Retail Dropship Operations Specialist

MillerKnoll; Zeeland (MI); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

MillerKnoll Retail Operations is seeking a Retail Dropship Operations Specialist to manage supplier relationships and ensure product availability for a consistent customer experience. You will coordinate end-to-end purchase orders, monitor supplier performance, and drive timely resolutions with internal teams and external partners.

The role emphasizes proactive risk identification, recovery planning, and close collaboration with Planning, Warehouse Operations, Logistics, and Accounts Payable to

Qualifications

• Education/Experience: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Natural curiosity and a desire to understand how and why things work, with a willingness to dig into issues rather than simply react.
• Self-motivated and accountable, with the ability to take ownership of work and follow through without constant direction.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguity, ask thoughtful questions, and use available information to reach practical solutions.
• Ability to build relationships and communicate effectively with a variety of internal and external partners.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple responsibilities and keep details from falling through the cracks.
• Comfort working with data to identify trends, investigate problems, and support decisions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly communicate issues, risks, and next steps.

Responsibilities

• Own and strengthen operational relationships with assigned domestic dropship suppliers, establishing clear expectations and accountability.
• Serve as the primary operational contact between suppliers and MillerKnoll retail teams, coordinating issues and decisions.
• Manage end-to-end purchase order lifecycle across retail, contract, and extended lead-time product.
• Monitor supplier reliability and order performance focusing on timeliness, lead-time, on-time shipment, and fill rate.
• Identify late orders, supply constraints, capacity concerns, and recurring performance trends.
• Assess customer and business impact, communicate risk, and drive recovery plans with suppliers and internal partners.
• Ensure product is positioned to meet customer demand by coordinating with Planning on forecasts and inventory risks.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for recurring supplier issues.
• Track commitments and elevate material risks when timely resolution isn’t achieved.
• Hold suppliers accountable through performance reviews and corrective actions when needed.
• Collaborate with Warehouse Operations, Logistics, and Accounts Payable to resolve discrepancies.
• Perform additional responsibilities as needed to support business objectives.

Skills

Curiosity

Problem-solving

Communication

Relationship building

Organization

Prioritization

Excel

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience

Tools

Excel

Job description

Why join us?

At Design Within Reach, home comes first. We believe in creating and sourcing pieces that move with you and are meant to be enjoyed over a lifetime – from home to home, generation to generation. For us, that means exceptionally crafted, built-to-last, and beautifully designed furnishings. Our purpose is design for the good of humankind. It’s the ideal we strive toward each day in everything we do. Being a part of Design Within Reach means being a part of something larger than your work team, or even your brand. We are redefining modern for the 21st century. And our success allows Design Within Reach to support causes that align with our values, so we can build a more sustainable, equitable, and beautiful future for everyone.

The Retail Dropship Operations Specialist owns the day-to-day operational relationship between MillerKnoll Retail Operations and assigned suppliers.

The role is focused on supplier reliability and product availability, ensuring the right product is in the right place at the right time to support a consistent customer experience.

This position manages purchase order execution, monitors supplier performance, identifies risk, and coordinates timely resolution across internal teams and suppliers.

The specialist works closely with Planning, Warehouse Operations, Logistics, Accounts Payable, Merchandising, Product Development, and Customer Service to translate business needs into clear supplier actions and dependable execution.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Own and strengthen operational relationships with assigned domestic dropship suppliers, establishing clear expectations, communication routines, and accountability for execution.
• Serve as the primary operational point of contact between suppliers and MillerKnoll retail teams, coordinating issues, priorities, and decisions across cross-functional partners.
• Manage the end-to-end purchase order lifecycle across retail, contract, and extended lead-time product, including order creation, acknowledgement, revision, shipment, receipt support, and closure.
• Monitor supplier reliability and order performance, with emphasis on acknowledgement timeliness, lead-time adherence, on-time shipment, fill rate, shipment accuracy, and issue resolution.
• Proactively identify late orders, supply constraints, capacity concerns, and recurring performance trends.
• Assess customer and business impact, communicate risk, and drive recovery plans with suppliers and internal partners.
• Ensure product is positioned to support customer demand by partnering with Planning on forecasts, purchasing needs, lead-time changes, and inventory risks across stock and dropship assortments.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for recurring supplier issues.
• Track commitments, follow through to closure, and elevate material risks when timely resolution is not achieved.
• Hold suppliers accountable for agreed service expectations through performance reviews, documented improvement plans, and chargebacks or other remedies when applicable.
• Partner with Warehouse Operations, Logistics, and Accounts Payable to investigate receiving, shipment, inventory, and invoice discrepancies and coordinate resolution.
• Perform additional responsibilities as needed to support business objectives.

What Success Looks Like

Supplier risks are identified early, communicated clearly, and supported by an actionable recovery plan. Purchase orders move through the lifecycle accurately and on time, with exceptions actively managed through closure. Suppliers understand performance expectations and demonstrate measurable, sustained improvement when gaps occur. Planning and customer-facing teams have reliable visibility to lead times, product availability, and order status.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Education/Experience: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Natural curiosity and a desire to understand how and why things work, with a willingness to dig into issues rather than simply react to them.
• Self-motivated and accountable, with the ability to take ownership of work, identify what needs to happen next, and follow through without requiring constant direction.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguity, ask thoughtful questions, and use available information to reach practical solutions.
• Ability to build relationships and communicate effectively with a variety of internal and external partners.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple responsibilities and keep details from falling through the cracks.
• Comfort working with data to identify trends, investigate problems, and support decisions.
• Strong attention to detail while maintaining an understanding of the broader business and customer impact.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and an ability and willingness to learn new systems, tools, and processes.
• Customer-focused mindset with an interest in understanding how supply chain and supplier execution ultimately impact the customer experience.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly communicate issues, risks, and next steps.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting dropship, retail, e-commerce, furniture, or consumer-product operations.
• Experience using supplier scorecards, performance metrics, corrective action plans, or chargeback programs.
• Experience working across planning, warehouse, logistics, accounts payable, merchandising, product, or customer service functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Must be able to perform all essential functions of the position with or without accommodations.

Who We Hire?

Simply put, we hire qualified applicants representing a wide range of backgrounds and abilities. Design Within Reach is comprised of people of all abilities, gender identities and expressions, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, veterans from every branch of military service, and more. Here, you can bring your whole self to work.

We’re committed to equal opportunity employment, including veterans and people with disabilities. This organization participates in E-Verify Employment Eligibility Verification.

MillerKnoll Brand

MillerKnoll is a collective of design brands coming together to remake modern for the 21st century.