Manager, Distribution & Transportation

Job Summary

The Manager, Distribution & Transportation is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational execution, and continuous improvement of all distribution, finished goods inventory control, and transportation functions within the facility. This role provides direct leadership to department managers, assistant managers, leads, and hourly employees while ensuring the safe, compliant, and efficient movement of inventory from production through customer delivery.

The Manager serves as the primary operational owner of inventory accuracy, order fulfillment, transportation performance, and regulatory compliance. Through effective utilization of Treefer, BioTrack, and fleet management systems, this position drives inventory integrity, delivery execution, labor efficiency, audit readiness, and customer service performance while supporting broader facility and organizational objectives.

This role partners closely with Production, Quality Assurance, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, Compliance, and the Inventory Control Manager (ICM) to ensure inventory visibility, operational alignment, and execution of strategic business initiatives.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Establish departmental goals, KPIs, and performance standards aligned with facility and company objectives.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives focused on inventory accuracy, fulfillment efficiency, transportation performance, labor utilization, and cost reduction.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement sustainable solutions.
• Evaluate staffing models, resource allocation, and operational workflows.
• Drive accountability through routine performance reviews, metric tracking, and action planning.
• Oversee inventory operations, monthly audits, discrepancy investigations, and SOX-compliant controls.
• Lead order fulfillment, manifesting, outbound transfers, and compliance documentation.
• Manage transportation scheduling, route optimization, fleet maintenance, and driver compliance.
• Ensure all inventory movements, deliveries, and transfers maintain full seed-to-sale compliance.
• Monitor inventory accuracy, order fulfillment accuracy, on-time delivery performance, transportation costs, fleet utilization, inventory variances, and labor productivity.
• Develop reporting dashboards and provide actionable recommendations to leadership.
• Utilize data analytics to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Partner with Production, Supply Chain, QA, Sales, Compliance, and Finance teams.
• Support product launches, inventory transitions, facility initiatives, and process improvement projects.
• Serve as a key operational resource for strategic business initiatives.
• Coach, mentor, and develop managers, supervisors, and hourly team members.
• Lead hiring, onboarding, training, performance management, and succession planning.
• Foster a culture of accountability, safety, compliance, and operational excellence.

Minimum Qualifications

• 4-6+ years in warehouse management, inventory control, distribution, or transportation operations.
• 3+ years managing multi-level teams.
• Treefer and BioTrack experience.
• Understanding of SOX compliance and inventory controls.
• Strong analytical, communication, and leadership skills.
• Bachelors Degree in Supply Chain, Business Administration, or related field preferred.
• Cannabis industry experience preferred.
• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, APICS, or Supply Chain certifications preferred.
• Fleet management and audit experience preferred.
• Strong strategic and critical thinking capabilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Solid project management, conflict resolution and people management skills.
• Effective consultative and influencing approach, with proven ability to work effectively with all organizational levels.

Preferred Qualifications

Physical and Mental Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to remain in a stationary position, move and/or position oneself, communicate, operate and/or prepare, place, position objects, tools, or controls. The employee must occasionally move packages weighing up to 25 lb. Able to stand for 90% of the time. Comfortable with heights, occasionally ascends/descends a ladder to service the lights, filters, trellis netting and ceiling fans up to 25ft. Comfortable working atop and traversing scaffolding, when required. Comfortable with changing environment temperatures and humidity. Exposure to pollen, dust, dander, and other nature elements. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close observation and the ability to adjust focus. The mental and physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an individual, with or without reasonable accommodation, to successfully perform the essential functions of this position.

Working Environment

Work is performed in a warehouse environment. The employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts and risk of electrical shock. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an individual encounters while performing the essential functions of this position. May be exposed to changes in temperature