KYADTA BUILDING SUPPLIES, LLC
Operations Manager Job Description
Position Summary
The Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the daily operational activities of KYADTA Building Supplies, LLC. This position ensures that purchasing, inventory, warehouse operations, deliveries, customer service, sales support, and administrative processes operate efficiently, accurately, and profitably.
The Operations Manager will work closely with company leadership, the Warehouse Manager, the Financial Manager, vendors, customers, and other employees to establish reliable processes, resolve operational issues, control costs, improve customer service, and support the continued growth of the company.
This is a hands-on management position. The Operations Manager is expected to assist wherever needed while also developing the systems, controls, accountability, and procedures necessary for KYADTA to grow as a professional building-materials wholesaler.
Position Information
Job Title: Operations Manager
Company: KYADTA Building Supplies, LLC
Location: Ankeny, Iowa
Department: Operations
Reports To: President, Chief Operating Officer, or other designated company executive
Employment Status: Full-Time
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
1. Operational Leadership
- Oversee and coordinate the company’s day-to-day operational activities.
- Establish clear operating procedures, responsibilities, workflows, and accountability for employees.
- Coordinate activities among purchasing, sales, warehouse, delivery, accounting, and management.
- Identify operational problems, determine their causes, and implement practical solutions.
- Develop and maintain written standard operating procedures for key business functions.
- Ensure employees follow established processes, approval requirements, and internal controls.
- Monitor operational performance and recommend improvements to increase efficiency, service quality, and profitability.
- Assist company leadership with planning, budgeting, forecasting, and execution of strategic initiatives.
- Support the implementation of company goals and communicate priorities to employees.
- Provide leadership and direction during periods of growth, change, or operational disruption.
2. Procurement and Purchasing
- Manage and assist with the procurement of building materials, supplies, equipment, and other products sold or used by the company.
- Determine purchasing requirements based on inventory levels, open customer orders, sales forecasts, lead times, and anticipated demand.
- Prepare and issue purchase orders in accordance with company authorization requirements.
- Obtain and compare vendor quotes, pricing, freight charges, rebates, payment terms, minimum-order requirements, and delivery schedules.
- Negotiate favorable pricing, terms, freight arrangements, and purchasing programs with vendors.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and freight providers.
- Identify alternative products and suppliers when materials are unavailable, delayed, or no longer cost-effective.
- Monitor open purchase orders and follow up on backorders, shortages, substitutions, damaged products, and late deliveries.
- Verify that purchased products, quantities, costs, and delivery terms match approved purchase orders.
- Coordinate with accounting to resolve vendor invoice discrepancies, credits, returns, rebates, and pricing errors.
- Maintain appropriate purchasing documentation and approval records.
- Evaluate supplier performance based on pricing, quality, service, reliability, lead time, and accuracy.
- Assist in developing preferred-vendor and approved-product programs.
- Monitor market conditions, product availability, tariffs, manufacturer increases, freight costs, and other factors that may affect pricing or supply.
- Recommend purchasing strategies that reduce costs while maintaining appropriate product quality and availability.
- Prevent excessive, duplicative, obsolete, or unauthorized purchases.
3. Inventory Management
- Maintain accurate inventory quantities, costs, locations, units of measure, and product information.
- Establish and enforce procedures for receiving, stocking, transferring, counting, picking, staging, delivering, returning, and adjusting inventory.
- Coordinate regular cycle counts and full physical inventory counts.
- Investigate inventory discrepancies and implement corrective measures.
- Review inventory adjustments and ensure adjustments are properly documented and approved.
- Establish minimum, maximum, reorder-point, and safety-stock levels where appropriate.
- Monitor inventory turnover, aging, shrinkage, damaged products, obsolete products, and slow-moving materials.
- Recommend transfers, returns, discounts, liquidation, or other actions for excess and obsolete inventory.
- Ensure inventory is properly assigned to customer orders, jobs, locations, or business entities.
- Work with the Warehouse Manager to ensure materials are stored safely, securely, and in a manner that prevents damage.
- Develop controls to reduce loss, theft, misplacement, duplicate ordering, and inaccurate inventory records.
- Ensure special-order and customer-owned materials are clearly identified and appropriately controlled.
4. Warehouse and Delivery Coordination
- Work directly with the Warehouse Manager and 3rd party contractor to coordinate receiving, storage, order preparation, loading, and delivery activities.
- Help establish daily and weekly priorities for warehouse and delivery personnel.
- Ensure materials are received, inspected, counted, and entered into the company’s system promptly and accurately.
- Coordinate customer pickups, jobsite deliveries, transfers, and returns.
- Monitor delivery schedules and communicate changes, shortages, or delays to customers and appropriate employees.
- Ensure delivery documentation, proof of delivery, customer signatures, and photographs are obtained when required.
- Assist with resolving damaged-material, shortage, incorrect-product, and delivery-related claims.
- Promote safe material handling, loading, storage, equipment operation, and delivery practices.
- Help ensure vehicles, forklifts, trailers, tools, and warehouse equipment are inspected and maintained.
- Monitor warehouse organization, cleanliness, security, and efficient use of space.
- Assist with planning warehouse capacity, staffing, equipment, and layout needs.
5. Sales Support and Customer Service
- Assist the sales function by helping prepare quotes, pricing, product information, availability information, and customer proposals.
- Respond to customer inquiries regarding products, pricing, lead times, deliveries, shortages, substitutions, and order status.
- Help ensure customer orders are complete, accurate, properly priced, and entered into the company’s system.
- Coordinate with customers, contractors, builders, suppliers, and internal personnel to resolve order-related issues.
- Support sales personnel with product research, sourcing, bid preparation, order entry, and follow-up.
- Assist in identifying new sales opportunities, customer needs, and product categories.
- Develop familiarity with the company’s product lines and provide basic product guidance to customers and employees.
- Help establish pricing structures, customer-specific pricing, discounts, freight charges, and margin requirements.
- Review quotes and orders for unusual pricing, low margins, excessive discounts, or other concerns requiring approval.
- Monitor open quotes, pending orders, backorders, and outstanding customer issues.
- Assist with customer account setup and ensure required credit, tax, contact, and delivery information is obtained.
- Promote responsive, professional, and solutions-focused customer service.
- Assist with customer complaints and ensure issues are documented, investigated, and resolved appropriately.
- Maintain productive relationships with builders, contractors, subcontractors, developers, and other customers.
6. Marketing and Business Development Support
- Assist company leadership with the development and execution of marketing plans.
- Support marketing activities designed to increase awareness of KYADTA’s products, services, and value to customers.
- Assist with product promotions, customer communications, email campaigns, printed materials, website content, and social media content.
- Coordinate with employees, vendors, and outside marketing providers regarding campaigns and promotional materials.
- Help organize customer events, vendor demonstrations, open houses, trade events, builder meetings, and product-training sessions.
- Obtain product information, photographs, specifications, samples, and promotional materials from vendors.
- Assist in highlighting new products, preferred products, special pricing, rebates, and seasonal opportunities.
- Help maintain consistent and accurate company branding across marketing materials.
- Track marketing leads and help ensure timely follow-up.
- Gather customer and market feedback to assist leadership with product, pricing, and service decisions.
- Monitor competitor products, services, pricing, and market activity when practical.
- Identify opportunities to expand product categories, increase customer purchases, and develop new customer relationships.
- Support cross-selling and upselling efforts when they provide value to the customer.
7. Pricing and Margin Management
- Assist with establishing and maintaining product costs, selling prices, freight charges, markups, and customer pricing.
- Monitor gross margin by product, product category, vendor, customer, and order.
- Identify transactions with unusually low or negative margins and investigate the cause.
- Ensure vendor price increases and cost changes are updated promptly.
- Review freight, handling, delivery, fuel, and other charges to ensure the company is recovering appropriate costs.
- Recommend pricing adjustments based on costs, competition, customer relationships, and company profitability goals.
- Help develop approval limits for discounts, credits, price overrides, and special terms.
- Coordinate with accounting to ensure rebates, credits, incentives, and vendor allowances are properly recorded.
- Protect confidential company pricing, cost, customer, and vendor information.
8. Financial and Administrative Coordination
- Work with the Financial Manager and accounting personnel to ensure operational transactions are complete and accurate.
- Support accurate purchase orders, sales orders, item receipts, invoices, bills, credits, returns, and inventory adjustments.
- Review operational reports for errors, missing information, unusual activity, or unresolved transactions.
- Assist with monthly closing activities related to inventory, purchasing, sales, deliveries, and open orders.
- Help develop departmental budgets and monitor actual expenses against budget.
- Identify opportunities for cost savings and improved use of company resources.
- Ensure company approval requirements are followed before committing funds or providing credits.
- Assist with the documentation and collection of customer claims, vendor claims, freight claims, and warranty claims.
- Provide management with timely and accurate operational information.
- Maintain organized records in accordance with company procedures and applicable retention requirements.
9. NetSuite and Business Systems
- Serve as a primary operational user and process owner for NetSuite and other company systems.
- Assist with the continued implementation, configuration, testing, and improvement of NetSuite processes.
- Ensure employees consistently and accurately enter purchasing, sales, inventory, receiving, delivery, and customer information.
- Help establish appropriate user roles, permissions, approval workflows, and separation of duties.
- Coordinate with management, accounting, employees, and outside consultants regarding system needs and issues.
- Identify system errors, duplicate processes, reporting gaps, and opportunities for automation.
- Assist with product-item setup, vendor records, customer records, pricing, units of measure, locations, and inventory information.
- Develop operational reports, dashboards, saved searches, and key performance indicators.
- Train employees on approved processes and proper use of company systems.
- Protect company information and ensure employees follow cybersecurity, password, and access-control requirements.
10. Personnel Leadership
- Provide day-to-day direction, support, and accountability to assigned employees.
- Assist with recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, training, scheduling, coaching, and evaluating employees.
- Clearly communicate job responsibilities, performance expectations, and company procedures.
- Conduct regular employee check-ins and assist with performance reviews.
- Address performance, conduct, attendance, communication, and training concerns promptly.
- Recommend disciplinary or corrective action when appropriate, in coordination with company leadership.
- Promote teamwork, professionalism, accountability, and respectful communication.
- Help employees understand how their work affects customers, profitability, inventory accuracy, and other departments.
- Identify staffing and training needs and make recommendations to management.
- Ensure only authorized employees make purchasing, pricing, credit, inventory, and other financial commitments on behalf of the company.
11. Safety, Compliance, and Risk Management
- Promote compliance with company safety policies and applicable workplace safety requirements.
- Assist with safety training, incident reporting, equipment inspections, and corrective actions.
- Help ensure employees use appropriate personal protective equipment.
- Maintain appropriate controls for warehouse access, keys, vehicles, equipment, customer information, and company property.
- Assist with investigating accidents, damaged materials, inventory loss, customer complaints, and other operational incidents.
- Support compliance with applicable transportation, employment, tax, environmental, licensing, insurance, and recordkeeping requirements.
- Ensure required certificates, licenses, tax-exemption documents, vendor records, and customer records are collected and maintained.
- Report significant safety, financial, legal, customer, or operational concerns to company leadership promptly.
- Assist with insurance claims, audits, legal requests, and regulatory inspections when required.
12. Continuous Improvement and Growth
- Regularly review company processes and recommend more efficient and reliable methods.
- Develop measurable operational goals and track progress.
- Analyze operational data and identify trends requiring action.
- Support expansion into additional products, vendors, markets, warehouse locations, or service offerings.
- Assist with evaluating new equipment, technology, software, and service providers.
- Create scalable processes that can support additional employees, customers, inventory, and sales volume.
- Complete special projects and other duties assigned by company leadership.
Decision-Making Authority
The Operations Manager may make routine operational decisions within approved company policies, budgets, pricing parameters, and authority limits.
The Operations Manager must obtain approval from designated company leadership before:
- Entering into contracts or long-term commitments.
- Adding a new vendor without required review.
- Making purchases exceeding established authority limits.
- Approving significant discounts, credits, refunds, or price overrides.
- Changing employee compensation, benefits, or employment status.
- Creating or modifying bank, accounting, or system access beyond delegated authority.
- Disposing of significant inventory or company property.
- Making commitments that create material financial, legal, safety, or reputational risk.
- Changing company-wide policies or organizational responsibilities.
Minimum Qualifications
- High school diploma or equivalent required.
- Associate or bachelor’s degree in business, operations, supply-chain management, construction, logistics, or a related field preferred.
- Prior experience in operations, purchasing, inventory management, sales support, warehouse management, building-material distribution, construction, or wholesale distribution preferred.
- Prior supervisory or management experience preferred.
- Working knowledge of purchasing, inventory, sales orders, receiving, delivery, and customer-service processes.
- Ability to understand product costs, markups, gross margins, freight costs, and basic financial reports.
- Experience with an enterprise resource planning system, inventory-management system, or accounting system required; NetSuite experience strongly preferred.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel, Outlook, and Word.
- Valid driver’s license and an acceptable driving record when driving is required.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong leadership, organization, and problem-solving skills.
- Good business judgment and financial awareness.
- Ability to manage multiple responsibilities and shifting priorities.
- Ability to balance customer service with company profitability and risk controls.
- Strong purchasing, negotiation, and vendor-management skills.
- Ability to understand building products, specifications, quantities, and lead times.
- Clear and professional written and verbal communication.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to accurate records.
- Ability to analyze data and turn information into practical action.
- Ability to establish procedures and hold employees accountable.
- Ability to work collaboratively across departments.
- Ability to handle confidential financial, customer, employee, and vendor information.
- Ability to remain calm and make sound decisions during operational problems or customer disputes.
- Willingness to perform both management-level and hands-on operational work.
- Commitment to safety, ethics, professionalism, and continuous improvement.
Pay: $80,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
