Director, Retail Customer Operations

Kinder's • Walnut Creek, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Kinder’s is seeking a director to lead customer service and order execution across Retail and Alternative Channels, develop two Senior Managers, and establish processes to support continued growth. The role sets priorities and service standards across both portfolios, serves as the senior escalation point for customer operations issues, and aligns Sales, Planning, Co-Manufacturing, Inventory Control, Logistics, Warehousing, and Finance around customer needs. The director owns customer operations outcomes and partners with teams responsible for production, inventory, transportation, and distribution.

The position leads the Senior Manager for Retail and the Senior Manager for Alternative Channels. It is based in Kinder’s Walnut Creek, California office, with four days per week in the office. Travel to customers and Kinder’s operating partners may be required as business needs dictate. The role reports to the Senior Director of Customer Operations.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive experience in customer operations, customer service, order management, or supply chain.
• 5+ years leading people leaders or multi-team customer operations groups, with a record of developing managers and improving service.
• Experience supporting national retail and alternative channels, with strong knowledge of retailer order requirements, replenishment, promotions, and customer communications.
• Strong grasp of order-to-delivery processes, inventory constraints, allocation, EDI, customer portals, ERP systems, and service performance measures.
• Ability to influence cross-functional partners, make sound decisions amid competing customer needs, and communicate clearly with senior leaders and external partners.
• Analytical and financial judgment to prioritize service recovery, process improvements, and cost-to-serve opportunities.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred, or equivalent relevant experience.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in food or consumer packaged goods.
• SAP experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop the Retail and Alternative Channels Senior Managers; set goals, decision rights, and succession plans for their teams.
• Establish consistent order-management and customer-service practices across channels while accommodating customer-specific requirements, including grocery, club, ecommerce, and emerging accounts.
• Own the operating cadence for portfolio priorities, service risks, escalations, and corrective actions; communicate decisions and tradeoffs to senior leadership.
• Partner with Sales and customer teams on business plans, new item launches, promotions, seasonal programs, distribution changes, and customer-specific order cadences.
• Oversee order-to-delivery performance through the Senior Managers, from order receipt and confirmation through shipment, customer communication, and issue resolution.
• Align with Demand and Supply Planning on customer forecasts, allocation, inventory positions, replenishment needs, and recovery plans during supply constraints.
• Build senior operational relationships with retail and alternative channel partners, and lead resolution of complex or recurring service issues.
• Set portfolio scorecards and review fill rate, OTIF, order accuracy, in-stocks where available, deductions, fines and fees, inventory health, and customer service trends.
• Use data and root-cause analysis to prioritize improvements, track corrective actions, and present performance, risks, and recommendations to leadership.
• Partner with Logistics, Warehousing, and Finance to reduce avoidable freight expense, inventory moves, service penalties, and other cost-to-serve drivers.
• Standardize SOPs, reporting, allocation communication, and customer operations controls; support ERP, EDI, and workflow improvements with Customer Excellence and Systems.
• Coordinate with Planning, Sourcing, Co-Manufacturing, Quality, Inventory Control, and distribution partners on supply risks and customer readiness.
• Partner with Logistics and Warehouse Operations leaders on fulfillment and delivery execution; escalate partner issues and support contingency planning without directly managing those functions.

Benefits

• Paid time off
• 401(k)
• Bonus or incentive eligibility
• Equity grants
• Competitive health benefits
• Family-friendly benefits, including parental leave
• Flexibility to work outside the office when needed to support work-life balance and personal commitments

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director