Director of Supply Chain Automation & Innovation

ALO; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel opportunities

Job summary

ALO is seeking a Director, Supply Chain Automation to lead design, deployment, and performance of automation programs across the distribution network. The role reports to the VP, Distribution Center Automation and sits at the intersection of engineering, operations, and procurement.

The candidate will own end-to-end delivery from business case through go-live and ongoing optimization, building a growing team of automation engineers and cross-functional partners.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, or a related field.
• Master’s degree or MBA a plus.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in distribution, fulfillment engineering, automation, or material handling systems.
• 5+ years leading distribution center automation projects and engineering or project teams.
• Hands-on experience taking automation projects from concept and business case through design, commissioning, go-live, and stabilization.
• Experience in DTC, e-commerce, retail, or apparel distribution strongly preferred.
• Experience managing automation vendors and integrators on complex, multi-million-dollar capital projects.
• Experience in high-growth environments where capacity, speed, and scalability are critical
• Strong expertise in DC automation and material handling technologies, including AS/RS, goods-to-person, AMRs, robotics, sortation, and conveyance.
• Working knowledge of WMS, WES, WCS, PLC/control systems, and physical-to-software integration.
• Strong understanding of DC process design, capacity modeling, labor productivity, and operational flow.

Responsibilities

• Shape ALO’s multi-year automation roadmap, contributing technical assessments, capacity models, and investment recommendations.
• Translate the roadmap into prioritized programs, project plans, and resource needs across ALO-operated and 3PL facilities.
• Evaluate emerging automation technologies through research, site visits, and pilots, and recommend where they can create operational and financial value.
• Benchmark automation performance against leading retail, e-commerce, and apparel distribution operations.
• Lead automated DC design for assigned programs, from conceptual design and process flow through detailed engineering.
• Assess and recommend technologies including AS/RS, goods-to-person, AMRs, robotics, sortation, conveyance, and vision systems.
• Develop capacity models, layouts, and simulations that support growth and peak-volume requirements.
• Partner with Technology to integrate automation with WMS, WCS/WES, labor management, and other distribution platforms.
• Own end-to-end delivery of automation projects, accountable for scope, schedule, budget, quality, and risk.
• Develop requirements, technical specifications, RFPs, project plans, and budgets, and lead vendor evaluations in partnership with the VP and Procurement.
• Lead testing, commissioning, integration, cutover, go-live, and post-go-live stabilization.
• Ensure operational readiness through system and volume testing, SOPs, training, maintenance plans, spare parts, and contingency plans.
• Build and continually improve repeatable deployment playbooks to speed up implementation across the network.
• Set and track KPIs for deployed automation, including throughput, uptime, accuracy, safety, and cost per unit.
• Implement preventive and predictive maintenance programs, spare parts standards, and escalation processes in line with the reliability strategy set by the VP.
• Lead root-cause analysis on system issues and drive continuous improvement of automated operations.
• Support lifecycle planning for automation assets, including upgrades, obsolescence, and replacement needs.
• Manage day-to-day relationships with automation providers, integrators, OEMs, and engineering partners.
• Hold partners accountable to contractual commitments, performance standards, and project milestones.
• Assess vendor solutions on capability, scalability, reliability, implementation risk, and total cost of ownership.
• Manage day-to-day relationships with automation providers, integrators, OEMs, and engineering partners.
• Build capital business cases with ROI, payback, and total-cost-of-ownership analysis for VP and executive review.
• Lead, coach, and grow a team of automation engineers, controls specialists, and project managers.
• Build team capability across automation engineering, systems integration, reliability, and project execution.
• Create clear ownership and accountability for project delivery and system performance.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, urgency, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Manage project budgets and track realized benefits against approved business cases.
• 30%-40% of this role will involve traveling

Skills

Leadership

Project Management

Automation Engineering

DC Operations

Vendor Management

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Industrial, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree or MBA a plus

Tools

WMS/WES/WCS

PLC/Automation Controls

AS/RS

AMRs

Job description

ALO is seeking a Director, Supply Chain Automation to lead design, deployment, and performance of automation programs across the distribution network. The role reports to the VP, Distribution Center Automation and sits at the intersection of engineering, operations, and procurement.

The candidate will own end-to-end delivery from business case through go-live and ongoing optimization, building a growing team of automation engineers and cross-functional partners.