Senior Operations Manager

Location: Peabody, MA — hybrid, 3 days per week in office (dog friendly) Type: Full-time, Exempt Reports to: Chief Operating Officer Team: Operations — small, cross-functional team working alongside procurement, with crossover into our sister brand, Bandit Sports Senior Operations Manager Company: Plate Crate Location: Peabody, MA — hybrid, 3 days per week in office (dog friendly) Type: Full-time, Exempt Reports to: Chief Operating Officer Team: Operations — small, cross-functional team working alongside procurement, with crossover into our sister brand, Bandit Sports About Plate Crate Plate Crate is the #1 baseball membership box that delivers curated gear, apparel, and training products to tens of thousands of players and fans. Each box is its own designed world with original apparel, custom accessories, and training tools built around a theme, produced from scratch and shipped monthly. The Opportunity We're hiring a Senior Operations Manager to be the process backbone of Plate Crate and the person who makes the company run on systems instead of memory, heroics, and Slack threads. You’ll own our 3PL relationships and every step of the physical flow of goods: what's inbound, what actually arrived, what's accurate, what shipped, and what it cost. You’ll coordinate closely with procurement rather than owning sourcing yourself. The through-line of this job is process. Every workflow you touch should end up documented, measurable, and better than you found it. What You'll Own 3PL Relationship Ownership Serve as the primary owner and relationship manager for our third-party logistics partners Set, monitor, and enforce SLAs on receiving, pick/pack accuracy, ship times, and cost per order Run regular performance reviews; escape and resolve issues before they reach customers Drive continuous improvement in 3PL cost, speed, and accuracy — and hold partners accountable to it Evaluate, negotiate with, and onboard new 3PL partners as we scale; lead network transitions Receiving & Inbound Confirmation Own confirmation of receipts — verify that what was ordered is what physically arrived, in the right quantity and condition Reconcile POs against receipts and resolve discrepancies, shortages, and damages with vendors and 3PLs Manage inbound scheduling, appointments, and documentation so nothing sits or gets lost Maintain accurate receiving records and feed clean data back into inventory and finance Logistical Coordination Coordinate inbound and outbound logistics end to end, reducing cost, handoffs, and complexity Work with freight forwarders, customs brokers, drayage, and carriers to keep freight moving Optimize container utilization, routing, and mode selection; weigh the tradeoffs between cost and speed Improve shipping cost per order and delivery times across our carrier mix Partner with procurement on timelines, lead times, and inbound schedules — you're the coordination and execution layer, not the buyer Shopify & Ecommerce Operations Own the Shopify backend end to end: product and variant setup, collections, catalog hygiene, subscription configuration, and order flows Manage the app stack and integrations (subscriptions, fulfillment, inventory, 3PL connections, support tooling) and keep data flowing cleanly between systems Diagnose and resolve operational issues — failed orders, sync errors, address and payment failures, subscription billing edge cases — quickly and permanently Write and maintain the SOPs and documentation for everything you touch Inventory Management Own inventory planning, forecasting, and allocation across all SKUs and channels Maintain inventory accuracy across Shopify, our 3PLs, and internal systems — one source of truth, reconciled and trusted Prevent stockouts on core products and eliminate overstock and dead inventory Build the reporting that gives the team real-time visibility into position, coverage, and sell-through Kitting & Monthly Box Production Own the kitting process for the monthly subscription box — the most time-sensitive operation in the business Coordinate component arrival, quality checks, kitting instructions, timelines, and ship windows so every box goes out complete and on schedule Build the production calendar backward from ship dates and hold every stakeholder to it Manage exceptions — short shipments, damaged goods, late components — without missing the drop Building the Process Layer Optimize every step from manufacturing through customer service, and rebuild the ones that don't hold up Turn tribal knowledge into documented, repeatable processes the whole team can run Identify bottlenecks, single points of failure, and manual work that should be systematized Partner with customer service to close the loop — feed operational fixes back into a better experience and fewer tickets Define and report the operational metrics that matter, and drive them in the right direction What We're Looking For 5+ years in ecommerce, DTC, or subscription operations , with clear ownership of supply chain, inventory, or fulfillment outcomes Deep, hands-on 3PL experience — you've owned partner relationships, held them to SLAs, renegotiated terms, and worked through the hard weeks Strong logistics background — freight, customs, carrier management, receiving, and landed cost are second nature Shopify fluency — you know the platform's operational surface cold, including subscriptions and the fulfillment app ecosystem Exceptionally organized and process-driven — you build systems, document them, and make them stick. Nothing lives only in your head. Forward thinking — you see the problem coming two months out and get ahead of it A real problem solver — you diagnose root causes and fix them permanently rather than patching the same issue every month Excellent communicator — clear, direct, and proactive with partners, vendors, and teammates A great teammate — low ego, high trust, generous with information, and easy to work alongside A forever learner — curious by default, always leveling up your craft and adopting better tools Comfortable using AI as a daily tool — to analyze, draft, organize, and move faster (no coding or scripting required) A plus: you played competitive or collegiate sports. Athletes tend to thrive here — the discipline, coachability, and comfort with a scoreboard translate directly. A genuine love of baseball doesn't hurt either. What Success Looks Like First 30 days You’ve mapped the full operation end to end, met every 3PL and key vendor, and identified the top bottlenecks and cost leaks. First 90 days You own the 3PL relationships and the monthly box production calendar, and have shipped at least one box under your management. Receiving and inventory accuracy are clean and reconciled. The first set of documented processes is live and being followed. First 6 months Cost per order and inventory accuracy are measurably improved. The operation runs on documented process rather than individual memory. You’re the person the COO trusts to make Ops calls without escalation. Why This Role Real ownership. You’ll run the operation, not administrate it. You report directly to the COO. A lean, high-trust team. Small group, fast decisions, high leverage. Initiative gets rewarded immediately. Two brands, one team. Working across Plate Crate and Bandit Sports means broader scope and a better view of the whole business. A brand people actually love. Plate Crate shows up at a kid’s door every month and makes their week. The work is tangible. Room to grow. As the operation scales, so does this role. Details & Benefits Hybrid: 3 days per week in our Peabody, MA office; remote the rest of the week Dog-friendly office Competitive base salary commensurate with experience Health, Vision and Dental benefits and paid time off Plate Crate is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate every applicant on merit. #J-18808-Ljbffr