About the Company
We are seeking an experienced Operations leader to oversee and advance the operations for our distribution business, which supports our mid-size OEM and aftermarket customers.
Located onsite in Northern Indiana, this Vice President will have operations and commercial responsibility for Branch centers throughout the United States and Canada, as well as distribution centers and support centers. Expansion of business will happen both organically—through channel growth—and inorganically through strategic acquisitions and partnerships.
About the Role
The Vice President of Operations provides strategic leadership and oversight of distribution daily operations, cultivating a culture of high performance, empowerment, and innovation. This role ensures the achievement of safety, quality, efficiency, revenue, and margin goals while continuously enhancing operational effectiveness. A champion of change, this Vice President will drive the development of innovative services and solutions to exceed customer expectations and sets the strategic direction and priorities for operations.
Responsibilities
- Assume full accountability for leading efficient and effective operations, meeting key performance goals, managing expenses, ensuring regulatory compliance, maintaining exemplary safety performance, and executing business initiatives at every operational level.
- Proactively monitor performance to identify potential issues, intervening, redirecting, and realigning business leaders as needed to sustain and improve results.
- Ensure all team members receive comprehensive and continuous training, along with the tools and resources required for success.
- Identify, evaluate, and implement system and automation improvements to enhance operational execution and elevate the customer experience.
- Build and nurture strong client relationships by anticipating needs and consistently delivering exceptional service that exceeds expectations.
- Drive new business growth and maintain high client retention through outstanding service quality and operational excellence.
- Oversee and achieve financial targets, including labor and expense budgets, by continuously assessing performance and making timely adjustments to optimize outcomes.
- Collaborate with senior leadership to develop and execute both short- and long-term operational strategies that deliver measurable, cost-effective results.
- Foster a culture of safety by establishing clear direction, ensuring all safety programs are fully implemented, and driving continuous improvement to eliminate workplace incidents.
- Manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining seamless day-to-day operations and consistent organizational performance.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years of relevant experience in distribution or similar industry, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Top candidates will have proven experience leading multi-site wholesale distribution operations.
- Demonstrated success in developing and leading high-performing, cohesive teams across high-volume, automated, and manual distribution center environments.
- Advanced expertise in leveraging data-driven insights to develop, measure, and manage productivity, identify trends, and solve complex operational challenges.
- Skilled in strategic design and execution, network optimization, workflow development, and full P&L management.
- Highly capable in business planning, with the ability to drive strategic initiatives that impact evolving business operations while balancing long-term strategy and day-to-day execution.
- Experienced in managing multiple projects, priorities, and distributed teams across a geographically dispersed organization.
- Adept at operating in fast-paced, technology-driven distribution environments.
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office applications—particularly Excel—for analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data and performance trends.
- Exceptional communication skills, with fluency in both written and verbal English.
- Willing and able to travel up to 60–70% as required.
Required Skills
- Fosters a speak-up culture, actively encouraging feedback and taking prompt, appropriate action in response.
- Demonstrates confidence in making timely, informed decisions with imperfect information—acting decisively with 80% of the data.
- Communicates a clear, consistent direction, articulating purpose, expectations, and changes with precision and clarity.
- Understands cross-functional trade-offs and supply chain impacts, collaborating effectively across teams to achieve the best outcomes for the business.
- Leads with a customer-centric mindset, utilizing performance metrics to drive results while complementing data with strong interpersonal and leadership skills.
- Exhibits an intrinsic drive for excellence, proactively seeking challenges beyond assigned goals and continuously pursuing improvement and innovation.
- Demonstrates strong talent evaluation and development acumen, taking decisive action to elevate team performance—by addressing low performance, developing high-potential talent, and maximizing opportunities for top performers.
We are reviewing applications now with hiring expected to take place in January, 2026.
