Head of Distribution & Fulfillment Operations

Description

Department: Operations

Location: Onsite- Louisville, Kentucky

Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt

Reports To: President & COO

Leadership Responsibility: Warehouse, Fulfillment, Inventory, Quality, and Operational Support Teams

The Opportunity

Generation Tux is seeking an experienced operations leader to lead our Kentucky distribution and garment-processing operation. This leader will own the complete operating cycle: receiving, inventory management, fulfillment, returns, cleaning, finishing, inspection, repair, and return to available inventory.

Our rental model requires precise coordination of customer event dates, seasonal demand, garment turnaround, and inventory availability. Success means delivering accurate, customer-ready orders on time while maintaining disciplined control over quality, labor, capacity, and cost.

This is a senior leadership opportunity to shape a critical part of Generation Tux’s growth. We are seeking someone who stays close to the operation, develops capable managers, and delivers measurable, sustained improvements.

We evaluate candidates based on the scope of operations they have led, the teams they have developed, and their results. Qualified candidates may currently hold Director, Senior Director, General Manager, Head of Operations, Vice President, or comparable titles.

What You Will Own

End-to-End Operations

• Lead receiving, inventory control, picking, packing, shipping, returns, laundry and dry-cleaning operations, finishing, quality inspection, alterations, and repairs.
• Coordinate daily production and seasonal capacity plans across departments to meet customer delivery timelines and maintain garment availability.
• Establish processing and quality standards that reduce preventable defects, reships, and replacements while protecting garment condition and useful life.
• Partner with Customer Experience to resolve urgent fulfillment issues and address recurring operational causes.

People & Leadership

• Lead an organization of 200+ employees during peak periods through a strong management and frontline leadership structure.
• Establish clear responsibilities, decision authority, performance expectations, and accountability across departments.
• Develop managers and team leads through regular coaching, floor engagement, performance management, and succession planning.
• Partner with HR on seasonal recruiting, onboarding, cross-training, attendance, engagement, and retention. Build workforce plans that balance productivity, workforce stability, and service requirements.

Performance & Financial Accountability

• Own operating budgets and forecasts, including labor, overtime, freight, garment processing, maintenance, equipment, and capital expenditures.
• Establish daily, weekly, and monthly management routines that translate service, quality, productivity, inventory, cost, and safety measures into action.
• Use demand forecasts, expected returns, inventory availability, and processing capacity to identify constraints early and adjust resources.
• Partner with Finance and executive leadership to evaluate investments and improve operating economics while maintaining quality and customer service.

Continuous Improvement & Growth

• Lead structured improvements in workflow, facility layout, labor utilization, garment turnaround, inventory accuracy, and quality.
• Evaluate and implement warehouse technology, RFID capabilities, material-handling equipment, and automation, supported by clear business cases and measurable results.
• Build practical SOPs, training standards, and leadership routines that sustain improvements.
• Translate business growth plans into scalable staffing, equipment, and facility capacity.

Safety & Facility Reliability

• Maintain a safe, organized, and compliant facility, with clear ownership of safety practices, equipment standards, and applicable operational requirements.
• Own preventive maintenance, equipment reliability, and contingency planning to limit disruptions to fulfillment and garment processing.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in distribution, fulfillment, manufacturing, garment processing, or similarly complex operations.
• 5+ years with senior leadership responsibility for a large, complex operation, including leadership of managers and direct accountability for operating performance.
• Demonstrated experience leading an organization of 200+ employees, including managers, frontline leaders, and a substantial hourly workforce.
• Direct responsibility for distribution or fulfillment operations with significant seasonal demand and workforce fluctuations.
• Demonstrated ownership of operating budgets, labor planning, inventory control, capacity planning, and financial performance.
• A record of measurable, sustained improvements in productivity, quality, service, and operating costs.
• Experience using warehouse management systems and operational data to guide decisions, along with a demonstrated ability to develop managers and lead organizational change.

Preferred Qualifications

• Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification, or equivalent demonstrated success applying structured continuous-improvement methods.
• Experience in apparel rental, uniform services, industrial or hospitality laundry, or another operation where products are returned, reconditioned, and repeatedly placed back into service.
• Experience with RFID, inventory-tracking technology, and managing availability across a broad range of styles and sizes.
• Experience leading multiple shifts and developing seasonal onboarding and cross-training programs that improve time to proficiency and retention.
• Experience implementing automation, equipment upgrades, warehouse systems, or facility redesigns, including investment evaluation and implementation.
• Bachelor’s degree in operations management, supply chain, industrial engineering, business, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience considered.

How You Lead

You are a visible, practical leader who spends meaningful time on the floor and understands how work gets done. You set clear expectations, listen to frontline insight, and hold people accountable with consistency and respect.

You combine financial discipline with sound operational judgment. You remain calm during peak demand, communicate constraints and recommendations early, and develop leaders who can make decisions and run their departments effectively.

You understand that every fulfillment and quality decision affects a customer preparing for an important event.

What Success Looks Like

During the first 90 days, you will assess the operation, establish performance baselines, identify leadership and capacity gaps, and agree on improvement priorities with executive leadership.

Within the first year, you will be expected to:

• Establish a capable leadership structure with clear ownership, consistent management routines, and stronger accountability.
• Deliver measurable improvements against agreed targets for labor productivity, fulfillment quality, garment turnaround, and inventory accuracy.
• Build dependable seasonal staffing and capacity plans that support customer commitments.
• Develop and begin executing a prioritized roadmap for technology, equipment, and process improvements that supports growth and improves operating efficiency.

Posting Statement

At Generation Tux, we believe that our goal is to enable incredible lifestyle experiences during major life events. Each of us has a responsibility to drive accountability, transparency, and respect.

Generation Tux is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.

Generation Tux does not accept unsolicited headhunter and agency resumes. Generation Tux will not pay any third-party agency or company that does not have a signed agreement with Generation Tux.