Shipping Lead

Key Responsibilities

Shipping & Fulfillment Operations

• Lead and oversee daily shipping and fulfillment activities.
• Coordinate the processing, packing, labeling, staging, and shipment of customer orders.
• Ensure orders are shipped accurately and according to established deadlines and service-level expectations.
• Prioritize shipping workload based on order volume, carrier schedules, customer requirements, staffing, and operational priorities.
• Monitor the status of orders throughout the shipping process and address delays or issues immediately.
• Ensure shipping labels, packing slips, documentation, and carrier requirements are accurate.
• Coordinate daily carrier pickups and ensure shipments are properly staged and ready on schedule.
• Monitor outbound staging areas and prevent completed orders from accumulating unnecessarily.
• Investigate and resolve shipping discrepancies, including incorrect items, quantities, labels, packaging, and carrier issues.
• Work closely with Picking, Packing, Inventory, Receiving, Client Service, and other departments to resolve order issues.
• Ensure urgent, priority, and time-sensitive orders are identified and processed appropriately.
• Maintain an organized and efficient shipping area.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement solutions to improve shipping speed, accuracy, and overall workflow.

Order Accuracy & Inventory Control

• Maintain a high level of order accuracy throughout the shipping process.
• Verify products, quantities, labels, shipping documentation, and customer requirements before orders leave the facility.
• Identify and communicate inventory shortages, incorrect inventory, damaged products, and other issues affecting order fulfillment.
• Research order and inventory discrepancies and assist in identifying root causes.
• Partner with Inventory Control and other departments to resolve inventory issues.
• Ensure proper product handling and inventory rotation practices are followed where applicable.
• Identify recurring errors and implement corrective actions to prevent them from happening again.

Warehouse Operations

• Support overall warehouse operations as business needs require.
• Coordinate labor and resources across picking, packing, shipping, replenishment, inventory, and other fulfillment functions.
• Monitor workflow between departments to ensure work moves efficiently from picking through final shipment.
• Maintain clean, organized, and clearly defined work areas.
• Monitor shipping capacity, staging space, equipment, and workflow.
• Identify space, staffing, or process issues before they negatively affect order completion.
• Assist with warehouse layout, workstation organization, process flow, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure equipment and operational areas are used appropriately and maintained in an orderly condition.

Team Leadership

• Directly supervise shipping employees and frontline leads as assigned.
• Plan daily staffing and assign work based on expected order volume and operational priorities.
• Establish clear expectations for productivity, accuracy, attendance, safety, and workplace conduct.
• Coach, train, and develop employees and leads.
• Ensure employees understand their responsibilities and daily priorities.
• Provide timely feedback and address performance issues consistently.
• Hold employees accountable for following established processes and meeting performance expectations.
• Build a culture of accountability, teamwork, urgency, and continuous improvement.
• Conduct daily shift-start meetings or operational discussions to communicate priorities, staffing, workload, and expectations.
• Ensure employees are properly trained before performing assigned duties or operating equipment.
• Lead by example and maintain a professional, respectful, and productive work environment.

Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor key shipping and fulfillment performance indicators, including:
  • Orders shipped
  • Units shipped
  • Shipping accuracy
  • On-time shipment performance
  • Order turnaround time
  • Packing productivity
  • Picking-to-shipping flow
  • Shipping backlog
  • Order discrepancies
  • Labor productivity
  • Carrier performance
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement practical solutions.
• Develop, maintain, and enforce standard operating procedures for shipping and related fulfillment functions.
• Use warehouse data and reporting to improve staffing, scheduling, workflow, and productivity.
• Identify opportunities to reduce errors, wasted time, rework, and unnecessary labor.
• Participate in warehouse projects and process improvement initiatives.
• Continuously evaluate shipping processes and recommend improvements to management.

Safety & Compliance

• Maintain a safe working environment and ensure employees follow established warehouse safety procedures.
• Ensure shipping areas, aisles, staging areas, dock areas, and emergency access points remain clean and unobstructed.
• Reinforce proper material-handling and equipment-operating practices.
• Conduct routine observations of warehouse conditions and immediately address unsafe practices or conditions.
• Ensure employees use required personal protective equipment and follow company safety policies.
• Report accidents, injuries, damaged equipment, and unsafe conditions promptly.
• Ensure compliance with applicable company policies and federal, state, and local requirements.

Qualifications

• 1 years of warehouse or fulfillment operations experience, with significant experience in shipping, order fulfillment, distribution, or related operations.
• 1 years of warehouse leadership or supervisory experience preferred.
• Experience managing high-volume shipping or fulfillment operations strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of picking, packing, shipping, order processing, inventory control, and material flow.
• Experience working with a Warehouse Management System (WMS) or similar inventory/order management system.
• Ability to investigate shipping, order, and inventory discrepancies and determine root causes.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills.
• Comfortable managing multiple priorities and changing workloads simultaneously.
• Ability to lead warehouse employees in a fast-paced and changing environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with employees, leads, management, carriers, and other departments.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or similar reporting tools.
• Experience with parcel, LTL, FTL, and warehouse dock operations preferred.
• Forklift and other material-handling-equipment experience preferred.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to regularly walk and stand throughout a warehouse environment.
• Ability to bend, reach, climb, and perform other activities associated with warehouse operations.
• Ability to safely lift and move materials consistent with company safety policies.
• Ability to work around forklifts, pallet jacks, trucks, loading docks, warehouse equipment, and varying warehouse temperatures.
• Ability to remain active on the warehouse floor for extended periods of time.

What We’re Looking For