Warehouse Operations Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Warehouse Operations Manager

The Role

We are looking for a hands-on Warehouse Operations Manager to lead the operational side of our business, with primary responsibility for distribution, warehouse operations, inventory management, safety, and transportation.

This role requires strong distribution and inventory management experience. We need someone who understands the day-to-day realities of running a high-volume distribution operation and has personally managed inventory accuracy, receiving, storage, picking, shipping, and delivery.

We are an established, family-owned distribution business that is continuing to grow and modernize. The Warehouse Operations Manager will help bring greater organization, data, systems, and accountability to the operation while respecting the people and institutional knowledge that have helped build the company.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will not manage the operation from an office. You will be expected to spend significant time on the warehouse floor, understand how work is actually getting done, identify problems firsthand, and work alongside the team to improve the operation.

The right person will have a strong personality with high emotional intelligence. They can set clear expectations, make difficult decisions, and hold people accountable while building trust and bringing an established team along through change.

What You Will Own

Distribution & Warehouse Operations

· Take ownership of the day-to-day distribution and warehouse operation.

· Manage receiving, put-away, storage, replenishment, picking, packing, shipping, and delivery.

· Improve warehouse organization, product flow, space utilization, and productivity.

· Ensure staffing and scheduling align with daily volume and operational needs.

· Identify bottlenecks and recurring operational problems and implement sustainable solutions.

· Be highly visible on the warehouse floor and actively involved in daily operations.

Inventory Management

· Own inventory accuracy across the operation.

· Establish and maintain strong inventory control processes.

· Manage cycle counting, physical inventories, adjustments, and system reconciliation.

· Investigate inventory discrepancies and drive root-cause resolution.

· Improve inventory organization, location management, and product movement.

· Use ERP/WMS data to create greater visibility and accountability around inventory.

· Establish measurable inventory accuracy standards and hold the operation accountable to them.

Safety & Operational Discipline

· Make safety a visible and consistent priority throughout the operation.

· Establish clear safety standards, routines, and expectations.

· Ensure employees are properly trained on equipment, processes, and safe working practices.

· Maintain a clean, organized, and professional warehouse environment.

· Create accountability around following established processes and standards.

Systems, Data & KPIs

· Help transition the operation from informal and manual processes toward a more system-driven environment.

· Use ERP/WMS data to improve inventory management, productivity, and operational decision-making.

· Establish practical KPIs for distribution, warehouse, inventory, safety, and transportation performance.

· Build simple daily, weekly, and monthly reporting that gives leadership visibility into the operation.

· Use data to identify problems, understand root causes, and measure improvement.

· Develop and maintain SOPs for core operational processes.

Transportation & Logistics

· Oversee the company’s delivery operation, including drivers and fleet activity.

· Improve route planning, delivery efficiency, and transportation scheduling.

· Manage carrier relationships and outside freight when necessary.

· Maintain appropriate DOT, vehicle, and transportation compliance.

· Monitor freight and delivery costs and identify opportunities for improvement.

Team Leadership

· Directly lead, coach, schedule, and develop warehouse employees and drivers.

· Spend significant time on the floor observing, coaching, solving problems, and reinforcing expectations.

· Set clear standards and consistently hold the team accountable.

· Develop supervisors and employees to create stronger ownership throughout the operation.

· Build a culture centered around safety, organization, accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

· Lead operational change in a way that earns buy-in from long-tenured employees.

Required Experience

· 10+ years of progressive distribution, warehouse, inventory, and operations leadership experience, with significant hands-on responsibility for distribution and inventory management.

· Strong distribution experience is required.

· Strong inventory management and inventory control experience is required.

· Demonstrated experience directly leading warehouse teams in a hands-on operating environment.

· Proven experience improving inventory accuracy and warehouse performance.

· Experience using an ERP and/or WMS to manage inventory and distribution operations.

· Experience establishing KPIs and using operational data to drive measurable improvement.

· Strong understanding of warehouse safety, labor management, receiving, picking, shipping, and fulfillment processes.

· Experience working in an established family-owned, privately held, or entrepreneurial business is strongly preferred.

· Experience helping an organization modernize operations, implement systems, or move away from informal/manual processes.

· Transportation, routing, fleet, or delivery management experience is preferred.

The Person

We are looking for someone who is:

· A distribution operator. You have spent your career inside distribution environments and understand what a well-run operation looks like.

· Strong in inventory. You understand inventory control at a detailed level and know how to create accuracy and accountability.

· Hands-on. You want to be on the warehouse floor seeing problems firsthand and working with the team to solve them.

· A strong leader. You are comfortable setting expectations, making decisions, and holding people accountable.

· Emotionally intelligent. You know when to push, when to listen, and how to earn the respect of an established team.

· A builder. You enjoy taking an operation that has grown organically and putting the structure around it that allows it to scale.

· Data-driven. You use numbers and operating metrics to understand performance and make decisions.

· Safety-minded. You believe a well-run operation starts with employees working safely and consistently.

· Respectful of what already exists. You understand that modernization does not mean everything that came before was wrong.

· Comfortable driving change. You can introduce new systems, processes, and expectations without losing the team along the way.

· Comfortable in a family business. You understand that established family-owned companies operate differently from large corporations and know how to navigate that environment.

What Success Looks Like

Success means building a distribution operation where inventory is accurate and trusted, the warehouse is organized and safe, employees are accountable, and leadership has reliable data to understand performance.

The operation should become more disciplined, system-driven, and scalable without becoming unnecessarily bureaucratic. The goal is to modernize what needs to be modernized while preserving the experience, relationships, and practical knowledge that have made the business successful.