Director of Commercial Operations

Position Summary  

The Director of Commercial Operations will work closely with Sales Directors and other departments (Marketing, Procurement, Operations, Planning, Pricing, Global Engineering and Finance) to manage the support functions of the Americas Commercial organization. This includes leadership of sub-teams including customer care, change management, commercial engineering, and contract management. This role’s primary objective is to accelerate revenue growth and limit customer attrition. Secondary objectives include order accuracy, OTIF advocacy, order-to-cash optimization, and CRM adoption.  

This process-driven leader will apply analytical, problem-solving, and customer-focused skills to streamline Oliver’s customer experience. The role will also assist with driving CRM and ERP strategy, including identifying enhancements to current technologies in use, increasing adoption, and ensuring full compliance and ease of use. This position reports into the Executive Vice President, Americas. 
 

Primary Responsibilities / Essential Functions 

• Participate in commercial strategy and regional leadership meetings on a regular basis. Provide regular updates on metrics and key initiatives that affect both revenue and service levels. 

• Establish and own continuous improvement initiatives for any surfaced issues.  

• Provide senior leadership to a regional team of Customer Care managers. Customer Care professionals are responsible for daily transactions and order fulfillment in the Americas region. 

• Coordinate internal activities to negotiate commercial contracts within Oliver, including process improvement, legal review, and adherence by operations.  

• Provide senior direction on the customer-facing elements of Oliver’s Change Management process and associated customer communications. 

• Provide commercial engineering and project management support to customers; partner with Quality and Engineering in support of customer-impacting changes, per ISO 13485 requirements 

• Drive a culture of reporting and analytics; use data to make informed decisions on commercial strategy and operational execution.  

• Assist Sales leadership and Pricing with the development of commercial proposals that result in win-win outcomes for Oliver and our customers. 

• Take ownership of reviewing and establishing customer programs like Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), customer portal development, and more.  

The Director serves as a senior voice coordinating activity between manufacturing, procurement, planning, quality, and sales teams in the Americas region. 
 

• Basic Qualifications 

• Excellent leadership skills, ability to rally small groups around one vision 

• Excellent presentation, interpersonal communication, and analytical skills 

• Ability to clearly communicate thoughts and ideas in person or in virtual meetings 

• At ease establishing business relationships with individuals from various industries and at various corporate levels 

• Requires logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems  

• Effective, constructive daily communication with sales team 

• Develop individuals to support future company growth 

Experience:  

• 12 years’ experience with proven track record in Commercial Operations, Customer Service, Business Planning, or a related field. 

Education:  

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Analytics, or a related field 

Technical Skills 

• Expertise with Microsoft Office applications, namely Excel, Outlook, and Teams. 

• Experience using CRM and ERP systems to manage manufactured goods. 

Preferred Qualifications 

Education:  

• MBA or equivalent experience in business finance, sales, or marketing. 

Interpersonal Skills:  

• Comfortable speaking before an audience of between 2 – 40 people in either a live or virtual setting.  

• Energized by frequent communication with others (face-to-face, phone, virtual), including tough customer negotiations when issues arise and resolution is needed.  

• Ability to advise on commercial agreements and work through conflicts at a transactional and account-level.  

Technical Skills 

• Expertise with Microsoft Dynamics 

• Expertise with SAP S4 Hanna and Order-to-Cash process.  
   

Working Conditions 

• Fast-paced, matrixed environment 

• Frequent cross-functional collaboration

• Ability to travel up to 35% (primarily in the USA and occasionally international)