.
• Ensure the warehouse layout supports safe product flow, efficient loading, proper storage, and quick access to customer inventory.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop warehouse supervisors, leads, associates, forklift operators, and temporary employees.
• Establish clear daily expectations and hold employees accountable for safety, attendance, productivity, quality, and customer service.
• Conduct daily operational huddles to review workload, staffing, safety concerns, customer priorities, and previous-day performance.
• Cross-train employees to improve operational flexibility and provide coverage for critical warehouse functions.
• Address performance concerns promptly and partner with Human Resources when corrective action is required.
• Build a culture in which employees understand how their performance affects the customer, the driver, and the profitability of the branch.

Safety, Quality, and Claims Prevention

• Promote a safety-first culture and ensure compliance with company policies, customer requirements, and applicable workplace safety standards.
• Conduct routine inspections of the warehouse, dock areas, racking, forklifts, pallet jacks, tools, and other equipment.
• Ensure employees use proper lifting, loading, securement, material-handling, and product-protection procedures.
• Lead investigations involving injuries, product damage, inventory discrepancies, facility incidents, and near misses.
• Implement corrective actions to prevent repeated safety, quality, or claims-related issues.
• Maintain strong housekeeping and 5S standards throughout the warehouse, dock, yard, offices, and equipment-storage areas.

Labor and Cost Management

• Create labor plans that match staffing levels to the daily workload while controlling overtime and temporary labor expenses.
• Monitor productivity by employee, project, shipment, route, or work function.
• Review operational costs and identify opportunities to improve labor efficiency, equipment utilization, material usage, and warehouse capacity.
• Approve overtime and additional labor only when supported by operational requirements.
• Work with branch leadership to ensure warehouse activities contribute to improved gross margin and overall branch profitability.
• Track avoidable expenses such as rehandling, repeated trips, product damage, waiting time, missed appointments, and inefficient staging.

Customer Service and Operational Execution

• Ensure customer-specific procedures, service requirements, chain-of-custody standards, and delivery instructions are followed.
• Respond quickly to operational escalations and communicate clearly with customers, drivers, project managers, and branch leadership.
• Support final-mile, white-glove, fitness installation, and specialized transportation projects involving high-value or sensitive products.
• Participate in customer meetings, operational reviews, facility tours, and new-account implementations when required.
• Develop recovery plans when service failures, shipment delays, staffing shortages, or equipment problems occur.
• Maintain professional communication and provide timely updates regarding operational risks and service exceptions.

Continuous Improvement and Reporting

• Establish and maintain visual performance boards for safety, productivity, quality, claims, overtime, and service performance.
• Identify process gaps and implement sustainable improvements rather than temporary solutions.
• Standardize warehouse procedures, shift handoffs, inspection requirements, documentation, and staging practices.
• Use available warehouse, transportation, scanning, and reporting systems to monitor performance and improve operational visibility.
• Provide daily and weekly updates to the General Manager regarding staffing, workload, service performance, expenses, risks, and corrective actions.
• Support branch-wide initiatives focused on profitability, service improvement, employee development, and operational growth.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of progressive experience in warehouse, distribution, transportation, final-mile, installation, or logistics operations.
• At least three years of experience directly supervising warehouse or operations employees.
• Demonstrated ability to manage receiving, inventory, staging, loading, labor planning, and dock operations.
• Experience supporting final-mile, white-glove, high-value product, fitness equipment, electronics, medical equipment, or installation operations is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of warehouse management systems, transportation systems, scanning technology, inventory controls, and Microsoft Excel.
• Experience managing overtime, temporary labor, productivity, operating expenses, and other controllable costs.
• Strong understanding of workplace safety, material-handling practices, claims prevention, and facility organization.
• Ability to analyze operational problems, make timely decisions, and follow issues through resolution.
• Strong leadership, communication, coaching, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to work effectively with dispatchers, drivers, owner-operators, installation crews, customers, and corporate support departments.
• Forklift certification is preferred, or the ability to obtain certification after hire.
• Bachelor's degree in logistics, supply chain, business, operations, or a related field is preferred; equivalent operational leadership experience will also be considered.