Director of Distribution and Logistics

**Job Summary:** The Director of Distribution & Logistics owns the end-to-end physical flow of Step2 product across our network — four warehouse locations, an internal shuttle/fleet operation, and a micro-fulfillment partner. Reporting to the COO, this leader is accountable for the cost, service, capacity, and safety performance of our distribution and logistics operations, with a particular focus on optimizing the flow of large-format, space-intensive product. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone with a technical foundation and a continuous-improvement mindset. The Director will use data and disciplined process design to drive throughput, space utilization, and on-time delivery while critically evaluating our third-party logistics (3PL) and LTL freight strategy. They will lead a team of four direct and build the systems, metrics, and partnerships that scale with the business. **Location:** Onsite (Streetsboro, OH Headquarters) with regular presence across our four warehouse locations. Occasional travel — approximately once per month — is expected to partner and facility sites. **Job Duties:** **Key Responsibilities** **Safety** - Champion a safety-first culture across all locations and the fleet — own warehouse and DOT safety programs, drive OSHA compliance, and lead efforts to eliminate injuries, incidents, and unsafe conditions. **Network & Operations Leadership** - Direct day-to-day operations across four warehouse locations, ensuring safe, efficient, and cost-effective receiving, storage, picking, packing, and shipping of large-format product. - Lead, develop, and hold accountable a team of four managers/coordinators; set clear goals, KPIs, and standard work, and build bench strength across the function. - Oversee the internal shuttle and fleet operation, optimizing routing, utilization, and inter-facility moves while ensuring DOT compliance and driver safety. - Manage the micro-fulfillment partner relationship, integrating it into the broader network to improve speed and reach for direct-to-consumer and e-commerce demand. **Flow Optimization & Continuous Improvement** - Optimize product flow and space utilization across the network — slotting, storage strategy, cube efficiency, and material handling — specifically engineered for high-volume, large-format SKUs. - Apply Lean / Six Sigma and continuous-improvement methods to reduce touches, cycle times, damage, and cost per unit shipped. - Establish and govern a metrics framework (throughput, fill rate, on-time delivery, cost-to-serve, damage, safety, labor productivity) and drive a culture of data-based decision-making. - Build dashboards, capacity models, and labor/volume forecasts that inform staffing, layout, and investment decisions. **Logistics, Freight & 3PL Strategy** - Critically evaluate the performance, cost, and scalability of the current 3PL partner(s), and lead make-vs-buy and partner-selection analyses where warranted. - Own LTL, truckload, and parcel freight strategy — carrier selection, rate negotiation, mode optimization, and service-level management — with attention to the freight challenges unique to oversized product. - Drive transportation cost reduction and service improvement through network design, consolidation, and routing strategy. **Inventory, Systems & Cross-Functional Partnership** - Ensure inventory accuracy and integrity across the network, partnering with the Inventory Coordinator on cycle counting, reconciliation, and process controls. - Champion the effective use and ongoing improvement of WMS/TMS and related operational technology, including automation and material-handling investments. - Partner closely with Manufacturing, Planning, Customer Service, Sales, and Finance to align capacity, service commitments, and cost targets. - Work with the Finance and credit team to identify, address, and minimize customer chargebacks — improving routing-guide compliance, shipping accuracy, and on-time/in-full performance to protect margin.…