Dispatch Lead: Own, Optimize & Automate High-Impact Ops

Proteaflora Pty Ltd; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Proteaflora Pty Ltd seeks a senior Dispatch Lead to own end-to-end operations at our Dandenong Ranges nursery. You will manage the dispatch team, ensure on-time and accurate shipments, and shape the future with automation and ERP integration.

You will design and implement efficient processes, mentor staff, manage freight and costs, and partner with Sales, Production and Growing to align promises with reality. This is a permanent, year-round leadership role in a natural setting.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership of a dispatch or logistics team.
• Ability to analyze costs per unit and drive improvements.
• Experience implementing real-world process changes, not just planning.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the dispatch team, rostering, training, and day-to-day operations.
• Ensure orders are dispatched on-time, in-full and accurately.
• Manage the final quality gate: decide what ships and what doesn’t under pressure.
• Oversee freight relationships, costs per consignment, transit outcomes and related paperwork.
• Measure and improve labour hours per unit and dispatch cost.
• Collaborate with Sales, Production and Growing to align promises with output.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Process improvement

WMS/ERP familiarity

Automation exposure

Tools

WMS/ERP systems

Forklift ticket

Job description

You'll own dispatch end to end — the people, the process, the quality standard and the numbers. You'll report to the Commercial Director and sit alongside our Head Grower, Head of Production and Head of Development in the group that runs this business. Dispatch is the final check before our name goes on a truck. You'll assess, measure and rebuild the current dispatch process, establishing the baseline that everything else is judged against. From there, you'll help specify, commission and run a conveyor-based dispatch system, and you'll have a real voice in what comes next: automated grading, systems integration, and how the work itself is designed.

Key responsibilities

Lead and develop the dispatch team — rostering, training, maintaining standards and the day-to-day rhythm of getting orders out the door

Ensure orders are dispatched on-time, in-full and accurately

Manage the final quality gate: what ships, what doesn't, and hold that line when the pressure is on

Manage freight — carrier relationships, cost per consignment, transit outcomes, and the paperwork behind it

Measure and improve labour hours per unit and cost to dispatch

Work with Sales, Production and Growing so that what's promised, what's grown and what's picked line up

About you

Have actually led a team — hired, trained, held high standards, had the hard conversations, and had people stay

Know what your operation costs per unit are, can improve them and provide evidence of the progress

Have truly implemented process change in a workplace environment, not on a whiteboard

Take pride in doing things properly, including when nobody's watching

Are comfortable in a hands-on environment — you'll be outdoors, on the floor, in the weather, and close to the work

Inspire your team and treat them with respect – take them along with you rather than dragging them

Experience with WMS/ERP systems, forklift or machinery tickets, and exposure to automation projects are welcome

About us

Proteaflora is one of Australia's leading specialist wholesale nurseries. From the hills of the Dandenong Ranges, we grow proteas, banksias and Australian wildflowers, supplying garden centres, landscapers, major retail and commercial growers across the country. We produce over 500,000 premium plants every year, and our reputation extends well beyond Australia, with partnerships spanning Italy, South Africa, Japan and the United States. We're a business in the middle of real change: new ERP and systems, a serious push on process and productivity, and a capital program that will reshape how dispatch physically works.

A senior role with genuine scope: your team, your budget, your standard, your call

Senior-level salary package reflecting the responsibility, negotiated on experience

Permanent, year-round work — no seasonal layoffs

A seat in the leadership group of a 50-year-old business that is actively investing in its future

The chance to lead a significant automation and process program from the front, not to inherit someone else's

Work in a natural environment most people only visit on weekends: a working nursery in the Dandenong Ranges, surrounded by some of the most striking plants in Australia

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