Director of Operations

An exciting career as a Director of Operations in Mississauga, Ontario is available at Alliance! 

The Director of Operations leads Alliance Corporation's distribution and logistics network through its site leadership team. The role is based in Mississauga and oversees day-to-day operations at that facility through the Warehouse Manager and carries the same accountability for the Warehouse Managers and daily performance of Alliance's other locations.

The Director owns the operating standards for the network, the KPIs, productivity standards and SOPs that govern how every site runs. They also develop and execute the operations strategy that improves service, expands capability and supports growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Warehouse Managers at all Alliance locations, holding each accountable for the day-to-day performance of their site.
• Oversee daily operations at Mississauga. On-site presence is necessary for setting direction, resolving escalations and driving change.
• Work directly with Warehouse Managers and Sales partners to build a culture that promotes involvement, communication, trust and honesty. The role demands a passion for excellence and the willingness to hold staff accountable.
• Assess existing operations talent, analyze staffing levels, and build a flexible staffing model that improves output and controls labour cost across the network.
• Provide leadership, coaching and training that raise the capability of the operations and logistics teams and build a bench of site leaders.
• Manage a geographically distributed team effectively, maintaining standards and visibility at locations the Director does not visit daily.
• Manage key vendor relationships, ensuring service levels, performance, pricing, and contractual obligations align with organizational needs

• Design, implement and own the KPI framework, productivity standards and SOPs that govern operations at every Alliance location, including metric definitions, targets, reporting cadence and the corrective-action process when a site misses.
• Develop and implement the operations strategy for the network, translating it into site-level plans, sequencing and named accountabilities.
• Use data and facts to evaluate and communicate site performance; deliver a regular operating review to executive and site leadership.
• Drive consistency across locations. Where processes differ site to site, decide which standard applies and lead the migration to it.
• Lead and participate in continuous improvement, technology automation and systems enhancements that improve customer service, increase efficiency or reduce cost.
• Oversee the receipt, storage and distribution of goods across the network, including inventory accuracy and order fulfillment performance.

• Build and manage the operating budget for the locations in scope and hold each site accountable to the budget.
• Analyze operating and financial reports to identify cost-reduction and efficiency opportunities. Lead the initiatives that capture them without degrading service.

• Ensure every location operates in compliance with the occupational health and safety legislation of its own jurisdiction; Ontario’s OHSA, Alberta’s OHS Act, and federal and state OSHA requirements at the U.S. sites, and that all legal requirements for the operation are adhered to at all times.
• Ensure each site maintains a functioning health and safety committee, hazard reporting, incident investigation and corrective action, in the form its jurisdiction requires; monitor workers’ compensation claims (WSIB, WCB Alberta, U.S. state programs) and lost-time trends and act on them.
• Enforce safety and quality standards consistently across the network and lead each location's response to audits and inspections.
• Lead the organization’s Quality Management System (QMS) and ensure ongoing compliance with ISO90001 standards.  Drive a culture of quality and continuous improvement through process oversight, performance measurement, internal audits, and corrective actions

• Partner with Sales to align operational capability with customer requirements and service commitments.
• Work closely with program management to support new initiatives and confirm the operational feasibility of proposed projects.
• Collaborate across departments to align operating capacity with business growth objectives.
• Stay current on industry trends, emerging technologies and best practices, and bring the relevant ones into the network.

• 10+ years leading operations teams, including experience in a distribution or logistics environment.
• Proven multi-site experience leading through distributed management team, including managing a team remotely across separate time zones.
• Experience operating a warehouse network that spans provinces and the U.S. states, including differences in employment and safety obligations between them.
• Demonstrated experience building KPI frameworks, productivity standards and SOPs from the ground up, not solely administering standards set by others.
• Credibility on the floor: has personally implemented change and new processes in a warehouse environment and can still do so when a site requires it.
• Experience implementing and training on operations systems and processes; proficiency with WMS and inventory management software.
• Demonstrated success in staffing and productivity management, and the ability to hold operations staff accountable for running the day-to-day business.
• Strong customer-service-focused leadership and strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate and build consistency across different locations.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, communication and computer skills, and excellent multi-tasking and problem-resolution ability.
• Working knowledge of Ontario health and safety legislation and employment standards.
• Bachelor's degree in logistics, supply chain management, business administration or a related field, or equivalent operating experience.

• Experience in a private-equity-backed or multi-entity portfolio environment.
• Experience leading a WMS implementation or a major systems upgrade.
• Continuous improvement credentials (Lean, Six Sigma or equivalent).