Vice President of Operations, E-commerce Fulfillment & Light Manufacturing

About Williams-Sonoma DC - Olive Branch, MS

Since it was founded in 1956, Williams - Sonoma has grown from Chuck Williams' single store in Sonoma, CA into one of the largest retailers in the country, with some best known and most beloved brands in home furnishings, including Williams - Sonoma, Pottery Barn and West Elm.

Our Distribution Centers serve as vital connections between factories and our retail, online and mail-order customers around the world. The Supply Chain environment is dynamic and fast-paced, and the network is expanding rapidly. If you have a background in distribution, manufacturing, engineering, transportation, finance, human resources, or home delivery - and are looking for a job with a strong opportunity for gaining new skills and for advancement - our Supply Chain Organization could be just the place for you.

Williams-Sonoma, Inc Supply Chain Overview

By managing resources responsibly, caring for our people, and uniting around our values, we lead our industry and are proud to be recognized for our continuous action and progress in the following areas: Barron's 100 Most Sustainable Companies; Forbes Best Employers for Women and Diversity; Newsweek America's Most Responsible Companies; and USA Today Customer Service Champions. These honors reflect that we are truly a people-first organization.

• Over 4,000 Full-Time Associates across the Supply Chain
• 14.5M square feet of small parcel, personalization, furniture, and manufacturing space in the domestic US, Williams-Sonoma has developed an agile and capable distribution network consisting of the following:
  • Large package / furniture distribution centers located in Southern California, Northern California, Texas, Georgia, and New Jersey totaling 9.2M square feet plus another 1.2M square feet of standalone final-mile furniture hubs.
• Small package eCommerce distribution centers located in Mississippi and Arizona totaling 3.2M square feet, consisting of over 1,000 full-time associates and 1,500 seasonal/temporary associates in Mississippi
  • Sutter Street Manufacturing upholstery factories located in North Carolina and Mississippi totaling with over 1,400 full-time employees producing approximately $900 million to $1 billion in sales of upholstered furniture
• Transportation Department for Ocean, Air, Trucking, and Rail consisting of over 30 transportation professionals located in Memphis, TN
• 700 associates in our Sourcing offices in 10 countries in Asia and Europe including China, Vietnam, Singapore, India, Italy, and Turkey

The Vice President of Operations position is located in Olive Branch, MS.

The Vice President of Operations leads a large-scale ecommerce fulfillment, distribution, and light manufacturing operation across multiple US sites, reporting to the Chief Supply Chain & Manufacturing Officer.

This is both a strategic and hands-on role. The VP sets multi-year direction, manages P&L impact, drives continuous improvement, optimizes network performance, partners with vendors, and develops a strong leadership bench while staying close to daily execution, ensuring critical peak period performance, improving cost-to-serve, and delivering reliable customer service.

The ideal candidate brings experience in high-volume e-commerce and small-parcel fulfillment with the technical, analytical, and people-leadership capabilities needed to scale operations, strengthen process discipline, reduce costs, improve quality, and deliver superior customer experience.

You'll be excited about this opportunity because you will...

Lead Regional Operations

• Own regional site performance across safety, quality, service, cost, productivity, inventory accuracy, and customer experience.
• Translate business growth objectives into scalable operating models, staffing plans, facility strategies, process standards, and performance systems.
• Build short-, mid-, and long-term operating plans that align capacity, labor, systems, automation, service levels, customer promise, and cost structure.
• Oversee and develop Site Operations, Engineering, Safety, and Operational Excellence leaders.

Drive E-commerce Fulfillment and Small-Parcel Performance

• Lead high-volume ecommerce fulfillment, including order flow, pick-pack-ship, sortation, returns, exception management, and on-time ship and customer service performance
• Improve order cycle time, dock-to-stock performance, units per labor hour, cost per order, cost per shipment, inventory accuracy, damage rates, returns handling, and carrier performance.
• Partner with Transportation, Customer Experience, Merchandising, Planning, Finance, IT, and external providers to ensure fulfillment performance supports customer expectations and business growth.
• Own peak readiness: capacity planning, labor modeling, inventory positioning, contingency planning, and disciplined execution.
• Manage parcel carrier, 3PL, packaging, automation, and maintenance vendor relationships.

Scale Light Manufacturing and Technical Operations

• Lead light manufacturing and personalization across Softline and Hardlines merchandise, including packaging, quality control, production planning, and value-added services.
• Apply engineering, Lean, Six Sigma, and process design principles to improve flow, reduce variation, eliminate waste, and increase repeatability.
• Partner with Engineering and Facilities on layout, material flow, equipment reliability, ergonomics, automation readiness, and capital projects.
• Evaluate and implement new technologies, equipment, systems, and automation that improve speed, quality, labor efficiency, and scalability.

Build Operational Excellence

• Lead an operating system grounded in Lean, Six Sigma, standard work, visual management, root cause problem-solving, daily management, and disciplined KPI review.
• Establish scorecards across safety, quality, delivery, cost, people, inventory, and customer outcomes.
• Sponsor major transformation initiatives, including facility redesign, WMOS/ERP implementation, automation deployment, systems integration, process standardization, and network optimization.
• Create a culture of operational discipline where leaders use data, facts, and root cause analysis to solve problems, improve performance, and sustain results.

Own Financial and Strategic Performance

• Own operating budgets, labor plans, productivity commitments, and cost improvement plans.
• Manage P&L-impacting decisions across labor, supplies, freight, parcel, packaging, maintenance, inventory accuracy, quality defects, and vendor spend.
• Build business cases for capital investments, automation, facility changes, technology upgrades, outsourcing, insourcing, and network changes.
• Partner with Finance on cost-to-serve models, productivity targets, and operating reviews

Develop People and Culture

• Build a high-performing leadership bench across directors, senior managers, operations managers, engineers, safety leaders, and analysts.
• Create a culture grounded in safety, accountability, respect, communication, recognition, development, and measurable performance.
• Partner with Human Resources on workforce planning, succession planning, leadership capability, engagement, retention, change management, training, and organizational design.
• Lead through complexity, ambiguity, growth, turnaround, peak periods, systems change, and operational transformation

Check out some of the required qualifications we are looking for in amazing candidates...

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Manufacturing, Business, or related field.
• 12+ years of progressive operations leadership in ecommerce direct-to-consumer fulfillment, distribution, logistics, small-parcel operations, light manufacturing, supply chain, or related environments.
• 5+ years leading Directors, Senior Managers, General Managers across multi-site/multi-function operations.
• Demonstrated results improving safety, service, quality, productivity, cost, and inventory accuracy in high-volume environments.
• Strong financial acumen: budgeting, labor planning, cost reduction, and P&L impact.
• Experience with WMS, ERP, LMS, labor planning, inventory, parcel shipping, and operational dashboards.
• Track record leading capital projects, technology implementations, equipment/technology deployment, or large-scale operational transformation.
• Builds cross-functional partnerships: Supply Chain, Transportation, Finance, HR, IT, and Customer Experience.

We prefer some of these qualities as well...

• Engineering or technical degree; MBA or advanced degree a plus.
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Master Black Belt, PMP, and/or APICS/ASCM certification.
• Experience with e-commerce, omnichannel retail, high-SKU operations, parcel shipping, light manufacturing, assembly, customization, packaging, kitting, or personalization.
• Experience with automation, robotics, conveyor/sortation systems, warehouse control systems, or advanced analytics.
• Experience managing 3PLs, parcel carriers, automation vendors, and outsourced labor providers.
• Proficiency in SQL, Power BI, Tableau, advanced Excel, data visualization, or similar analytics tools.
• Background in startups, turnaround, rapid scaling, or facility launch environments.

How We Lead

We hire and develop leaders who role model our WSI Leadership Behaviors. The VP is expected to be:

• Strategic and hands-on: able to set regional direction while understanding what is happening on the floor.
• Data-driven: uses KPIs, root cause analysis, and financial modeling to make decisions.
• Customer-focused: understands that operational performance directly affects delivery promise, brand trust, and repeat purchase behavior.
• Technically credible: able to work effectively with engineering, systems, and process design teams.
• People-centered: develop leaders, create an engaging culture, and build accountability.
• Change-capable: experienced in leading transformation, process standardization, systems implementation, and performance turnarounds.
• Commercially sharp: understands cost-to-serve, P&L impact, capital ROI, labor leverage, and service tradeoffs.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means:

• Measurable improvement in service, quality, cost, inventory accuracy, and customer delivery.
• Stronger peak readiness and labor planning discipline with operational consistency.
• Clear operating scorecards in place and reviewed consistently across all sites.
• A leadership bench that runs day to day and is ready for the next level of growth.
• At least one major transformation project: automation, facility redesign, or systems; executed on time and on budget.
• Stronger cross-functional relationships and a reputation as a collaborative, execution-oriented leader.

Why Join Us

This is a high-visibility executive role with real P&L accountability and room to shape the regional fulfillment operating model. You'll work at the intersection of ecommerce growth, operational excellence, and people development, in a strategic and hands-on role central to the operations of Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

Our company benefits are second to none in the industry....

• Generous discount on all Williams-Sonoma, Inc. brand products
• 401(k) plan and other investment opportunities
• Paid vacations, Employee Assistance Programs, Time Off to Volunteer, Matching Gifts Community Service Program, and Holidays (in some locations)
• Health benefits, dental and vision insurance, including same-sex domestic partner benefits, Legal and Identity Protection Plans and Pet Insurance
• For more information on our benefits offers, please visit MyWSIBenefits.com
• To learn more about our Supply Chain culture and regional associate events, please visit: (Login credentials may be required)

EOE

At this time, we are not accepting referrals from third party recruiting agencies for this position.