Senior Director, Distribution Services North America

Fresenius Medical Care • Waltham, MA

1d

About The Position

This role holds full accountability for on-time order fulfillment, outbound shipment execution, inbound receiving accuracy, and inventory integrity across the North American network. The Senior Director will define and enforce network-wide performance standards, lead network capacity planning, facility utilization strategies, and material handling equipment planning. This position also owns the regional warehouse management system implementation and ongoing governance, serving as the business owner for system enhancements and process standardization. Additionally, the role involves negotiating and managing contracts with third-party logistics providers, leading annual provider sourcing reviews, and building supply-chain-as-a-service capabilities within partner-operated facilities. The Senior Director will manage provider onboarding and transitions, ensuring zero service disruption and holding providers accountable for performance. The role also encompasses owning the full regional distribution profit and loss, leading the annual strategy and operating plan for North American distribution, and meeting or exceeding program deadlines. Furthermore, the Senior Director will lead the annual talent cycle for the distribution team, partnering with various cross-functional teams on initiatives and transformation programs. The position involves evaluating, prioritizing, and implementing warehouse automation technologies, owning the capital project pipeline for North American distribution, and applying industrial engineering principles across the network. Finally, the role ensures full compliance with all relevant regulatory and quality standards.

Requirements

• 15 or more years of progressive supply chain and distribution operations experience, with clear growth from site-level to network-level leadership
• Minimum 7 years in a Director or senior management role with full profit and loss accountability across multiple facilities.
• Demonstrated experience managing large third-party logistics provider relationships — contract negotiation, performance governance, and transitions — in a regulated healthcare or life sciences environment.
• Track record managing complex warehouse networks of 10 or more facilities, including outsourced and company-operated sites
• Hands-on experience evaluating and implementing warehouse automation technologies and owning capital projects from business case through execution.
• Industrial engineering background or equivalent applied experience: labor standards, facility layout, material flow design, and slotting optimization in a distribution environment.
• Warehouse management system implementation and stabilization experience required.
• Strong financial acumen: budget ownership, variance analysis, capital planning, and return on investment modeling.
• Direct, data-driven leadership style with the ability to hold third-party partners and internal teams to high standards; strong executive communication skills.
• Bachelor's degree required

Nice To Haves

• Pharmaceutical distribution experience (Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Administration regulated) strongly preferred.
• Engineering discipline (industrial, mechanical, or systems) strongly preferred.
• Master's degree (business administration, supply chain management, or equivalent) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Hold full accountability for on-time order fulfillment, outbound shipment execution, inbound receiving accuracy, and inventory integrity across the North American network.
• Define and enforce network-wide performance standards: fill rates, on-time delivery, inventory accuracy, dock-to-stock cycle time, and cost per unit shipped.
• Lead network capacity planning, facility utilization strategies, and material handling equipment planning to support current volume and a three-year growth outlook.
• Own the regional warehouse management system implementation and ongoing governance; serve as the business owner for system enhancements and process standardization across all sites.
• Negotiate, structure, and manage contracts with third-party logistics providers; design service level and performance metric frameworks and enforce them through regular business reviews.
• Lead annual provider sourcing reviews and market benchmarking; make data-driven build, buy, or extend recommendations.
• Build supply-chain-as-a-service capabilities within partner-operated facilities — embedding standardized processes, performance reporting, and continuous improvement practices into every site.
• Manage provider onboarding and transitions with zero service disruption; hold providers accountable to corrective action plans when performance falls short.
• Own the full regional distribution profit and loss: operating budget, third-party variable costs, capital investment, and lease obligations.
• Meet or exceed all financial targets; proactively flag and correct variances before period close.
• Lead the annual strategy and operating plan for North American distribution; develop the three-year directional roadmap aligned to global distribution priorities.
• Meet or exceed all program deadlines — warehouse management system go-lives, third-party transitions, contract renewals, and network optimization deliverables.
• Lead the annual talent cycle for the distribution team: goal-setting, performance reviews, compensation planning, succession planning, and workforce planning aligned to the long-term network strategy.
• Partner with the Supply Chain Program Office, Transportation, Demand Planning, Quality, Finance, and Information Technology on cross-functional initiatives and transformation programs.
• Evaluate, prioritize, and implement warehouse automation technologies — robotic picking, automated storage and retrieval, conveyor systems, sortation, and goods-to-person solutions — based on volume, labor economics, and network strategy.
• Own the capital project pipeline for North American distribution: author business cases, develop return on investment analysis, secure funding approval, and drive execution to cost and schedule.
• Apply industrial engineering principles across the network — labor standards development, time and motion analysis, facility layout optimization, slotting strategy, and material flow design — to improve throughput and reduce cost.
• Partner with real estate and facilities teams on site selection, lease negotiations, and new facility qualifications; lead distribution build-outs and major facility reconfigurations as capital projects.
• Maintain full compliance with Food and Drug Administration pharmaceutical distribution regulations, Drug Enforcement Administration requirements, good distribution practices, and all applicable Department of Transportation and occupational safety standards across all partner-operated and company-managed facilities.

Benefits

• medical, dental, and vision insurance
• a 401(k) with company match
• paid time off
• parental leave
• potential for performance-based bonuses depending on company and individual performance

What This Job Offers

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