Job Description

Based at the customer site, the Reverse Logistics Operations Manager will execute reverse logistics operations to maintain the circular flow of products and materials. Working with business leads, you will define and manage business processes and technology roadmaps, driving change management through collaboration, influence-without-authority, and a deeply customer-focused approach. You will oversee several on-site processes that impact daily operations—ensuring return requests, shipping, dispositioning, repacking, recycling, resell, repairs, and disposal remain perfectly synchronized. By combining "boots on the ground" oversight with data-driven insight, you will provide coaching to peers, review impacts to inventory, and develop robust mitigation strategies using root cause and corrective action analysis.

Top Daily Responsibilities:

1. Be the single point of contact to manage all site Reverse Logistics Operations exceptions, escalations, and operational reporting.

2. Manage and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to achieve optimal warehouse performance and ensure the synchronization of returns, repairs, recycling, and dispositioning.

3. Oversee day-to-day warehouse operations (“boots on the ground”), physically inspecting the floor and proactively resolving emerging issues.

4. Drive alignment and prioritization of initiatives in a fast-paced environment with many interdependencies, immediately escalating risks of delay with operations.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Operations & 3PL Management

• Work closely with 3PL partners and internal teams to establish, review, and update process improvements for SOPs.
• Oversee on-site activities that impact daily operations, ensuring service commitments and circular flow models are met.
• Monitor subcontractor performance to agreed SLOs, clearly communicating risk, priority shifts, and blockages relating to floor utilization, packaging, and inventory management.

Issue Management, Reporting & Escalation

• Manage GUTS ticket/Buganizer routing, resolution, and timely communications, troubleshooting WMS technical issues as they arise.
• Monitor order/ticket backlog to identify potential problem orders, perform root cause analysis for late orders, and initiate corrective actions.
• Support the development of dashboards to effectively communicate warehouse performance metrics, using data to pull trends and recommend actions.

Continuous Improvement & Projects

• Review and update team processes with a continuous improvement mindset (Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, PDCA, DMAIC, A3).
• Measure the impact and value of identified insights, prioritizing cost-saving and process-optimization projects to enhance the overall customer experience.
• Stay up to date with the latest benchmarks, emerging tools, and advancements in supply chain and reverse logistics to continuously improve local processes.

Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Serve as the primary point of contact for customer inquiries, concerns, issues, and escalations.
• Partner with planners, PMs, and support teams to create awareness of new projects and highlight key actions to support on-time delivery.
• Present concise status reports, summarizing operational trends and recommended actions to internal and external stakeholders.
• Build trust with operations leaders by combining “boots on the ground” understanding with data-driven insight and influence-without-authority.

Qualifications

Experience and Education Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree with a specialization in Supply Chain, related field, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of logistics, supply chain, large-scale warehouse operations, or related experience (distribution/DC, 3PL, or reverse logistics preferred).
• 3+ years of demonstrated experience planning, organizing, tracking, and controlling tasks to achieve goals, with at least 3+ years in stakeholder management and facilitation.
• 1+ year of specific customer experience within customer systems and knowledge of their SOP/SWI operations.
• Proven self-starter who can work independently and as part of a cross-functional team in a fast-paced environment with limited oversight.
• Excellent customer service skills, including a proven ability to listen, comprehend, effectively communicate, and build relationships.
• Ability to use critical thinking to develop, evaluate, recommend, and present best options; highly risk-sensitive, recognizing when problems are likely to arise.
• Experience and knowledge of SAP/WMS systems.
• Proficiency in using Google Suite tools, including Google Sheets, for data analysis and information sharing.
• Knowledge of continuous-improvement frameworks (Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, PDCA) and dashboard reporting is strongly preferred.

Additional Information

Expeditors offers excellent benefits:

• Paid Vacation, Holiday, Sick Time
• Health Plan: Medical
• Life Insurance
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Training and Personnel Development Program
• Growth opportunities within the company
• Employee Referral Program Bonus