What you’ll Do
Primary Responsibility:
Reporting into the Senior Vice President Operations, Americas you will be responsible for leading Americold’s e-Comm operations team. We are seeking a strategic, execution driven Director of Operations to lead and scale our e commerce fulfillment business within a high growth 3PL cold storage environment. This leader will own operational performance, customer experience, and the end to end fulfillment network supporting frozen and refrigerated DTC brands.
The mandate is bold: scale revenue and EBITDA by 4x over the next three years through operational excellence, automation, disciplined cost management, and world class service delivery. This role requires a builder who thrives in fast growth environments, understands the complexities of temperature controlled logistics, and can translate strategy into scalable systems, processes, and teams.
Manage the month / quarter end financial analysis process to ensure the executive team is provided with timely and thorough actionable analysis of our reported financial results.
Operational Leadership & Strategy
• Develop and execute a multi year operational roadmap to support 4x revenue and EBITDA growth within 3 years.
• Build scalable processes across receiving, storage, pick/pack, kitting, value added services, and outbound shipping for frozen and refrigerated products.
• Lead capacity planning, labor modeling, and throughput optimization across multiple facilities.
• Establish and track KPIs for productivity, accuracy, cost per order, shrink, and service levels.
• Drive continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, and automation technologies.
E Commerce Fulfillment Excellence
• Oversee all DTC fulfillment operations, ensuring on time delivery, order accuracy, and exceptional customer experience.
• Implement scalable workflows for high volume e commerce, including batch picking, wave planning, and cold chain compliant packaging.
• Optimize packaging, dry ice/gel pack usage, and carrier selection to reduce cost while maintaining product integrity.
Financial & P&L Ownership
• Own operational budgets, forecasting, and cost to serve modeling.
• Identify margin expansion opportunities through automation, labor efficiency, slotting optimization, and vendor/carrier negotiations.
• Collaborate with Business Development to build pricing models and operational inputs to support profitable customer onboarding.
Customer & Commercial Partnership
• Collaborate with Business Development to onboard new customers efficiently and profitably.
• Serve as the operational point of escalation for key accounts, ensuring service excellence and retention.
• Translate customer requirements into operational capabilities and scalable SOPs.
Team Building & Leadership
• Build and mentor high performing operations teams across warehouse leadership, supervisors, and frontline associates.
• Foster a culture of accountability, safety, continuous improvement, and data driven decision making.
• Develop succession plans and leadership pipelines to support rapid expansion.
Technology, Automation & Innovation
• Evaluate and implement automation solutions (AMRs, conveyor systems, automated packing, dimensioning, etc.).
• Partner with technology teams to enhance WMS functionality, real time visibility, and data analytics.
• Introduce best in class cold chain handling practices to reduce waste and improve consistency.
What Experience and Education You Need
Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Engineering, or related field required.
Industry & Functional Experience
• 7–10+ years of experience in operations leadership within 3PL, cold storage, e commerce fulfillment, food logistics, or high volume distribution.
• Deep understanding of cold chain requirements, including frozen/refrigerated storage, packaging, and regulatory compliance.
• Proven track record scaling operations in a high growth environment (preferably 3x–10x scale).
Technical & Operational Expertise
• Hands on experience with WMS, OMS, and TMS platforms; strong understanding of system integrations for e commerce.
• Demonstrated success implementing automation, Lean/Six Sigma methodologies, and process standardization.
• Strong financial acumen with experience owning budgets, P&L inputs, and cost to serve models.
Leadership & Strategic Skills
• Ability to build, lead, and inspire large teams across multiple sites.
• Strong cross functional communicator who can partner with Business Development, Finance, Engineering, and IT.
• Data driven decision maker with a bias toward action and continuous improvement.
What Could Set You Apart
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong team player and able to collaborate effectively in a highly matrixed organization
• Self-starter with exceptional ability to identify and solve problems
Physical Requirements
• Requires the ability to sit for long periods of time, with frequent interruptions
• Requires several hours per day of sitting, getting up and down from chairs, and reaching, or bending
• Requires manual dexterity with normal hand and finger movements for typical office work
• Talking, hearing, and seeing are important elements of completing assigned tasks
• May require travel by automobile and airplane for business
• May require visits to warehouse operations in temperatures at or below freezing
• May require carrying loads related to travel and the occasional lifting, carrying, positioning, and/or moving of objects weighing up to 20 pounds
• Requires the use of various electronic tools
Americold is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and complies with applicable employment laws.
EOE/AA M/F/D/V DFW.