Inventory Operations Leader

Job Purpose

This role owns and manages inventory operations for the Motive Power business unit with accountability for inventory accuracy, inventory reduction, material flow, and shipping and receiving execution for site location. The Inventory Operations Leader manages locally owned inventory responsibilities, coordinates daily work priorities, drives reporting and metric performance, and leads process discipline across inventory control, parts-room organization, material movement, customer service support, on-time delivery, and compliance. The position works in close alignment with North American operations to standardize practices, share best methods, support enterprise-wide initiatives, and ensure continuity of operations.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Owns daily inventory operations, including accurate inventory levels, proper storage, parts-room organization, inventory rotation, material availability, and efficient material movement.
• Manages locally owned inventory responsibilities in accordance with company policies, standard operating procedures, local regulations, OSHA, EPA, DOT Hazmat, ISO, and facility requirements.
• Plans, schedules, prioritizes, coordinates, and assigns inventory, shipping, receiving, and cycle-count activities for inventory-dedicated staff and cross-functional partners.
• Provides day-to-day direction, coaching, training, and problem-resolution support to employees performing inventory, shipping, receiving, and material-handling activities.
• Partners with site leadership and support functions to support staffing needs, onboarding, skill development, performance feedback, documentation, and escalation of employee-relations matters when appropriate.
• Owns inventory control procedures, including physical inventory, cycle counts, discrepancy tracking, reconciliation, root-cause review, corrective actions, and sustained inventory accuracy.
• Drives inventory reduction efforts by identifying slow-moving, excess, obsolete, or aged materials; recommending corrective actions; and partnering with stakeholders to improve inventory turns and working-capital performance.
• Manages all shipping and receiving functions, including shipment preparation, material receipts, documentation accuracy, customer requirements, packaging standards, and timely processing of material movement.
• Ensures customer and company packaging, handling, storage, labeling, and shipping specifications are followed in accordance with internal standards and applicable ISO requirements.
• Maintains and analyzes daily, weekly, and monthly inventory, shipping, receiving, distribution center, customer service, on-time delivery, and budget-related metrics to support business decisions.
• Prepares clear, actionable reporting for site leadership and North American operations, highlighting inventory accuracy, material movement, aged inventory, service impacts, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Leads process improvement initiatives, standard work adoption, change implementation, workflow optimization, and continuous improvement activities that strengthen inventory control and operational consistency.
• Serves as an escalation point for inventory discrepancies, material availability issues, shipping and receiving concerns, customer service impacts, and operational disruptions.
• Works with office employees and cross-functional teams to manage daily, weekly, and monthly inventory, shipping, receiving, billing, documentation, and reconciliation-related items.
• Collaborates with similar roles across North America to align processes, share best practices, support enterprise initiatives, and provide backup coverage for inventory movement during PTO, workload peaks, or operational disruption.
• Maintains a safe, organized, compliant, and efficient parts room, wareh