Director of Distribution

Quality Bicycle Products•Bloomington, MN

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

ABOUT QBP: Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) is in the business of bikes! From creating a portfolio of our own award-winning brands to distributing the top names and best products in the industry, we’re doing our part to further bike-kind. With distribution centers in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, Canada and Taiwan, QBP serves more than 5,000 independent retailers and 400+ suppliers worldwide. We strive to be an extraordinary business partner with and work for. As a values-driven company, making the world a better place has always been at the heart of everything Q does. We believe that our actions as individuals and as a company can make a difference, so we work every day to improve the sustainability and health of our industry and our communities. We understand that it is our employees that make us successful and we do our best to make Q a fun and rewarding workplace. Our community is passionate about pushing creative boundaries, sparking innovation in the industry, living healthy lifestyles, and having fun. We have a welcoming environment that welcomes employees from all backgrounds and allows individuals to be themselves. Q provides a lot of great perks for employees.

Requirements

Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience in procurement, supply chain, demand planning, or related disciplines.
Proven experience leading multi-site, high volume distribution or fulfillment operations
Strong understanding of labor management, safety, peak planning, operational performance
Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans across large, complex teams
Experience leading change, continuous improvement, and operational transformation
Executive presence with the ability to influence peers, senior leaders and cross functional partners.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally approximately 10% of the time.
Ability to perform work on a phone and computer extensively.

Responsibilities

Own the enterprise distribution strategy aligned to QBP’s growth, service, financial, and cultural objectives
Enterprise decision authority for distribution tradeoffs across cost, service, labor, capital, and risk
Prioritize, business-case, and realize ROI from multi-year capital investments across facilities, systems and operational capabilities
Act as executive steward of safety, service reliability, labor productivity, and operational discipline across the DC Network
Lead and govern a multi site distribution network with consistent standards, expectations, management routines and accountability
Operate as a senior enterprise leader, influencing outcomes far beyond direct reporting lines by building strong cross-functional operating partnerships with DCAT, Industrial Engineering, Technology, Human Resources, Finance, Sales and Category/Brand teams, Logistics, and Purchasing.
Build leadership capability and succession depth across DC operations, ensuring leaders can execute today’s work while preparing for future scale and complexity.
Own all distribution facilities and real estate related functions, including site readiness, facility investments, lifecycle planning, and support of new DC openings, expansions, and major facility changes
Lead and integrate QBP’s in house manufacturing operations (Wheelhouse), ensuring alignment with distribution flow, quality standards, cost expectations, labor planning, and customer service needs.
Own enterprise distribution operating cadence, including performance reviews, escalation routines, peak readiness, operational risk management, and cross-site accountability
Own the strategy, roadmap, and prioritization of QBP’s Warehouse Management System and related four walls technologies
Own the selection, deployment, and operational performance of all distribution center technologies including warehouse systems, automation, and supporting tools, with IT partnering to enable secure, scalable, and reliable execution.
Own Distribution financial planning and budget stewardship, including labor, SG&A and Capital (CapEx) as well as supporting business cases and delivering approved budget commitments.
Define and govern QBP’s distribution automation strategy, ensuring investments are sequenced, operationally viable, and deliver measurable performance outcomes
Partner closely with DCAT to align network-wide process ownership, training, inventory accuracy, and site readiness to the distribution operating model.
Partner closely with Industrial Engineering to align engineered standards, labor planning, slotting/productivity insights, process design, and continuous improvement priorities to network performance objectives.
Lead the end to end performance of all QBP Distribution Centers, including service levels, cost, safety, quality, and labor productivity
Set and execute short and long term distribution network strategy, including capacity planning, site strategy, automation, and scalability
Establish and maintain clear operating standards, performance metrics, and management routines across all DCs
Own peak planning and execution, ensuring the network scales up safely and effectively during high volume periods, as well as down to drive savings realization in low volume periods.
Build and manage Distribution budgets across labor, SG&A, and capital, ensuring operational plans, staffing models, and capital investments deliver against approved financial targets.
Drive continuous improvement through process design, labor optimization, technology adoption, and operational discipline
Partner closely with Purchasing, Logistics, Category Management, Finance, IT, Sales, and Brand teams to align execution with enterprise priorities
Lead, coach, and develop DC and operations leaders, building strong succession pipelines
Create a safe, inclusive, and high engagement work environment that reflects QBP’s values
Serve as executive sponsor for major distribution initiatives, including system implementations, facility investments, and transformation efforts
Design, own, and evolve the enterprise distribution operating system; spanning facilities, people, processes, systems, compliance, and automation to ensure QBP can operate safely, efficiently, and consistently at scale
Establish and govern enterprise processes for identifying, escalating, and mitigating operational risks in all areas of distribution execution