Operations Manager

Position Overview:

The Operations Manager will have exposure to a wide range of business activities at SDI and reports to the SVP, Digital Supply Chain Program. The Operations Manager is responsible for overall client satisfaction on a day-to-day basis, successful and smooth delivery of SDI’s value proposition and the fulfillment of all contractual obligations for assigned client(s). Clients that are considered program accounts will have multiple locations, have complex operating models and are considered strategic to SDI due to growth potential opportunities. The Account Manager role serves as the client advocate with SDI corporate headquarters and will drive transactional and tactical excellence while also acting a strategic business partner.

On the client side, this person leverages their knowledge of procurement, digital supply, inventory management and operations experience to represent SDI as the subject matter expert. The Operations Manager will interact directly with a diverse team of personnel responsible for providing different facets of our value proposition to our customers and ensure performance that is best in class across a singular account with multiple site locations. The Operations Manager will effectively deliver the performance management program to all client employees and be responsible for preparing and facilitating the program’s direction and presenting the program’s KPIs, milestones, and service delivery to the customer’s management team.  The Operations Manager will function as the primary client interface. As this is a client facing role, this person must have a credible presence as a subject matter expert and deliver best in class value to the clients. 

The right candidate will be able to capture, interpret and drive continuous improvement of established site metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). This role will be responsible for the administration and delivery of services to established service level agreements at the site level. This person will also ensure all local transactional issues such as purchase order and invoice issues are resolved quickly and effectively. On the SDI side, the candidate is required to work within a matrix organization to drive stated objectives. As such, this position requires exceptional communication skills and relationship building abilities with leaders across the organization including functional areas such as account management, engineering services, sourcing, procurement, human resources, finance and information technology. The Operations Manager will have financial management responsibilities for each client and site location requiring the ability to deliver to annual revenue, expense and profit goals. To do so, this position requires the ability to align organizational strategy to specific plans to deliver results. Additionally, this role requires project management experience to control the various innovative projects being delivered at each client location. 

A typical day in the life of an Operations Manager: 

Technology – Position requires familiarity and comfort in utilizing and defining current technology to deliver client automated visibility to supply and fulfillment. Such technologies include eCommerce plugins, personalized recommendation engines, advanced analytics services, inventory tracking solutions, custom product builders, chatbots etc. all part of a truly digital supply chain.

Leadership – This individual must possess strong leadership and influencing skills.  Demonstrated ability to champion organizational initiatives across the entire value delivery system – clients, internal operations and site delivery staff.  Proven ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy and professionalism.  Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in a collaborative team environment.

Business Strategy – Individual will play a critical role in delivering the strategic vision and goals and ensure execution of all client delivery strategies including inventory management, procurement transactions, continuous improvement and reporting.  The Account Manager delivers this through effective management of established metrics and KPI’s and identifying site specific areas of improvement.

Financial Management – Deliver revenue, expense and profit results at or above corporate goals while delivering best in class integrated supply services to the client.  Direct site employees to identify innovative client solutions and identify potential new opportunities such as engineering services and POU technology.  This role will be responsible to approve all site related expenses such as expense reports, usage and invoices for temporary workers.

Human Resources – The successful candidate will deliver the performance management program at the site level and insure it is embraced. 

Process Management - Identify metrics, tools, and processes to optimize site activities.  Work collaboratively with team members to prioritize and drive implementation.  Develop and implement protocols and practices to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of strategic initiatives. 

Cross Functional Collaboration - Collaborate with functional leaders to establish both short and long-term business objectives.  Identify, develop, and manage strategic business relationships to enable attainment of corporate growth strategy, revenue targets, and savings plans.  Partner with central operations including sourcing, procurement and finance to deliver client satisfaction and resolve any transactional issues. 

Continuous Improvement – This individual will drive continuous improvement and business results through use of six-sigma, standard operating procedures, data analysis, business process re-engineering and new technology implementation where appropriate.  This individual will deliver operational best practices and be instrumental in creating a world-class integrated supply service delivery organization.

Staff Management -This individual will work with the SVP of Digital Supply to develop a high-performance client facing team responsible for interfacing with business and internal SDI partners.  As the primary liaison between the site resources and corporate headquarters, superior staff management skills are a must. 

The skills you’ll contribute to our diverse team:  

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business, or related field or equivalent work experience. 
• Comfort and experience in analyzing data  to understand and define program direction, objectives, and measuring results. Advanced skills in PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, or equivalent office suite.   Ability and comfort to develop complete end-to-end customer presentation.
• End-to-End knowledge of the complete procure-to-pay transactional life cycle from an SAP or similar ERP perspective. 
• 3 years’ experience in Integrated Supply or adjacent space (i.e. Logistics, Distribution, Supply Chain with some knowledge of indirect materials).
• 5+ years of client management experience, including knowledge of sourcing and inventory control of indirect materials.
• 3+ years direct client facing experience required.
• Must have experience utilizing and defining current technology to deliver client automated visibility to supply and fulfillment, including eCommerce plugins, personalized recommendation engines, advanced analytics services, inventory tracking solutions, custom product builders, chatbots etc.
• Demonstrated leadership competencies with excellent written and verbal communication. 
• Hands-on manager not afraid to roll-up sleeves to perform duties to get the job done.   
• Proven ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy and professionalism. 
• Executive presence, superior presentation skills, comfortable presenting to senior leadership.
• Strong organizational, time management, and people management skills.
• Six Sigma certification preferred, exposure/knowledge required. Other process methodologies such as Lean Manufacturing, etc. will also be considered Process-oriented, strong analytical skills

Travel: Will simultaneously manage multiple locations. Must be willing to travel up to 100% to sites.