DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS with pathway to COO

Distribution, Logistics & Client Retention

Orlando, FL — Full-Time

At a Glance

Title

Director of Operations (COO Pathway)

Reports To: CEO

Location: Orlando, FL headquarters with periodic travel to ancillary facilities across Central Florida

Scope: Client Retention through Warehouse & Distribution, Inventory Management, Customer Care

Direct Reports: Warehouse managers, facility leads, data/operations analyst

Trajectory: 6-18 month shoulder-to-shoulder period with CEO; defined pathway to COO with expanded authority and compensation

Type: Full-time, On-Site

About GEM Supply

GEM Supply is a growing, independently owned industrial distribution company serving customers throughout Florida and beyond from multiple strategically located facilities. Rooted in a culture of servant leadership and stewardship, we take pride in delivering world-class fulfillment, logistics, and customer care. Our story began in 1930 — that’s over 95 years of faithful service to clients, team members, and communities.

We’ve grown aggressively through strategic acquisitions and organic expansion while maintaining our fiercely independent spirit. Where competitors have diluted their identity through rollups and private equity, GEM has chosen a different path — one rooted in building lasting impact over chasing growth for validation.

We are entering a new phase: acquiring and integrating other distributors while maintaining the operational excellence and cultural integrity that has defined us. This role is central to making that vision real.

The Role

We’re looking for a hands-on operational leader who understands a fundamental truth about distribution: your customers don’t stay because of your sales team. They stay because their orders are accurate, their deliveries are on time, and when something goes wrong, it gets fixed fast. Operations IS the customer experience. And the person who runs operations is the person who determines whether clients stay or leave.

That’s why this isn’t just a warehouse and logistics role. This Director will own client retention alongside distribution — building the systems, processes, and proactive outreach programs that keep customers loyal and identify at-risk accounts before they walk away.

This is also a role with a defined future. The CEO is transitioning focus toward strategic growth and acquisitions, and this Director position is designed as a pathway to COO. You’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO for 6–18 months, prove yourself against defined milestones, and earn expanded authority over the full operational scope of the company.

Client Retention — The Core of This Role

Most operations leaders think their job ends at the loading dock. At GEM, it starts there. We measure operational success not just by fulfillment metrics, but by whether our customers come back. This Director is accountable for building the operational infrastructure that drives retention:

• Build proactive systems that identify at-risk accounts before they leave — using data, AI, and pattern recognition to spot friction before it becomes churn
• Work closely with Sales to design and implement cadences for key customers that are operationally driven, not just sales-driven
• Track and own retention metrics: measure what matters, surface what’s failing, and fix the root causes
• Coordinate with Sales to define clear swim lanes between operational retention and revenue-driven account management — you own the systems that prevent churn; Sales owns the relationships that drive growth

Customer Care

Customer care is how retention is delivered day-to-day. This Director owns the post-sale experience that determines whether a client stays:

• Own the post-sale customer experience end-to-end: order accuracy, delivery reliability, issue resolution, and service recovery
• Build escalation paths, quality standards, and service processes that produce consistent outcomes across all facilities — so every customer gets the same experience regardless of which location serves them
• Design and enforce service-level standards that the care team can execute consistently

Distribution & Logistics

Client retention starts with operational excellence. You can’t retain customers if you can’t fulfill their orders correctly and on time. This Director owns:

• Measurable improvement in pick accuracy, fulfillment speed, and inventory accuracy across all facilities
• Elimination of tribal knowledge dependencies by building documented, repeatable processes that any trained employee can follow
• Standardization of staffing models, quality standards, and operating procedures across hub and spoke facilities
• Cycle count programs, min/max optimization, and dead stock reduction
• A warehouse and inventory team strong enough to sustain results without your constant oversight

Data, AI & Continuous Improvement

• Pull reports, build dashboards, and query operational systems daily
• Leverage AI tools for pattern recognition, demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and anomaly detection across operational data
• Use data and AI-generated insights to identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities — especially in the customer experience pipeline
• Integrate AI into reporting workflows to reduce manual analysis and accelerate decision-making
• Support operational integration of newly acquired distributor operations into GEM’s systems, processes, and culture

The COO Pathway

This is not a vague promise. It’s a structured trajectory with defined milestones.

As Director (Months 1–18):

• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO, who currently serves as acting COO
• Own distribution and logistics with full authority from day one
• Build toward customer care ownership by designing systems and earning the trust of internal stakeholders
• Gain dotted-line visibility into purchasing operations
• Participate in all C-level leadership meetings, including acquisition planning — this is a peer-level seat at the table from the start
• Collaborative decision-making with the CEO on spending, staffing, and operational strategy, with your autonomy expanding as trust and judgment are demonstrated

As COO (upon mutual agreement that milestones are met):

• Assume full P&L oversight across all operational pillars
• Gain straight-line authority over Customer Care and Purchasing in addition to Distribution
• Full hire/fire and budget authority — expected to make wise and appropriate decisions with the authority that comes with the role
• Equity participation at the C-level

The promotion is performance-based and happens when both the CEO and Director agree the time is right. It’s strongly influenced by measurable outcomes: CEO extraction from daily firefighting, SOP adoption, operational dashboards driving decisions, inventory improvement, customer care systems built, retention metrics established, and a strong team in place beneath you.

What Success Looks Like at Six Months

• The CEO is no longer involved in daily operational firefighting
• Critical workflows are documented, adopted, and being followed across all facilities
• Operational dashboards are driving daily decisions — not just built, but actively used
• Inventory accuracy has measurably improved from an established baseline
• Customer issue patterns are mapped, escalation processes are designed, and at least one systemic operational issue is resolved
• Client retention metrics are established, at-risk accounts are identified, and a proactive outreach cadence is in place
• The warehouse and inventory team has been assessed, key hires are made, and underperformers have been addressed

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Performance-based incentive structure tied to operational and retention outcomes
• Access to Health coverage for you and family: traditional group health insurance, Sedera health sharing + MEC plan, dental, and vision
• 401k with employer match
• Defined pathway to COO with compensation adjustment at the C-level
• A seat at the leadership table from day one — including participation in acquisition planning and C-level strategy discussions

What We’re Looking For

Required

• 5+ years in distribution, logistics, or warehouse operations management — multi-site experience strongly preferred
• Direct experience managing or building customer care/service systems with ownership of measurable retention outcomes
• Hands-on with data: personally builds dashboards, pulls reports, queries systems, and leverages AI tools for analysis
• Track record of building SOPs and standardizing operations across multiple locations
• Demonstrated ability to improve client retention through operational excellence — not just sales relationships
• Experience hiring, developing, and managing hourly and salaried operations staff
• Local to Central Florida or willing to relocate immediately

Preferred

• Experience in industrial distribution, building materials, or similar B2B environments
• Familiarity with EOS or similar operating frameworks
• Experience supporting M&A operational integration
• Applied process improvement background (Lean, Six Sigma) — not just certified
• Experience with ERP systems and inventory management platforms
• Track record of building proactive retention programs — identifying at-risk accounts, designing outreach cadences, measuring results

Who Thrives Here

GEM is a family-owned company with a servant leadership culture. We invest in whole people, not just employees. The right candidate is drawn to that mission — not just the title.You’ll thrive here if you:

• Believe that the best retention strategy is operational excellence — not a loyalty program
• Get energy from fixing broken things and building systems that last
• Lead with empathy but decide with data
• Would rather walk the warehouse floor than sit in a conference room
• Care more about impact than status
• Understand that stewardship means treating every resource — people, inventory, capital, and time — as something entrusted to you, not owned by you

You won’t thrive here if you:

• Come from a primarily large-corporate background with no entrepreneurial or family-business experience
• Are a strategy-first thinker who wants to build PowerPoints before fixing the floor
• Delegate everything and won’t personally get into the data or walk the warehouse
• Prioritize title and career advancement over meaningful work
• Think customer retention is someone else’s job