General Manager

The General Manager is responsible for the overall leadership, performance, and success of a large 250,000 sq ft multi-customer distribution and fulfillment centre. This role oversees all aspects of warehouse operations, including customer service, operational execution, financial performance, employee engagement, safety, productivity, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Leading a complex operation that supports both retail store and wholesale fulfillment and replenishment (\"B2B\"), and e-commerce fulfillment (\"B2C\") for customers across diverse industries including Natural Health Products (NHP), cosmetics, lifestyle, fashion retail and others the General Manager provides strategic direction while maintaining a strong presence on the warehouse floor. The successful candidate will drive operational excellence, build high-performing teams, foster strong customer relationships, and ensure the facility consistently delivers against KPIs and service expectations, quality, safety, and financial objectives.

This role requires a collaborative and hands‑on leader who can effectively manage a fast-paced distribution environment and balance competing customer priorities, inspire teams, optimize performance, instill operational disciplines and best practices, and support the continued growth and evolution of the operation.

Schedule: 40 Hours Monday to Friday

Reports to: Director of Operations

Direct Reports: Operations Managers

Indirect Reports: Operations Supervisors, Leads, and approximately 150-180 Frontline Associates

What you will do

Operational Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and direction for all distribution centre operations, including facility maintenance and material handling equipment.
• Establish clear operational priorities and ensure daily execution aligns with customer requirements, service-level agreements (SLAs), operational productivity metrics, quality and housekeeping standards and company objectives.
• Maintain a visible and engaging leadership presence throughout the operation, engage regularly with employees on the warehouse floor, and lead the facility through daily, weekly, and monthly operating volumes, including service performance reviews, labour planning, capacity planning, and operational forecasting.
• Ensure appropriate staffing, equipment, space, and workflow capacity are available to meet current and anticipated business requirements, communicate risks and communicate as required with senior leadership.
• Manage multiple customer operations simultaneously while maintaining appropriate service levels and operational controls for each account.
• Ensure processes are consistently executed in accordance with established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), work instructions, and customer-specific volume profile and service scope requirements.
• Identify and communicate operational risks, and implement effective corrective and preventative actions.
• Balance strategic planning and business leadership responsibilities with hands‑on operational involvement.
• Lead, coach and develop Operations Managers, Supervisors, and frontline employees to achieve operational and customer service objectives.
• Build leadership capability within the Operations Manager and Supervisor teams to support organizational resiliency, growth and succession planning.
• Establish a culture of safety, accountability, engagement, collaboration and teamwork, service excellence and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with all health and safety regulations, company policies, and operational standards.
• Build appropriate onboarding, training, and cross‑training plans and procedures.
• Partner with Human Resources on recruitment strategies, hiring requirements and practices.
• Lead attendance and performance management, employee relations and issue resolution, and coaching.
• Establish and maintain strong partnerships with temporary staffing agencies that meet company standards and requirements.
• Maintain strong communication throughout all levels of the facility, ensuring priorities and expectations are clearly understood.
• Partner with cross‑department leaders, transportation partners and vendors to establish consistent and reliable service execution and processes through clear communication and collaboration.

Customer Management

• Maintain strong customer relationships through proactive communication, collaboration, issue resolution and service delivery excellence, demonstrate a thorough understanding of the customer’s business requirements, and act as a senior operational escalation point.
• Ensure customer commitments, KPIs, SLAs, and contractual scope of service are consistently understood and achieved.
• Prepare, lead and participate in regular business reviews with key customers, providing transparent reporting on operational performance, issues, corrective actions, and improvement initiatives.
• Proactively identify service risks and develop solutions to mitigate customer impact.
• Partner with commercial, account management, and implementation teams on new business, client onboarding, operational changes, and account expansions.
• Balance client‑specific requirements with logistics disciplines, driving cost efficiency, operational value, and service excellence.
• Manage operational escalations professionally and drive issues to sustainable resolution.

Safety, Compliance & Quality

• Maintain overall accountability for a safe and compliant distribution centre.
• Promote a proactive safety culture and ensure compliance with applicable Ontario workplace health and safety requirements and company policies.
• Lead health and safety performance reviews and ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustained as required.
• Maintain appropriate quality controls and operational standards for customers operating in regulated or quality‑sensitive industries.
• Ensure appropriate controls are in place for products requiring specific handling, storage, traceability, documentation, or customer‑specific compliance requirements.
• Support audits, inspections, customer visits, and regulatory or quality reviews as required.

Operational Performance & Cost Management

• Manage facility operating performance, including budgets, labour costs, operational expenses and overall profitability.
• Develop and manage labour plans based on forecasted volumes, customer requirements, productivity expectations, and available capacity.
• Monitor throughput, workflow, labour utilization, and overall facility performance to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with Finance and senior leadership on budgets, forecasts, financial reporting, and analysis.
• Balance operational decisions to meet customer service requirements while optimizing cost, productivity, and overall DC performance.
• Review productivity and cost performance at the account, department, and facility level and develop, present and implement improvement plans as required.

Inventory Accuracy

• Maintain high standards of inventory accuracy, security, and control across multiple customer accounts.
• Oversee cycle counting, reconciliation, location control, and transaction accuracy to ensure inventory integrity meet both customer and company standards.
• Establish accountability for receiving, picking, order fulfillment, shipping, and inventory accuracy.
• Investigate inventory and operational discrepancies, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions.
• Support customer‑specific inventory requirements, audits, reporting, and compliance.
• Develop and maintain a culture of continuous improvement across the facility.
• Identify opportunities to improve productivity, quality, throughput, space utilization, labour efficiency, and customer service.
• Lead Lean, process improvement, 5S, standardization, and other operational excellence initiatives where appropriate.
• Use operational data and KPI trends to identify root causes and prioritize improvement opportunities.
• Lead cross‑functional improvement projects involving Operations, Engineering, IT, HR, Finance, Quality and customers.
• Collaborate with Engineering and leadership partners to evaluate automation, technology, process redesign, and other opportunities that can improve facility performance and scalability.
• Ensure effective utilization of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), labour management tools, reporting platforms, and other operational technology.
• Ensure data integrity and accurate reporting of operational KPIs.
• Use data and analytics to identify trends, operational constraints, productivity opportunities, and service risks.
• Partner with IT and other functional teams to implement system enhancements, integration opportunities, and process improvements.

Business Growth

• Maintain an effective understanding of facility capacity, customer volume forecasts, labour requirements, storage requirements, and operational constraints.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to support customer growth, operational changes, and evolving business requirements.
• Participate in new customer implementations, transitions, and expansions.
• Assess operational impacts of new business opportunities and changes to existing customer requirements and communicate effectively to business partners and leadership.
• Support facility layout, slotting, storage, material‑flow, and capacity planning initiatives.
• Develop scalable operating plans to support peak periods and business growth.

What You’ll Bring

• 5 -7+ years of progressive leadership experience within warehousing, distribution, logistics, supply chain, or third-party logistics (3PL) environments.
• Proven experience leading large-scale distribution centre or warehouse operations.
• Experience managing leaders, including Operations Managers, Supervisors, and frontline teams.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets, labour costs, productivity, and operational performance.
• Demonstrated experience managing key performance indicators and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
• Experience managing customer relationships and delivering service excellence in a fast-paced operational environment.
• Strong knowledge of warehouse operations including inventory management, labour planning, workforce optimization, and productivity management, and transportation
• Experience leading health and safety programs and building a safety-first culture.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and conflict resolution skills.
• Proven ability to lead through change while maintaining employee engagement and operational stability.
• Experience within industries such as Natural Health Products (NHP), cosmetics, lifestyle, and fashion retail is a strong asset.
• Experience within a multi-customer 3PL environment is strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting retail distribution, omni-channel, and e-commerce fulfillment operations is considered a strong asset.
• Post-secondary education in Business, Supply Chain, Logistics, Operations Management, or a related discipline is preferred.
• An equivalent combination of education and progressive industry experience will be considered.

Along with the following Skills & Competencies:

• Leadership Development
• P&L Management
• Customer Relationship Management
• Operations Management
• Strategic Planning
• Workforce Planning
• Process Optimization
• Performance Management
• Employee Relations
• Change Management
• Health & Safety Leadership
• Communication & Influence
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration
• Organizational Goal Setting
• Problem Solving & Decision Making

About Canada Cartage

An iconic Canadian company with over 100 years of helping companies grow and succeed in Canada, we provide national dedicated fleet solutions, general freight services, managed transportation, fulfillment & distribution, and home delivery. With a national network of terminals, cross‑docks, and distribution centers, we are one of Canada’s largest and most trusted supply chain service providers. Driven to exceed customer expectations, and supported by technology and innovation, we bring simplicity to complex logistics challenges.

We work with intelligent and focused leaders who are driven to create an outstanding customer experience in partnership with Canadian leading brands. Canada Cartage is deep rooted in family values with an entrepreneurial culture where ideas are welcomed, growth is fostered and high performance is championed. A recognized thought leader and founded in 1914, Canada Cartage dominates the industry by delivering innovative fleet solutions.