Warehouse Lead

Saltbox; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 29,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental and vision coverage

401K plan

Disability and life insurance

Paid holidays and leave

Professional development budget

Job summary

Saltbox is seeking a full-time Operations Lead for our Chicago Elmhurst location, Saltbox's 13th site opening in late fall 2026. You will run the shift, lead the team, and stay close to members to ensure standard execution daily.

This role blends hands-on floor work with leadership, ensuring safety, space readiness, and smooth service delivery. You’ll help build the space, coordinate vendors, and participate in tours as the site takes shape.

Qualifications

• 2+ years leading a team in operations, retail, warehouse, or similar.
• Excellent communicator with ability to give direct feedback.
• Comfortable with hands-on floor work alongside the team.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs and perform physical tasks.

Responsibilities

• Run the day — open and close the location, deploy the team, and keep the building moving to Saltbox standard.
• Own the operational readiness of the building — cleanliness, safety, member-facing spaces, equipment checks, vendor coordination.
• Gives real-time feedback and addresses issues directly with individuals.
• Own daily checklists and audits and catch issues early.
• Lead on-floor activities and coach when needed to maintain Saltbox standards.

Skills

Team leadership

Communication

Hands-on operations

Flexibility

Physical stamina

Tools

Slack

Parsel

Shopify

Shipping platforms

Job description

Saltbox makes the hardest parts of running a small online business simple. Our workspaces bring together flexible warehouse suites, offices, and hands-on logistics support — all designed to help eCommerce entrepreneurs scale with confidence. Our members run businesses across Fashion & Apparel, Health & Beauty, Electronics, Household Goods, and more. When you join Saltbox, you're not just joining a company — you're helping real small business owners in your own backyard succeed.

We’re looking for a full-time Operations Lead to hold the day-to-day standard at one of our Saltbox locations. This isn’t a task-doer role — it’s a leader-in-motion role. You run the shift. You direct the team. You stay close to members. You’re the person who turns the systems and standards your Location Manager has built into reality, every open and every close.

The right person for this role is a hands-on operator with leadership instinct. You know how to get the work done yourself, and you know when the right move is to coach someone else through it. You don’t wait to be told something’s off — you catch it and you act.

What we offer

We strongly value creating an environment where our employees are healthy and happy. Because of this, we are committed to generous benefits including:

• Medical coverage — 100% covered for two Aetna plans, or a low premium for PPO
• Dental and vision covered at 100%
• 401K plan options
• Company-paid long-term and short-term disability and life insurance
• Paid holidays, vacation time, sick time, and paid parental leave
• Learning and professional development budget

The role

The Lead is the operator who keeps a Saltbox location running at standard every day. You don’t own the business-level outcomes — those sit with your Location Manager. You own the daily execution that makes those outcomes possible.

The best Leads run the day with judgment, not just urgency. You stay close to your team and your members, you hold the bar on how the building operates, and you know the difference between a moment that needs your hands and a moment that needs you to coach someone else through it. When your Location Manager is out of the building, the building doesn’t slip — because you’re in it.

You'll also be on the floor doing real work alongside the team — dock, receiving, services — but that floor time is intentional, not the whole job. It keeps you credible, connected, and aware of what's actually happening. The rest of your time is spent leading.

This role is based at our new Chicago, Elmhurst location, Saltbox's 13th, opening in late fall 2026. You'll be one of the first people in the building and will report to the Location Manager. Before there's a team to lead, you'll help build the space itself: assembling furniture, coordinating with vendors, and giving tours while the space is still taking shape. It's a ground-floor role in every sense.

Responsibilities

Team leadership

• Run the day — open and close the location, deploy the team, and keep the building moving to Saltbox standard
• Own the operational readiness of the building — cleanliness, safety, member-facing spaces, equipment checks, vendor coordination
• Gives real-time feedback — doesn't let gaps accumulate, addresses issues directly with individuals
• Own daily checklists and audits — don’t wait for something to break; catch it early
• Keep your Location Manager in the loop — flag what’s off early, bring solutions where you can, escape where it needs authority

Day-to-day floor work

• Direct the team in real time — set expectations for the shift, assign tasks, and hold the standard
• Coach in the moment — catch issues before they become patterns, and give feedback that makes people better
• Train new team members and ensure they’re hitting the expected level of capability before operating on their own
• Be the first point of support for the team — the person they go to for day-to-day questions, blockers, and judgment calls

Member support

• Engages with members on the floor every day — answers questions, solves problems, and escalates when it needs to go higher
• Conducts tours and supports new member onboarding — makes sure the first experience is a good one
• Owns service onboarding and ongoing support—ensures members are effectively set up, understand how to use services, and are actively supported through early adoption and account management
• Steps in for higher-level member conversations when the LM needs a trusted partner

Operational Enablement & Performance

• Use Pulse and reporting tools to audit team output, track service execution, and identify gaps in performance or consistency
• Monitor demand vs. capacity — understand service volume trends and flag when staffing or scheduling adjustments are needed
• Ensure systems are in place for service intake, execution, and completion — no work should live outside of a trackable workflow
• Identify inefficiencies and recurring issues — drive process improvements at the root, not just the symptom
• Support hiring, training, and staffing decisions based on operational needs and service demand

Tools & technology

• Use Saltbox’s operational tools every day — Pulse, scheduling systems, reporting platforms — so the shift runs on information, not guesswork
• Submit daily reports accurately and on time — your Location Manager and market leadership rely on what you put in
• Help your team adopt new tools as Saltbox rolls them out — model the behavior, set the expectation, and hold the bar

What you bring

• 2+ years leading a team in an operations, retail, hospitality, warehouse, or similar environment — you’ve run a shift and held a bar
• A leadership mindset — you get more satisfaction from a team that runs well than from doing all the work yourself
• Comfort with physical, hands-on work — you'll be on the floor every day and that's part of the deal
• Experience in warehousing, fulfillment, retail, or a similar environment — you know how these operations work
• You can switch gears quickly — one hour you're processing a shipment, the next you're walking a prospective member through the space
• Strong communicator — you give feedback directly, you keep the LM in the loop, and you don't let things fester
• Comfortable with (or willing to learn) tools like Slack, Parsel, Shopify, or shipping platforms
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs with reasonable accommodation

Are you ready to join a team that values your skills and experience? Saltbox is excited to offer an hourly position with a base pay range of $21.25- $23 per hour, depending on your location. We understand that cost of living varies across our markets, and our compensation reflects that.

Learn more at www.saltbox.com