Join a growing patio furniture company and take ownership of our complete order and supply chain process.
We are looking for an experienced operations professional who can manage products from the time a purchase order is placed with a factory in Vietnam or China through final delivery to a customer or one of our U.S. warehouses. This person will work closely with factories, freight forwarders, customs brokers, warehouses, carriers, sales representatives, and customers.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys building systems, solving logistics problems, working with product details, and taking full ownership of daily operations in a growing business.
This position will be responsible for the complete operational process, including issuing purchase orders, monitoring factory production, coordinating ocean freight, managing inventory, processing customer orders, maintaining product and SKU information, entering sales orders into QuickBooks, and arranging domestic freight deliveries.
The ideal candidate understands both the operational and product sides of the furniture business. This person must be comfortable working with overseas factories, freight forwarders, customs brokers, warehouses, sales representatives, carriers, and customers while maintaining accurate spreadsheets and records.
This is a key position within the company and requires strong ownership, attention to detail, follow-through, and the ability to manage multiple shipments and orders simultaneously.
Primary Responsibilities
Purchase Orders and Factory Coordination
- Prepare and issue purchase orders to factories in Vietnam and China.
- Confirm factory pricing, quantities, product specifications, packaging requirements, and production lead times.
- Monitor production schedules and follow up regularly with factories to ensure purchase orders remain on schedule.
- Track deposits, balances, production completion dates, inspection dates, and shipment readiness.
- Review factory commercial invoices, packing lists, carton counts, product dimensions, weights, and container-loading information.
- Communicate purchase order changes, shortages, replacements, quality concerns, and production delays.
- Maintain a complete purchase order tracker showing the status of every item and shipment.
International Ocean Freight
- Coordinate ocean freight from factories in Vietnam and China to customers and company warehouses in California and New Jersey.
- Work with factories, freight forwarders, customs brokers, trucking companies, warehouses, and customers.
- Request and compare ocean freight and related logistics rates.
- Coordinate full-container and less-than-container shipments as needed.
- Track booking confirmations, container numbers, vessel information, departure dates, arrival dates, customs clearance, and delivery appointments.
- Review shipping documents for accuracy, including commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading, and other required import documentation.
- Provide shipment updates to management, sales representatives, warehouses, and customers.
- Identify delays or potential problems early and develop solutions to minimize additional costs.
- Monitor demurrage, detention, storage, chassis, port, and delivery-related charges.
Customer and Sales Order Processing
- Receive purchase orders and order requests from company sales representatives.
- Review each order for correct customer information, SKU numbers, quantities, pricing, discounts, shipping terms, and requested delivery dates.
- Verify product availability and expected arrival dates before confirming orders.
- Enter sales orders accurately into QuickBooks.
- Create and send professional sales confirmations to sales representatives.
- Process order changes, cancellations, backorders, substitutions, and special shipping instructions.
- Maintain clear records of all customer and sales representative communications.
- Coordinate with sales representatives regarding inventory availability, incoming containers, product pricing, and delivery schedules.
- Confirm that orders are released to the correct warehouse or shipping location.
SKU and Product Information Management
- Create and maintain a consistent SKU-numbering system for all products.
- Maintain an accurate product master list containing:
- SKU number
- Product name and description
- Collection name
- Product category
- Material and finish
- Frame and fabric colors
- Product dimensions
- Carton dimensions
- Unit and carton weights
- Units per carton
- Factory cost
- Landed cost
- Wholesale price
- Warehouse location
- Stock status
- Ensure that product descriptions, pricing, dimensions, and SKU numbers are consistent across QuickBooks, spreadsheets, price lists, purchase orders, sales confirmations, and warehouse records.
- Become highly familiar with the company’s products, collections, pricing structure, packaging, dimensions, and selling features.
- Communicate product information accurately to sales representatives, warehouses, carriers, and customers.
- Coordinate the setup of new products before they are available for sale.
Inventory Management
- Track inventory from the time a purchase order is issued until products are received at the California or New Jersey warehouse.
- Maintain inventory-by-location records for both warehouses.
- Track inventory that is:
- Ready to ship
- On the water
- Received and available
- Allocated to customer orders
- Backordered
- Damaged or on hold
- Coordinate inbound receiving with both warehouses.
- Compare warehouse receiving reports against factory packing lists and purchase orders.
- Investigate shortages, overages, damages, incorrect SKUs, and receiving discrepancies.
- Manage inventory allocations for customer orders and incoming shipments.
- Coordinate inventory transfers between the California and New Jersey warehouses when necessary.
- Maintain accurate available-to-sell inventory information for management and the sales team.
- Help prevent overselling, duplicate allocations, and inventory shortages.
Domestic Freight and Customer Deliveries
- Arrange domestic transportation from the California and New Jersey warehouses to customers throughout the United States.
- Request and compare rates from multiple carriers, freight brokers, and logistics providers.
- Select the most cost-effective shipping option while considering delivery time, service level, product handling, and damage risk.
- Coordinate parcel, less-than-truckload, full-truckload, dedicated, residential, commercial, and appointment deliveries as required.
- Prepare or verify bills of lading, shipping labels, delivery instructions, and related documents.
- Schedule warehouse pickups and customer delivery appointments.
- Track shipments through final delivery and obtain proof of delivery.
- Communicate delivery updates and delays to sales representatives and customers.
- Review freight invoices and identify incorrect or unexpected charges.
- Assist with freight claims involving damage, loss, shortages, or delivery problems.
- Maintain records of carrier performance, freight costs, and claims.
- Continuously identify opportunities to reduce transportation expenses.
Spreadsheets, Reporting, and Operational Controls
- Create and maintain detailed spreadsheets and reports for:
- Purchase orders
- Container bookings
- Ocean shipments
- Estimated arrival dates
- Customs clearance
- Warehouse receipts
- Inventory by location
- Customer orders
- Backorders
- Product allocations
- Domestic shipments
- Freight quotes
- Freight costs
- Product and SKU information
- Factory pricing
- Landed costs
- Develop a central operational dashboard that provides management with a clear view of orders, inventory, shipments, and potential problems.
- Maintain accurate electronic records and organized supporting documentation.
- Provide regular status reports to management.
- Identify process gaps and recommend procedures that improve accuracy, visibility, and efficiency.
- Create standard operating procedures as the company grows.
Required Qualifications
- Three or more years of experience in supply chain, import logistics, purchasing, inventory control, order management, or a similar operational position.
- Experience coordinating imports from China, Vietnam, or other Asian manufacturing locations.
- Familiarity with ocean freight, freight forwarders, customs brokers, ports, container shipping, and domestic trucking.
- Experience working with overseas factories and managing purchase orders and production schedules.
- Strong working knowledge of QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online.
- Advanced Excel skills, including formulas, filters, pivot tables, lookups, conditional formatting, and multi-tab trackers.
- Experience processing customer orders and preparing order confirmations.
- Strong understanding of inventory movement, warehouse receiving, product allocation, and inventory reconciliation.
- Ability to understand product dimensions, carton dimensions, weights, quantities, and shipping requirements.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong organizational and time-management abilities.
- Exceptional attention to detail and data accuracy.
- Ability to manage multiple purchase orders, containers, customer orders, and deadlines at the same time.
- Ability to work independently, take ownership, and follow assignments through completion.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in patio furniture, indoor furniture, home furnishings, consumer goods, or another bulky-product category.
- Experience working with two or more warehouse locations.
- Familiarity with ERP, inventory-management, warehouse-management, or order-management systems.
- Experience calculating and maintaining landed costs.
- Knowledge of Incoterms, import documentation, container planning, and freight claims.
- Experience managing LTL, FTL, final-mile, residential, and commercial deliveries.
- Familiarity with EDI, retail customer routing guides, or large retailer compliance requirements.
- Mandarin Chinese or Vietnamese language skills are helpful but not required.
Key Skills and Characteristics
The successful candidate will be:
- Highly organized and detail-oriented
- Proactive rather than reactive
- Comfortable following up persistently with factories and logistics providers
- Strong with numbers, spreadsheets, and product information
- Able to recognize discrepancies before they become expensive problems
- Skilled at prioritizing urgent shipments and customer orders
- Cost-conscious when comparing freight and logistics options
- Professional when communicating with customers and sales representatives
- Capable of building processes in a growing company where systems are still being developed
Pay: From $50,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
