Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Warehouse Support Director

🎯 Role Definition

The Warehouse Support Director is a senior operations leader responsible for designing, implementing and continuously improving the warehouse support ecosystem that enables reliable, cost-effective fulfillment across one or multiple distribution centers. This role leads teams that manage inventory accuracy, receiving and putaway support, returns and repair flows, equipment and facility maintenance, vendor and carrier coordination, workforce planning and WMS/ERP integrations. The ideal candidate combines hands-on warehouse operations experience with strategic planning, data-driven decision making and strong cross-functional influence to drive measurable improvements in on-time delivery, labor productivity, safety performance and working capital.

This position is optimized for keywords and signals used by recruiting systems and LLMs: warehouse support director, distribution center leadership, warehouse operations, inventory control, WMS, ERP, fulfillment operations, supply chain management, continuous improvement, safety & compliance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Warehouse Manager / Distribution Center Manager with multi-site experience
Operations Manager or Logistics Manager with responsibility for DC support functions
Supply Chain Manager or Inventory Control Manager with strong WMS knowledge

Advancement To:

Director of Operations / Head of Distribution
VP of Supply Chain or VP of Fulfillment
Chief Operations Officer (COO) in high-growth or asset-heavy environments

Lateral Moves:

Supply Chain Program Manager (cross-functional projects)
Distribution Engineering or Process Improvement Lead
Transportation & Logistics Director

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and execute a comprehensive warehouse support strategy that aligns with corporate fulfillment goals, reduces lead times, improves inventory accuracy, and lowers total cost to serve across all supported facilities.
Lead and coach a multi-disciplinary support organization (inventory control, receiving support, returns/repairs, MRO, equipment maintenance, facilities, and vendor management) to meet weekly and monthly KPIs for accuracy, throughput, and cost.
Own end-to-end inventory integrity programs, designing and implementing cycle count strategies, root-cause analysis for shrinkage, reconciliation processes, and corrective action plans that improve inventory accuracy to target levels.
Manage WMS and ERP support activities for warehouse teams, including configuring operational rules, troubleshooting exceptions, leading user acceptance testing (UAT) for system changes, and partnering with IT for integrations and upgrades.
Drive labor planning and workforce optimization for support functions: build staffing models, forecast headcount needs by shift, design cross-training programs, and implement labor management tools to improve productivity and reduce overtime spend.
Establish and continually refine receiving and putaway support processes to accelerate dock-to-inventory time, reduce touchpoints, and minimize misreceipts and putaway errors through SOPs and performance monitoring.
Oversee returns, repair, and disposition operations—designing triage flows, SLA objectives and vendor repair agreements to recover value, reduce processing time and improve customer experience.
Develop and oversee preventive maintenance programs for warehouse equipment (conveyors, sorters, forklifts, racking), partner with facilities teams for capital planning, and manage outsourcing relationships where appropriate.
Own the warehouse support P&L and budget: identify cost-saving initiatives, track spend versus plan, and report monthly financial and operational performance to senior leadership.
Serve as the primary point of escalation for complex warehouse incidents—coordinate cross-functional incident response, conduct post-mortems, and implement corrective action plans to prevent recurrence.
Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma or Kaizen methodologies to increase throughput, reduce waste, shorten cycle times and improve safety metrics; quantify impact and scale best practices across sites.
Partner with transportation and planning teams to support inbound flow optimization, vendor compliance programs, ASN accuracy and timely scheduling of appointments to maximize dock utilization.
Build and maintain vendor and third-party service provider relationships for repair services, MRO procurement, temporary labor, and equipment suppliers; negotiate SLAs and performance incentives tied to service-level objectives.
Design and deliver training curricula for support team members on WMS usage, safety protocols, quality inspection, and standard operating procedures to increase competence and reduce error rates.
Implement and maintain operational dashboards and reporting (real-time and historical) for KPIs such as inventory accuracy, returns processing time, equipment uptime, labor efficiency, and cost-per-unit metrics to enable data-driven decisions.
Ensure compliance with OSHA, DOT and internal safety programs: lead safety committees, conduct audits, root cause analyses for incidents, and drive corrective and preventative safety actions.
Coordinate expansion, relocation, or retrofit projects for distribution centers—own requirements definition, vendor selection, installation oversight, and phased cutover to minimize impact to operations.
Lead continuous vendor compliance and quality programs including supplier scorecards, inbound quality checks, and corrective action tracking to reduce defects and returns associated with supplier issues.
Manage cross-functional programs with customer success and operations to reduce fulfillment exceptions, claims and chargebacks by implementing improved inspection, packaging and reconciliation workflows.
Oversee inventory reconciliation for accounting close cycles, support external and internal audits, and collaborate with finance on working capital optimization strategies tied to inventory days and obsolescence reduction.
Implement sustainability initiatives in the warehouse support domain—optimize packaging and reverse logistics for reduced waste, and partner with facilities on energy-saving and recycling programs.
Champion culture and employee engagement in support teams: set clear performance expectations, run career development plans, and design recognition programs that reduce turnover and increase retention.
Continuously evaluate and pilot new warehouse technologies (RF scanning, voice, automated storage, robotics) in conjunction with engineering and IT to identify opportunities that improve throughput and accuracy.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc operational analyses and executive reporting requests; translate data into actionable operational recommendations and executive summaries.
Serve as a cross-functional stakeholder on ERP/WMS implementation projects, advising on warehouse support requirements, process flows and testing scenarios.
Provide on-call support for major operational incidents and participate in enterprise-level business continuity and disaster recovery planning for supply chain disruptions.
Mentor high-potential managers and support talent development programs; participate in recruitment and succession planning for critical roles.
Represent warehouse support in customer escalations for complex returns or warranty issues and coordinate resolution with product, legal, or customer service teams.
Assist in the design and rollout of corporate process standards and playbook for warehouse support functions to ensure consistency and scale.
Participate in monthly and quarterly business reviews with regional operations leaders to align support activities with capacity planning and network strategy.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strong expertise with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) such as Manhattan, Blue Yonder (JDA), Oracle WMS, or SAP EWM, including configuration, testing and operational support.
Practical knowledge of ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and experience coordinating ERP-WMS integrations.
Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, Power Query, complex formulas) and experience producing executive dashboards; familiarity with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker) preferred.
Hands-on experience with inventory management best practices: cycle counting, reconciliation, ABC analysis, and shrinkage mitigation techniques.
Familiarity with labor management systems (LMS), scheduling tools and capacity modeling to optimize staffing and productivity.
Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing/warehouse principles, Six Sigma methodologies (Green/Black Belt a plus), Kaizen and continuous improvement toolkits.
Understanding of MRO management, equipment preventive maintenance programs, and vendor-managed maintenance relationships.
Experience with returns, repair, refurbishment and disposition flows in a distribution environment.
Knowledge of OSHA, DOT, and local regulatory compliance requirements related to warehousing, material handling and hazardous materials.
Ability to interpret operational and financial KPIs such as OTIF (on-time in full), inventory accuracy, cost-per-order, labor productivity, and DIO (days inventory outstanding).

Soft Skills

Strong leadership and people-management skills with proven ability to build, coach and scale cross-functional teams.
Excellent stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration—comfortable influencing without direct authority across supply chain, IT, finance and commercial teams.
Data-driven decision making and problem solving with a bias for actionable outcomes and measurable impact.
Clear and concise communicator, able to present complex operational issues to senior leadership and external partners.
Change management aptitude—experience leading organizational changes and driving adoption of new processes and technology.
High sense of ownership and accountability, with a track record of delivering projects on time and on budget.
Strong negotiation skills for vendor and third-party contract discussions and performance management.
Resilience and adaptability in fast-paced, high-volume operations with competing priorities and ambiguous conditions.
Coaching and talent development mindset with focus on succession planning and internal mobility.
Analytical curiosity and continuous improvement orientation to seek root causes and sustainable solutions.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Industrial Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree (MBA, MS in Supply Chain/Operations) or relevant advanced certification (CSCP, CPIM, Six Sigma Black/Green Belt).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Supply Chain Management
Logistics and Transportation
Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering
Business Administration
Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 8–15+ years of progressively responsible experience in warehouse, distribution or fulfillment operations, including at least 3–5 years in a senior management role.

Preferred:

10+ years of multi-site warehouse operations experience with hands-on ownership of support functions (inventory, returns, maintenance).
Proven track record leading WMS/ERP projects, continuous improvement initiatives, and cross-functional operational programs.
Experience managing budgets and P&L, vendor contracts, and leading large teams (50+ employees or multi-site teams).
Prior exposure to automation projects, robotics or advanced warehouse technologies is highly desirable.