Fulfillment Operations Manager

Fringe Sport; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Fringe Sport in Austin, TX is seeking a Fulfillment Operations Manager to lead the day-to-day execution of our e-commerce fulfillment operation.

You'll balance people leadership with operational execution, ensuring orders ship on time, inventory inbound work stays on track, and staffing aligns with priorities. This hands-on role requires strong coaching, decision-making, and a bias for timely problem solving in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Direct experience leading and managing people.
• Ability to set expectations and hold others accountable.
• Strong operational judgment and independent decision-making.
• Comfort with changing priorities, interruptions, and time pressure.
• Experience using metrics to drive decisions.
• Hands-on leadership close to the operation.

Responsibilities

• Own daily fulfillment performance across inbound, inventory, picking, packing, and shipping.
• Ensure orders move through fulfillment accurately and on time.
• Set daily priorities based on order volume, backlog, inbound workload, staffing.
• Monitor performance and adjust as conditions change.
• Coach Inventory/Inbound Lead and Outbound Lead.
• Build a team with urgency, accuracy, accountability, and communication.

Skills

People leadership

Operational execution

Data-driven decisions

WMS experience

ERP experience

Tools

WMS

ERP

Job description

About the Role

Fringe Sport is looking for a Fulfillment Operations Manager to lead the day-to-day execution of our Austin e-commerce fulfillment operation.

This role sits at the intersection of people leadership and operational execution.

Your primary responsibility is making sure the operation works every day: orders ship accurately and on time, inventory and inbound work stay on track, the right people are deployed against the right priorities, and operational problems are identified and addressed early.

You'll lead the operation through our Inventory/Inbound Lead and Outbound Lead, while remaining close enough to the floor to understand what's actually happening and step in when leadership or judgment is needed.

This isn't a role for someone who wants to spend most of their time on strategic projects or redesigning operations. Continuous improvement matters, but daily execution comes first.

We need someone who enjoys leading people, solving operational problems, making decisions, and creating consistency in a fast-moving environment.

What You'll Own

• Own daily fulfillment performance across inbound, inventory, picking, packing, and shipping.
• Ensure customer orders move through fulfillment accurately and on time.
• Set daily priorities based on order volume, backlog, inbound workload, staffing, and business needs.
• Monitor performance throughout the day and adjust as conditions change.
• Identify potential service risks early and take action before they become larger problems.
• Maintain visibility into both inbound and outbound execution without becoming the bottleneck for either.
• Manage, coach, and develop the Inventory/Inbound Lead and Outbound Lead.
• Create clear ownership and accountability within each area.
• Set expectations and consistently follow up on performance.
• Coach employees and address performance issues directly.
• Build a team that operates with urgency, accuracy, accountability, and strong communication.
• Know when to delegate, when to coach, and when direct management intervention is required.

Daily Labor & Prioritization

• Translate workload into an effective daily staffing plan.
• Respond to callouts and staffing shortages without losing control of critical priorities.
• Reallocate labor as workload changes throughout the day.
• Balance inbound, inventory, and outbound requirements.
• Partner with recruiting to maintain appropriate staffing levels.
• Use temporary labor when appropriate while maintaining operational standards.

Metrics & Operational Control

• Use shipping, backlog, productivity, inventory, and staffing data to manage the operation.
• Identify performance gaps and determine appropriate corrective action.
• Ensure SOPs and operational standards are consistently followed.
• Maintain strong inventory and shipping accuracy.
• Surface risks and escalate issues before they become surprises.

Problem Solving & Improvement

• Investigate operational problems to understand what actually happened and why.
• Address root causes rather than repeatedly treating symptoms.
• Improve processes when doing so meaningfully improves execution.
• Help strengthen the DC's operating playbook as new situations and lessons emerge.
• Maintain the balance between improving the operation and running today's operation successfully.

What We're Looking For

The right person is a frontline operational leader.

You don't necessarily need to have spent your entire career in warehousing. We're interested in people who have led teams in fast-paced environments where priorities change, results are measurable, and execution matters every day.

Relevant backgrounds could include e-commerce fulfillment, logistics, parcel operations, distribution, manufacturing, retail operations, military logistics/operations, or similar environments.

You should have:

• Demonstrated experience directly leading and managing people.
• The ability to set expectations and hold others accountable.
• Strong operational judgment and confidence making decisions independently.
• Comfort operating with changing priorities, interruptions, and time pressure.
• The ability to quickly determine what matters most and focus the team accordingly.
• Strong follow-through and execution discipline.
• Comfort having direct conversations about performance.
• The ability to use metrics and operational data to make decisions.
• A structured approach to problem solving.
• Enough attention to detail to maintain strong operational controls without becoming rigid.
• Comfort learning and using WMS, ERP, and other operational systems.
• A hands-on leadership style and willingness to remain close to the operation.

Helpful, but not required:

• Warehouse/distribution experience.
• ERP/WMS experience.
• Inventory management experience.
• Experience managing frontline leads.
• Military leadership, logistics, or operations experience.

What Success Looks Like

In your first 90 days, you should be able to run the daily fulfillment operation without routine executive involvement. You'll have established a productive management cadence with both leads, understand the DC's operating metrics, manage staffing and priorities independently, address performance issues consistently, and know when something requires escalation.

Over time, the operation should become increasingly predictable: leads own their areas, labor is proactively managed, backlogs and service risks are addressed early, productivity expectations are clear, accuracy remains strong, and recurring problems are reduced.

You'll also help improve the operation - but success isn't measured by how many projects you launch.

It's measured by whether the operation consistently works.