Director of Distribution

Quality Bicycle Products; BLOOMINGTON (MN); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) in Bloomington, MN is seeking a Director of Distribution to lead our enterprise-wide distribution network strategy and execution across US and Canada. You will own facilities strategy, in-house manufacturing (Wheelhouse), and the end-to-end operating model for DCs, balancing growth, cost, safety, and service levels.

You’ll partner with DCAT, Industrial Engineering, IT, and Finance to drive continuous improvement, capital investments, and network resilience, while

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience in procurement, supply chain, demand planning, or related disciplines.
• Proven experience leading multi-site, high volume distribution or fulfillment operations.
• Strong understanding of labor management, safety, peak planning, operational performance.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans across large, complex teams.
• Experience leading change, continuous improvement, and operational transformation.
• Executive presence with the ability to influence peers, senior leaders and cross functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end performance of all Distribution Centers.
• Set and execute distribution network strategy.
• Establish operating standards, performance metrics, and management routines across all DCs.
• Own peak planning and scalable growth across the network.
• Build and manage Distribution budgets across labor, SG&A and capital.
• Drive continuous improvement through process design, labor optimization, technology adoption, and operational discipline.
• Partner with Purchasing, Logistics, Finance, IT, Sales, and Brand teams to align execution with enterprise priorities.
• Lead, coach, and develop DC and operations leaders, building succession pipelines.
• Create a safe, inclusive, and high-engagement work environment reflecting QBP values.
• Sponsor major distribution initiatives, including system implementations and facility investments.

Skills

Leadership

Supply chain

Distribution operations

Labor management

Executive presence

Strategic planning

Job description

This is a Hybrid role that is based in the Bloomington, MN Metro area.

About Qbp

Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) is in the business of bikes! From creating a portfolio of our own award-winning brands to distributing the top names and best products in the industry, we’re doing our part to further bike-kind. With distribution centers in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, Canada and Taiwan, QBP serves more than 5,000 independent retailers and 400+ suppliers worldwide.

We strive to be an extraordinary business partner with and work for. As a values-driven company, making the world a better place has always been at the heart of everything Q does. We believe that our actions as individuals and as a company can make a difference, so we work every day to improve the sustainability and health of our industry and our communities.

We understand that it is our employees that make us successful and we do our best to make Q a fun and rewarding workplace. Our community is passionate about pushing creative boundaries, sparking innovation in the industry, living healthy lifestyles, and having fun. We have a welcoming environment that welcomes employees from all backgrounds and allows individuals to be themselves. Q provides a lot of great perks for employees.

What You Will Be Accountable For

Directors at QBP are accountable for the future growth and success of a critical area of the business with leadership responsibility that may span multiple functions. This role is part of the leadership team for the Supply Chain organization and collaborates closely with peer leaders across the company.

Role Summary

The Director of Distribution is responsible for the end-to-end leadership of QBP’s enterprise wide distribution network strategy and execution, with direct accountability for service performance, cost control, safety, quality, productivity, scalability, and long term network resilience across our US and Canadian DC network.

This role leads QBP’s multi site Distribution Center (DC) network and serves as an enterprise leader responsible for translating business strategy into operational reality. The Director of Distribution plays a critical role in enabling growth, protecting margins, and ensuring QBP can reliably serve customers through both peak and non peak cycles. The role balances day to day operational excellence with long term (3-5 year) network strategy which is built to align to the company’s 3-5 year strategy, ensuring QBP’s distribution capabilities evolve to meet changing customer expectations, business growth, channel complexity, and seasonality.

This role also serves as QBP’s enterprise leader for distribution facilities, process governance, engineering, and automation. The Director of Distribution owns the end to end operating model of QBP’s DC network, including facilities strategy, in house manufacturing, safety and compliance, and distribution systems. The role ensures that the physical network, people, processes, and technology evolve together to support growth, seasonality, and operational complexity.

While the DC Alignment Team (DCAT) and Industrial Engineering do not report directly into this role, they are essential strategic partners. The Director works in close partnership with those teams to align process governance, training, inventory accuracy, engineered standards, labor models, continuous improvement priorities, and automation readiness across the distribution network.

The Director reports to the Vice President of Supply Chain and Global Logistics.

Leadership Accountabilities

• Own the enterprise distribution strategy aligned to QBP’s growth, service, financial, and cultural objectives
• Enterprise decision authority for distribution tradeoffs across cost, service, labor, capital, and risk
• Prioritize, business-case, and realize ROI from multi-year capital investments across facilities, systems and operational capabilities
• Act as executive steward of safety, service reliability, labor productivity, and operational discipline across the DC Network
• Lead and govern a multi site distribution network with consistent standards, expectations, management routines and accountability
• Operate as a senior enterprise leader, influencing outcomes far beyond direct reporting lines by building strong cross-functional operating partnerships with DCAT, Industrial Engineering, Technology, Human Resources, Finance, Sales and Category/Brand teams, Logistics, and Purchasing.
• Build leadership capability and succession depth across DC operations, ensuring leaders can execute today’s work while preparing for future scale and complexity.

ENTERPRISE FUNCTION OWNERSHIP

• Own all distribution facilities and real estate related functions, including site readiness, facility investments, lifecycle planning, and support of new DC openings, expansions, and major facility changes
• Lead and integrate QBP’s in house manufacturing operations (Wheelhouse), ensuring alignment with distribution flow, quality standards, cost expectations, labor planning, and customer service needs.
• Own enterprise distribution operating cadence, including performance reviews, escalation routines, peak readiness, operational risk management, and cross-site accountability
• Own the strategy, roadmap, and prioritization of QBP’s Warehouse Management System and related four walls technologies
• Own the selection, deployment, and operational performance of all distribution center technologies including warehouse systems, automation, and supporting tools, with IT partnering to enable secure, scalable, and reliable execution.
• Own Distribution financial planning and budget stewardship, including labor, SG&A and Capital (CapEx) as well as supporting business cases and delivering approved budget commitments.
• Define and govern QBP’s distribution automation strategy, ensuring investments are sequenced, operationally viable, and deliver measurable performance outcomes
• Partner closely with DCAT to align network-wide process ownership, training, inventory accuracy, and site readiness to the distribution operating model.
• Partner closely with Industrial Engineering to align engineered standards, labor planning, slotting/productivity insights, process design, and continuous improvement priorities to network performance objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end to end performance of all QBP Distribution Centers, including service levels, cost, safety, quality, and labor productivity
• Set and execute short and long term distribution network strategy, including capacity planning, site strategy, automation, and scalability
• Establish and maintain clear operating standards, performance metrics, and management routines across all DCs
• Own peak planning and execution, ensuring the network scales up safely and effectively during high volume periods, as well as down to drive savings realization in low volume periods.
• Build and manage Distribution budgets across labor, SG&A, and capital, ensuring operational plans, staffing models, and capital investments deliver against approved financial targets.
• Drive continuous improvement through process design, labor optimization, technology adoption, and operational discipline
• Partner closely with Purchasing, Logistics, Category Management, Finance, IT, Sales, and Brand teams to align execution with enterprise priorities
• Lead, coach, and develop DC and operations leaders, building strong succession pipelines
• Create a safe, inclusive, and high engagement work environment that reflects QBP’s values
• Serve as executive sponsor for major distribution initiatives, including system implementations, facility investments, and transformation efforts
• This role has direct and material impact on company performance. Decisions directly influence:
• Customer service and fill rates
• Distribution cost per unit and total operating expense
• Labor efficiency and overtime
• Safety performance and risk
• Capital investment requirements
• QBP’s ability to scale profitably through peak and growth cycles
• Design, own, and evolve the enterprise distribution operating system; spanning facilities, people, processes, systems, compliance, and automation to ensure QBP can operate safely, efficiently, and consistently at scale
• Establish and govern enterprise processes for identifying, escalating, and mitigating operational risks in all areas of distribution execution

Qualifications

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED:

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience in procurement, supply chain, demand planning, or related disciplines.
• Proven experience leading multi-site, high volume distribution or fulfillment operations
• Strong understanding of labor management, safety, peak planning, operational performance
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans across large, complex teams
• Experience leading change, continuous improvement, and operational transformation
• Executive presence with the ability to influence peers, senior leaders and cross functional partners.

Other Related Criteria

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally approximately 10% of the time.
• Ability to perform work on a phone and computer extensively.

Modeling Qbp Core Values

• Act with integrity
• Be a true partner
• Create something special
• Deliver greatness
• Keep the customer first

Quality Bicycle Products is a proud certified B-Corp and an Equal Employment Opportunity employer committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We welcome talent from all backgrounds and encourage employees to bring their authentic selves to work. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other protected characteristic.

At Quality Bicycle Products, we approach pay ethically and transparently. Our pay ranges are informed by third-party market data and aligned with internal equity across similar roles. Individual pay within these ranges may vary based on skills, experience, performance, tenure, and budget considerations.