Distribution and Logistics Director, Americas

Director, Distribution & Logistics – US / Canada
What You Will Do
The Director, Distribution & Logistics is responsible for leading a multi-site domestic distribution and logistics network, ensuring safe, reliable, cost-effective movement and delivery of products to customers and internal operations.
This leader has overall accountability for the performance of multiple distribution centers and warehouse operations, domestic transportation, inventory accuracy, reverse logistics, productivity, and customer delivery performance. The Director will establish and execute the operating strategy for the domestic distribution network while building consistent operating standards, management systems, and continuous improvement capabilities across all locations.
The position requires a highly visible, hands-on leader who can operate strategically while driving disciplined execution at the site level. The successful candidate will develop strong site leadership teams, establish accountability through meaningful KPIs, optimize the distribution network, and partner across Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Planning, Procurement, Sales, Customer Service, Finance, IT, and Product Business Units.
The Director will serve as the senior escalation point for domestic distribution and logistics performance and will be accountable for delivering improvements in safety, customer service, on-time delivery, cost, productivity, inventory accuracy, quality, and working capital.
How You Will Do It
Multi-Site Distribution Leadership
Provide direct leadership and operational oversight for a multi-site domestic distribution and warehouse network.
Establish a consistent operating model, management cadence, performance standards, and accountability across all distribution locations.
Lead and develop Distribution Center and Logistics leaders, building a strong succession pipeline and high-performance culture.
Ensure site operations achieve established targets for safety, quality, service, productivity, inventory, and cost.
Balance enterprise-wide standardization with the specific operational needs of individual sites and businesses.
Serve as the primary escalation point for significant distribution, transportation, capacity, inventory, and customer-service issues.
Customer Delivery & Service
Own distribution execution supporting customer-requested delivery and overall service performance.
Drive improvements in On-Time Delivery, order cycle time, shipment reliability, fill rate, and perfect-order performance.
Partner with Planning, Manufacturing, Customer Service, and Commercial teams to identify and resolve systemic service issues.
Establish effective root-cause and corrective-action processes for missed shipments, warehouse constraints, transportation failures, and recurring customer issues.
Domestic Transportation
Provide leadership for domestic inbound, outbound, intercompany, and customer transportation.
Optimize transportation modes, routing, consolidation, carrier utilization, and shipment planning.
Partner with Procurement to establish carrier strategies, service expectations, contracts, and performance management processes.
Manage transportation performance through metrics such as cost per shipment, cost per pound, freight as a percentage of sales, tender acceptance, claims, and on-time pickup/delivery.
Drive reduction of premium freight and other avoidable logistics costs.
Network Strategy & Optimization
Develop and execute the long-term strategy for the domestic distribution network.
Evaluate warehouse footprint, capacity, customer proximity, transportation flows, service requirements, and total delivered cost.
Develop business cases supporting facility investments, automation, consolidation, expansion, outsourcing, or network redesign.
Lead distribution network optimization initiatives with minimal disruption to customers.
Determine appropriate use of internal operations versus third-party logistics providers (3PLs).
Inventory & Warehouse Management
Drive strong inventory control disciplines throughout the distribution network.
Improve inventory accuracy, cycle count effectiveness, dock-to-stock time, order picking accuracy, space utilization, and inventory velocity.
Partner with Supply Planning and Inventory Management teams to improve product positioning throughout the distribution network.
Establish effective controls for excess, obsolete, damaged, quarantined, and returned inventory.
Ensure appropriate processes for reverse logistics and returns.
Operational Excellence
Build a continuous improvement culture across the distribution network using Lean, Daily Management, Standard Work, Visual Management, Kaizen, problem solving, and value-stream improvement.
Establish standardized processes and operating procedures across sites where practical.
Use data and operational analytics to identify productivity, service, capacity, and cost opportunities.
Drive warehouse productivity through labor planning, process redesign, slotting, material flow, technology, and automation.
Lead transformational initiatives that improve both customer experience and operating cost.
Financial Management
Own the operating budget and financial performance for the domestic distribution and logistics organization.
Develop annual operating plans, productivity commitments, capital requirements, and cost-reduction roadmaps.
Manage warehouse, labor, transportation, 3PL, packaging, and related logistics expenses.
Identify structural productivity opportunities and deliver sustainable year-over-year cost improvements.
Partner with Finance to establish transparent cost reporting and appropriate operational controls.
Safety, Quality & Compliance
Establish a culture where employee safety is a core operating principle across every distribution location.
Ensure compliance with applicable company policies and federal, state, and local requirements governing warehouse and transportation operations.
Drive corrective actions associated with safety incidents, quality issues, freight damage, and process failures.
Partner with EHS, Quality, Trade Compliance, Legal, and Procurement organizations as required.
Ensure third-party logistics partners and transportation providers meet company safety, quality, security, and operational standards.
People Leadership
Build, coach, and develop a high-performing team of distribution and logistics professionals.
Establish clear accountability and performance expectations for site leaders.
Develop succession plans for critical leadership positions and build a sustainable logistics talent pipeline.
Create an environment of accountability, inclusion, continuous learning, problem solving, and employee engagement.
Lead through influence across businesses, functions, and sites to drive enterprise-level change.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
The Director will establish and drive performance across a balanced scorecard including:
People & Safety
Recordable and lost-time incidents
Employee engagement
Leadership development
Succession coverage
Turnover
Customer
On-Time Delivery to customer-requested delivery date
Order cycle time
Perfect order / shipment accuracy
Customer complaints
Inventory
Inventory accuracy
Cycle count performance
Inventory turns
Excess and obsolete inventory
Damage and shrinkage
Operations
Warehouse productivity
Lines/orders per labor hour
Dock-to-stock time
Picking and shipping accuracy
Distribution center capacity utilization
Transportation
Freight cost
Premium freight
On-time pickup/delivery
Carrier performance
Freight claims/damage
Financial
Labor productivity
Year-over-year productivity savings
What We Look For
Required
Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline.
12+ years of progressive supply chain, distribution, warehousing, or logistics experience, with significant leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience leading multiple distribution centers, warehouses, or logistics operations.
Strong experience managing domestic transportation and carrier performance.
Proven experience improving customer delivery, distribution cost, productivity, and inventory performance.
Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale operational change across multiple locations.
Strong understanding of warehouse management processes, inventory control, transportation management, and distribution operations.
Strong financial and business acumen with experience managing significant operating budgets.
Proven ability to develop leaders and build high-performing teams.
Strong analytical and structured problem-solving capabilities.
Ability to collaborate and influence across Supply Chain, Operations, Commercial, Finance, Procurement, IT, and functional leadership.
Ability to travel regularly across the

Skills
Procurement, Inventory Management, Warehouse Operations