Director of Operations with pathway to COO

GEM Supply Company • Orlando, FL

2d • Onsite

About The Position

GEM Supply is seeking a hands-on operational leader for the Director of Operations role, with a defined pathway to Chief Operating Officer (COO). This position is crucial for client retention through excellence in warehouse and distribution, inventory management, and customer care. The role involves working closely with the CEO for 6-18 months, with the potential for expanded authority and compensation as COO. The ideal candidate will own client retention by building systems, processes, and proactive outreach programs, ensuring customer loyalty and identifying at-risk accounts. This role also encompasses owning the post-sale customer experience, from order accuracy to issue resolution, and driving operational excellence in distribution and logistics, including improving pick accuracy, fulfillment speed, and inventory accuracy. The Director will leverage data and AI for pattern recognition, demand forecasting, and anomaly detection to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities. A key responsibility will be supporting the operational integration of newly acquired distributors. The COO pathway is structured, with the Director gaining authority over distribution and logistics from day one, building toward customer care ownership, and obtaining dotted-line visibility into purchasing. Upon mutual agreement and meeting defined milestones, the role can transition to COO with full P&L oversight, straight-line authority over Customer Care and Purchasing, full hire/fire and budget authority, and equity participation.

Requirements

• 5+ years in distribution, logistics, or warehouse operations management.
• Multi-site experience strongly preferred.
• Direct experience managing or building customer care/service systems with ownership of measurable retention outcomes.
• Hands-on with data: personally builds dashboards, pulls reports, queries systems, and leverages AI tools for analysis.
• Track record of building SOPs and standardizing operations across multiple locations.
• Demonstrated ability to improve client retention through operational excellence.
• Experience hiring, developing, and managing hourly and salaried operations staff.
• Local to Central Florida or willing to relocate immediately.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in industrial distribution, building materials, or similar B2B environments.
• Familiarity with EOS or similar operating frameworks.
• Experience supporting M&A operational integration.
• Applied process improvement background (Lean, Six Sigma).
• Experience with ERP systems and inventory management platforms.
• Track record of building proactive retention programs — identifying at-risk accounts, designing outreach cadences, measuring results.

Responsibilities

• Build proactive systems to identify at-risk accounts before they leave, using data, AI, and pattern recognition.
• Work closely with Sales to design and implement cadences for key customers that are operationally driven.
• Track and own retention metrics, surface failures, and fix root causes.
• Coordinate with Sales to define clear swim lanes between operational retention and revenue-driven account management.
• Own the post-sale customer experience end-to-end: order accuracy, delivery reliability, issue resolution, and service recovery.
• Build escalation paths, quality standards, and service processes that produce consistent outcomes across all facilities.
• Design and enforce service-level standards for the care team.
• Achieve measurable improvement in pick accuracy, fulfillment speed, and inventory accuracy across all facilities.
• Eliminate tribal knowledge dependencies by building documented, repeatable processes.
• Standardize staffing models, quality standards, and operating procedures across facilities.
• Implement cycle count programs, min/max optimization, and dead stock reduction.
• Build a warehouse and inventory team strong enough to sustain results without constant oversight.
• Pull reports, build dashboards, and query operational systems daily.
• Leverage AI tools for pattern recognition, demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and anomaly detection.
• Use data and AI-generated insights to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities.
• Integrate AI into reporting workflows to reduce manual analysis and accelerate decision-making.
• Support operational integration of newly acquired distributor operations into GEM’s systems, processes, and culture.
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO, who currently serves as acting COO.
• Own distribution and logistics with full authority from day one.
• Build toward customer care ownership by designing systems and earning the trust of internal stakeholders.
• Gain dotted-line visibility into purchasing operations.
• Participate in all C-level leadership meetings, including acquisition planning.
• Collaborate with the CEO on spending, staffing, and operational strategy, with expanding autonomy.
• Upon mutual agreement and milestone achievement, assume full P&L oversight across all operational pillars.
• Upon mutual agreement and milestone achievement, gain straight-line authority over Customer Care and Purchasing.
• Upon mutual agreement and milestone achievement, exercise full hire/fire and budget authority.
• Upon mutual agreement and milestone achievement, receive equity participation at the C-level.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Performance-based incentive structure tied to operational and retention outcomes
• Access to Health coverage for you and family: traditional group health insurance, Sedera health sharing + MEC plan, dental, and vision
• 401k with employer match
• Defined pathway to COO with compensation adjustment at the C-level
• A seat at the leadership table from day one — including participation in acquisition planning and C-level strategy discussions

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed