Warehouse Automation Program Lead

KellyMitchell Group; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 96,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance

Employee-Owned Profit Sharing (ESOP)

401K offered

Job summary

KellyMitchell is seeking an experienced Program Manager to lead operational readiness for a major warehouse automation implementation within a distribution center. You will coordinate process changes, testing, training, and change management to ensure successful integration with the WMS and day-to-day operations.

Strong DC and warehouse operations experience is essential, including receiving, replenishment, put-away, and picking, with hands-on automation/robotics exposure.

Qualifications

• Program or project management experience leading complex operational implementations.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of distribution center operations, including receiving, replenishment, put-away, and picking.
• Experience implementing warehouse automation, robotics, automated material handling, or comparable technologies.
• Ability to translate warehouse operating requirements into practical workflows, testing plans, and operational readiness activities.
• Experience coordinating internal stakeholders and external implementation vendors or partners.
• Strong communication, change management, risk management, and issue-resolution skills.
• Ability to work onsite in Illinois five days per week.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage the operational implementation plan with milestones, dependencies, risks, and readiness activities
• Partner with leadership, IT, stakeholders, and partners to align tech deployment with warehouse processes
• Define and document future-state workflows for receiving, replenishment, put-away, and picking
• Coordinate change management, SOPs, training, and adoption activities
• Develop and coordinate operational testing including inventory loading, end-to-end workflows, exceptions, and launch readiness
• Address will-call/customer pickup needs, prioritizing urgent requests within automated inventory
• Establish contingency procedures for equipment failures and outages
• Coordinate go-live prep and post-launch stabilization with clear ownership
• Serve as liaison between warehouse ops, technology teams, stakeholders, and external partners

Skills

Program management

Operations leadership

Change management

Stakeholder coordination

Warehouse operations

Tools

WMS integrations

ERP integrations

Automation platforms

Job description

KellyMitchell is seeking an experienced Program Manager to lead operational readiness for a major warehouse automation implementation within a distribution center. You will coordinate process changes, testing, training, and change management to ensure successful integration with the WMS and day-to-day operations.

Strong DC and warehouse operations experience is essential, including receiving, replenishment, put-away, and picking, with hands-on automation/robotics exposure.