Director, Operations Excellence

Lead enterprise deployment governance for operational technology initiatives, beginning with the Lantern AI inventory optimization platform, including go-live sequencing, site readiness, buyer onboarding, and rollout dependencies.

Establish governance for technology adoption, measuring usage, compliance, override behavior, and realized business benefit rather than relying solely on training completion.

Govern the Lantern override process, including tracking override rates by buyer, branch, product line, and vendor; establishing approval thresholds; and defining escalation paths where overrides reduce modeled benefits.

Own the days-of-supply and minimum-stocking parameter governance framework and maintain documented rationale for material deviations from model recommendations.

Build and maintain the Lantern benefits realization model, including modeled opportunity, approved opportunity, realized reduction, and variance by site and product line.

Partner with purchasing leadership and IT to improve lead-time and master data accuracy and quantify the impact of data defects on model performance.

Monitor service level, fill rate, transfer activity, and labor alongside inventory reduction to ensure working capital improvements do not compromise customer service or operational performance.

Serve as the primary reporting leader to the SVP and executive team on Lantern value capture versus commitment.

Build a repeatable playbook for operational technology deployment so future implementations can scale more efficiently and consistently.

Design and lead the operating rhythm for Operations and Supply Chain, including weekly performance reviews, monthly business reviews, quarterly target reviews, and transformation governance.

Own agendas, executive pre-reads, decision logs, and action tracking for recurring leadership forums.

Drive meeting discipline and forum consolidation to improve decision-making and reduce unnecessary leadership meeting load.

Maintain the leadership action and commitment tracker, including aging, ownership, escalation, and resolution of stalled items.

Prepare the SVP for CEO, executive leadership team, board, and private equity owner sessions with validated data, clear insights, and recommended decisions.

Establish consistent governance standards that create clear accountability and follow-through across the function.

Define and own the Operations and Supply Chain KPI framework, including metric definitions, calculation logic, data sources, refresh frequency, and accountable owners.

Build executive and operational dashboards in partnership with Analytics and IT to provide one consistent version of performance data.

Deliver self-service performance visibility to branch, DC, and category leaders so decisions can be made at the appropriate level of the organization.

Separate controllable and uncontrollable cost drivers in efficiency reporting and use hours worked, output, service, and productivity measures to evaluate operational performance.

Audit data integrity across operational systems and partner with IT and business leaders to remediate reporting gaps and inconsistencies.

Translate operational performance into actionable insights for senior leadership, identifying trends, risks, opportunities, and required actions.

Own adoption measurement for operational technology deployments, including usage, compliance, behavior change, and realized benefit.

Partner with HR and business unit leadership on change management, communication, and capability-building plans for major technology and transformation initiatives.

Identify and remove adoption barriers at the branch, buyer, and operational level and escalate persistent adoption issues when appropriate.

Develop scalable change and adoption practices that improve the effectiveness and speed of future deployments.

Translate commercial priorities and commitments into operational requirements and communicate operational constraints and opportunities to Commercial leadership.

Partner with Finance on savings validation, working capital reporting, inventory reserve exposure, and accounting treatment associated with sourcing, inventory, and network initiatives.

Coordinate with IT and the PMO to ensure technology, project, and performance workstreams are aligned and do not duplicate effort.

Support SIOP by providing performance inputs, decision support, and post-decision measurement that closes the planning and execution loop.

Build strong working relationships across Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, IT, Commercial, Procurement, and other functional leaders.

Build and lead a small, high-impact analytics and program team as the function scales.

Develop performance management capability among branch, DC, and category leaders by teaching leaders how to understand and use the metrics that drive their businesses.

Establish credibility with frontline operators and senior executives and constructively challenge performance assumptions and reported results when warranted.

Model financial discipline, execution focus, collaboration, and clear ownership across the organization.

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, Operations, Business, Finance, or a related field. Advanced degree preferred.

10+ years of progressive experience in operations, supply chain, business operations, operations excellence, transformation, performance management, or a related function.

At least 5 years of experience leading performance management, operational transformation, continuous improvement, or business operations initiatives in a multi-site environment.

Demonstrated ownership of a measurement or performance management system used by senior leadership to make business decisions, with measurable financial or operational outcomes.

Experience leading operational transformation, technology adoption, or performance improvement initiatives across multiple sites, preferably involving inventory, warehouse, transportation, ERP, replenishment, or other operational systems.

Strong financial acumen, with the ability to build benefits models, partner effectively with Finance, and connect operational actions to cash flow, margin, working capital, and productivity.

Advanced analytical capability, including strong Excel modeling skills and practical fluency with a BI platform such as Power BI or Tableau. SQL experience preferred.

Strong executive communication skills, with the ability to translate complex operational information into concise recommendations and decisions for senior executives.

Demonstrated ability to influence and challenge senior operating leaders while maintaining strong working relationships.

Experience working across multiple functions and locations in a complex operating environment.

Experience in HVAC, plumbing, appliance, building products, industrial, or other distribution environments.

Experience in a private equity-backed organization with an active value creation plan and board-level reporting cadence.

ERP experience with Eclipse, Epicor, SAP, or an equivalent distribution ERP, including master data governance.

Experience in a multi-ERP or post-acquisition environment where data standardization and integration are ongoing.

Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous improvement certification.

Experience leading SIOP, integrated business planning, or related supply chain planning processes.

Experience with inventory optimization, replenishment technology, WMS, TMS, or other operational technology platforms.

Medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage effective immediately

401(k) plan with company contributions

Life insurance and short-term disability coverage

HSA/FSA options and an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Paid time off, including vacation, holidays, and personal days

Weekly pay, employee discounts, and more