Senior Operations Manager, 3PL Warehouse

Overview

The Senior Operations Manager is responsible for the day-to-day performance of Ship Essential’s New York warehouse. This role leads the building with urgency, discipline, and a strong floor presence. You will manage Operations Managers, Leads, and Associates to ensure SLAs are met every day, workflows are executed consistently, and the warehouse operates as a high-performing system.

This role reports to the Director of Warehouse Operations, who oversees both NY and LA. The Senior Operations Manager is the senior on-site leader in New York and owns execution, planning, and accountability for the building’s daily operating rhythm.

Ship Essential is a city-based 3PL built for the next generation of consumer brands. We provide inventory storage, e-commerce fulfillment, returns processing, and retail replenishment from our warehouses in New York and Los Angeles. Our partners are some of the fastest-growing brands in the market. They move quickly, they launch often, and they expect precision.

We’re building an operation that can keep up with that pace. We run disciplined warehouses, we sweat the details, and we create flow so inventory is always ready to sell and orders go out on time. If you like high standards, real ownership, and building something that scales, Ship Essential is the place to do it.

Responsibilities

Operational Accountability

• Take primary ownership of daily warehouse performance, ensuring SLAs are met or exceeded every day.
• Oversee all aspects of daily operations, including inbound, outbound, inventory control, and exceptions, ensuring seamless execution and alignment with company goals.
• Maintain accountability for on-site execution and outcomes, with a bias toward action and problem-solving.
• Ensure all SOPs are documented, trained, and followed, holding managers accountable for compliance.

Planning, Forecasting, and Labor Management

• Build and manage weekly labor plans based on inbound schedules, outbound volume, and operational priorities.
• Forecast capacity constraints and plan staffing and workflows to avoid backlogs and missed SLAs.
• Set daily priorities for the building and ensure labor is deployed to the highest-leverage work.
• Monitor throughput throughout the day and rebalance labor across functions to protect flow and service commitments.

Profitability and Cost Management

• Share responsibility for hitting warehouse profitability and cost targets, in partnership with the Warehouse Leadership and Finance.
• Ensure labor hours, materials, and value-added services are tracked accurately and charged appropriately to brands.
• Control labor costs through disciplined scheduling and productivity management, aligning workforce levels to demand.
• Monitor spend and operational waste and drive corrective actions when performance drifts from targets.

Manager Development and Leadership

• Focus on the performance and development of Operations Managers and Leads, ensuring they have the resources, training, and support needed to succeed.
• Actively coach, lead, and manage managers, stepping in alongside them to tackle challenges and lead by example.
• Ensure managers meet targets and deadlines, providing clear feedback and guidance to improve team performance.
• Take ultimate responsibility for manager success. If their teams fail, the Senior Operations Manager takes ownership and drives correction.

Process Optimization and Continuous Improvement

• Audit, improve, and execute on workflows across receiving, inventory movement, picking, packing, returns, and exceptions to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
• Drive improvements to warehouse metrics, including order accuracy, on-time shipment, inventory accuracy, dock-to-stock timing, and returns SLA.
• Champion continuous improvement by identifying inefficiencies, implementing solutions, and standardizing best practices.
• Actively monitor workflows to identify bottlenecks and ensure teams operate with urgency and consistency.

High Standards and Principles

• Uphold and embody Ship Essential’s Principles for Operating a Warehouse, ensuring they are practiced at every level of the organization.
• Serve as a torchbearer of Ship Essential’s values, promoting excellence, resourcefulness, and a relentless focus on the customer experience.
• Operate with a strong sense of urgency, ensuring no issues are left unresolved and every problem is met with swift action.

Profitability of Brand Accounts

• Monitor the profitability of each brand we serve, ensuring costs are captured and billed appropriately.
• Use data to evaluate account performance, identify operational drivers of margin erosion, and partner with account teams to improve performance.

Collaboration with Account Management

• Partner closely with Warehouse Account Managers to align on brand priorities, inbound schedules, special projects, and escalations.
• Ensure WAMs have clear, accurate operational visibility to support brand communication and expectation setting.
• Establish clean escalation paths and fast response loops for order issues, inbound discrepancies, returns edge cases, and compliance concerns.
• Maintain a strong internal service mindset, ensuring operational execution supports brand trust and retention.

Managing Up and Reporting

• Provide clear reporting to the Director of Warehouse Operations on performance, risks, staffing, and operational priorities.
• Surface issues early, propose solutions, and maintain a forward-looking view of capacity and constraints.
• Maintain strong operational visibility so leadership is never surprised by performance, backlogs, or service risk.

Requirements

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years in 3PL, logistics, supply chain, or warehouse management, including significant experience leading large teams.
• Proven success running day-to-day warehouse operations with high standards and consistent SLA performance.
• Experience working with Warehouse Management Systems and EDI.

Skills

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to coach, motivate, and hold managers accountable.
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and a bias for action.
• Strong planning, forecasting, and labor management capabilities.
• Adept at managing up and providing clear reporting to senior leadership.
• Strong organizational and analytical skills, with the ability to track and improve KPIs.

Mindset

• A relentless drive for operational excellence and high standards.
• A bulwark against entropy, decisive and focused on delivering results.
• Commitment to living Ship Essential’s Principles and Values every day.