Operations Director Jobs in Wisconsin
Operations Director jobs in Wisconsin concentrate in manufacturing, healthcare administration, distribution logistics, and food production, with strong demand at every level from plant operations managers stepping up to enterprise-wide directors overseeing multi-site networks. Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay are the most active hiring metros, anchored by employers like Kohl's, Aurora Health Care, and Kwik Trip that maintain long-term operations leadership pipelines. The most in-demand specialties are supply chain optimization, lean manufacturing oversight, and healthcare operations management. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 82+ Operations Director jobs
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Compensation: $170,000–$200,000 Base Salary + Performance-Based Incentive
Employment Type: Full-Time
About the Opportunity
Pathway Talent Partners is partnering with a growing, entrepreneurial comany to identify an experienced Chief Operating Officer with a strong background in supply chain management, operational leadership, and business scalability.
Our client is an innovative, founder-led organization experiencing an exciting period of growth and market expansion. As the business continues to evolve, they are seeking a strategic, hands-on operational leader who can build the infrastructure, processes, and supply chain capabilities necessary to support its next stage of growth.
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced operations executive who enjoys building businesses, solving complex challenges, and working closely with ownership to turn an entrepreneurial growth story into a scalable, profitable organization.
The ideal candidate will combine deep supply chain expertise with strong financial acumen, commercial awareness, and the ability to move seamlessly between strategic leadership and day-to-day execution.
Position Overview
Reporting directly to the company's founder, the Chief Operating Officer will serve as a key strategic and operational partner, responsible for translating the organization's growth strategy into disciplined execution.
A significant focus of this position will be building and optimizing the company's end-to-end supply chain, including demand forecasting, sourcing, production planning, inventory management, co-manufacturing relationships, logistics, fulfillment, and cost management.
Beyond supply chain, the COO will establish the operating structure, financial visibility, and organizational processes needed to support continued expansion while maintaining product quality, customer service, and profitability.
This is not a traditional corporate COO position. The successful candidate will be comfortable developing long-term strategy while remaining actively involved in supplier negotiations, inventory planning, operational problem-solving, financial analysis, and execution.
Key Responsibilities
Supply Chain Strategy & Production Management
- Lead the development and execution of the company's end-to-end supply chain strategy.
- Establish effective demand forecasting, production planning, purchasing, and inventory management processes.
- Translate sales forecasts, customer opportunities, and promotional activity into actionable production and supply plans.
- Develop and manage relationships with suppliers, co-manufacturers, packaging vendors, logistics providers, and other strategic partners.
- Establish appropriate inventory levels, reorder points, safety stock requirements, production schedules, and lead-time expectations.
- Identify potential supply chain constraints and proactively develop solutions to minimize business disruption.
- Evaluate additional suppliers, manufacturing partners, and production capabilities to support continued growth.
- Develop contingency plans to mitigate supply chain risks and ensure operational continuity.
Inventory, Logistics & Fulfillment
- Build disciplined inventory management practices that improve accuracy, visibility, and efficiency.
- Establish reporting and controls across raw materials, packaging, work-in-process, and finished goods.
- Monitor inventory turns, aging inventory, stockouts, fulfillment performance, and customer service levels.
- Optimize warehousing, freight, distribution, and customer fulfillment processes.
- Partner with sales and commercial leadership to support new customer launches, promotions, and changes in demand.
- Balance product availability and customer service expectations with inventory investment and working capital requirements.
Financial Performance & Margin Management
- Develop strong financial visibility into cost of goods sold, gross margins, inventory, and operating expenses.
- Analyze product, customer, and distribution channel profitability to support strategic decision-making.
- Monitor and manage ingredient, packaging, production, storage, freight, and fulfillment costs.
- Identify opportunities to improve margins through strategic sourcing, vendor negotiations, production efficiencies, and operational improvements.
- Partner with accounting and leadership on budgeting, forecasting, inventory valuation, and cash flow planning.
- Evaluate the operational and financial implications of new products, customer opportunities, promotional initiatives, and distribution expansion.
Operational Leadership & Business Infrastructure
- Design and implement scalable operating processes capable of supporting significant organizational growth.
- Establish meaningful key performance indicators and reporting dashboards across supply chain, production, inventory, fulfillment, and financial performance.
- Develop consistent operating rhythms around forecasting, purchasing, production planning, inventory management, and business performance.
- Evaluate and implement systems, technology, and tools that improve operational visibility and efficiency.
- Establish clear responsibilities, workflows, communication practices, and accountability across the organization.
- Identify operational challenges, develop solutions, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
- Build, develop, and lead operational teams as the organization continues to expand.
Strategic Leadership & Commercial Partnership
- Serve as a trusted strategic partner to the founder in shaping and executing the company's long-term growth strategy.
- Collaborate closely with sales and commercial teams to align operational capabilities with customer demand and growth opportunities.
- Evaluate the operational requirements associated with expanding into new customers, retailers, distributors, markets, and sales channels.
- Support new product development and SKU decisions through analysis of sourcing, production complexity, costs, margins, and scalability.
- Ensure operational capacity, infrastructure, and resources evolve alongside commercial growth.
- Provide leadership with meaningful data, financial insights, and recommendations to support major business decisions.
Quality, Food Safety & Compliance
- Partner with suppliers, manufacturing partners, and external resources to maintain strong product quality and food safety standards.
- Establish appropriate traceability, documentation, and operational controls throughout the supply chain.
- Support compliance with applicable food production regulations, customer requirements, and industry standards.
- Ensure operational processes and infrastructure can support the increased expectations associated with larger retail and distribution relationships.
Qualifications & Experience
Required Qualifications
- Approximately 8–15+ years of progressive experience in operations, supply chain management, manufacturing, or related leadership positions.
- Demonstrated experience leading and improving complex supply chain and operational functions.
- Strong expertise across several of the following areas:
- Supply chain strategy and management
- Demand forecasting and production planning
- Procurement and strategic sourcing
- Inventory management and optimization
- Co-manufacturing and vendor management
- Warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment
- Freight and logistics
- COGS analysis and margin management
- Strong financial acumen, including an understanding of inventory, working capital, gross margins, operating expenses, and cash flow.
- Demonstrated ability to establish processes, implement KPIs, improve reporting, and build operational discipline.
- Strong negotiation, vendor management, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to analyze complex operational and financial information and translate insights into actionable business decisions.
- Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and drive accountability throughout an organization.
Preferred Qualifications
- Leadership experience within food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, meat/protein, food manufacturing, agriculture, or a related consumer products industry.
- Experience helping scale a founder-led, privately held, entrepreneurial, or rapidly growing organization.
- Familiarity with outsourced manufacturing models and managing third-party production partners.
- Experience supporting retail, wholesale, distributor, or national account expansion.
- Background in building operational infrastructure within an organization experiencing significant growth.
- Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain management, operations, finance, engineering, or a related discipline. Equivalent professional experience will also be considered.
Location: Eau Claire, WI
Compensation: $170,000–$200,000 Base Salary + Performance-Based Incentive
Employment Type: Full-Time
About the Opportunity
Pathway Talent Partners is partnering with a growing, entrepreneurial comany to identify an experienced Chief Operating Officer with a strong background in supply chain management, operational leadership, and business scalability.
Our client is an innovative, founder-led organization experiencing an exciting period of growth and market expansion. As the business continues to evolve, they are seeking a strategic, hands-on operational leader who can build the infrastructure, processes, and supply chain capabilities necessary to support its next stage of growth.
This is a unique opportunity for an experienced operations executive who enjoys building businesses, solving complex challenges, and working closely with ownership to turn an entrepreneurial growth story into a scalable, profitable organization.
The ideal candidate will combine deep supply chain expertise with strong financial acumen, commercial awareness, and the ability to move seamlessly between strategic leadership and day-to-day execution.
Position Overview
Reporting directly to the company's founder, the Chief Operating Officer will serve as a key strategic and operational partner, responsible for translating the organization's growth strategy into disciplined execution.
A significant focus of this position will be building and optimizing the company's end-to-end supply chain, including demand forecasting, sourcing, production planning, inventory management, co-manufacturing relationships, logistics, fulfillment, and cost management.
Beyond supply chain, the COO will establish the operating structure, financial visibility, and organizational processes needed to support continued expansion while maintaining product quality, customer service, and profitability.
This is not a traditional corporate COO position. The successful candidate will be comfortable developing long-term strategy while remaining actively involved in supplier negotiations, inventory planning, operational problem-solving, financial analysis, and execution.
Key Responsibilities
Supply Chain Strategy & Production Management
- Lead the development and execution of the company's end-to-end supply chain strategy.
- Establish effective demand forecasting, production planning, purchasing, and inventory management processes.
- Translate sales forecasts, customer opportunities, and promotional activity into actionable production and supply plans.
- Develop and manage relationships with suppliers, co-manufacturers, packaging vendors, logistics providers, and other strategic partners.
- Establish appropriate inventory levels, reorder points, safety stock requirements, production schedules, and lead-time expectations.
- Identify potential supply chain constraints and proactively develop solutions to minimize business disruption.
- Evaluate additional suppliers, manufacturing partners, and production capabilities to support continued growth.
- Develop contingency plans to mitigate supply chain risks and ensure operational continuity.
Inventory, Logistics & Fulfillment
- Build disciplined inventory management practices that improve accuracy, visibility, and efficiency.
- Establish reporting and controls across raw materials, packaging, work-in-process, and finished goods.
- Monitor inventory turns, aging inventory, stockouts, fulfillment performance, and customer service levels.
- Optimize warehousing, freight, distribution, and customer fulfillment processes.
- Partner with sales and commercial leadership to support new customer launches, promotions, and changes in demand.
- Balance product availability and customer service expectations with inventory investment and working capital requirements.
Financial Performance & Margin Management
- Develop strong financial visibility into cost of goods sold, gross margins, inventory, and operating expenses.
- Analyze product, customer, and distribution channel profitability to support strategic decision-making.
- Monitor and manage ingredient, packaging, production, storage, freight, and fulfillment costs.
- Identify opportunities to improve margins through strategic sourcing, vendor negotiations, production efficiencies, and operational improvements.
- Partner with accounting and leadership on budgeting, forecasting, inventory valuation, and cash flow planning.
- Evaluate the operational and financial implications of new products, customer opportunities, promotional initiatives, and distribution expansion.
Operational Leadership & Business Infrastructure
- Design and implement scalable operating processes capable of supporting significant organizational growth.
- Establish meaningful key performance indicators and reporting dashboards across supply chain, production, inventory, fulfillment, and financial performance.
- Develop consistent operating rhythms around forecasting, purchasing, production planning, inventory management, and business performance.
- Evaluate and implement systems, technology, and tools that improve operational visibility and efficiency.
- Establish clear responsibilities, workflows, communication practices, and accountability across the organization.
- Identify operational challenges, develop solutions, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
- Build, develop, and lead operational teams as the organization continues to expand.
Strategic Leadership & Commercial Partnership
- Serve as a trusted strategic partner to the founder in shaping and executing the company's long-term growth strategy.
- Collaborate closely with sales and commercial teams to align operational capabilities with customer demand and growth opportunities.
- Evaluate the operational requirements associated with expanding into new customers, retailers, distributors, markets, and sales channels.
- Support new product development and SKU decisions through analysis of sourcing, production complexity, costs, margins, and scalability.
- Ensure operational capacity, infrastructure, and resources evolve alongside commercial growth.
- Provide leadership with meaningful data, financial insights, and recommendations to support major business decisions.
Quality, Food Safety & Compliance
- Partner with suppliers, manufacturing partners, and external resources to maintain strong product quality and food safety standards.
- Establish appropriate traceability, documentation, and operational controls throughout the supply chain.
- Support compliance with applicable food production regulations, customer requirements, and industry standards.
- Ensure operational processes and infrastructure can support the increased expectations associated with larger retail and distribution relationships.
Qualifications & Experience
Required Qualifications
- Approximately 8–15+ years of progressive experience in operations, supply chain management, manufacturing, or related leadership positions.
- Demonstrated experience leading and improving complex supply chain and operational functions.
- Strong expertise across several of the following areas:
- Supply chain strategy and management
- Demand forecasting and production planning
- Procurement and strategic sourcing
- Inventory management and optimization
- Co-manufacturing and vendor management
- Warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment
- Freight and logistics
- COGS analysis and margin management
- Strong financial acumen, including an understanding of inventory, working capital, gross margins, operating expenses, and cash flow.
- Demonstrated ability to establish processes, implement KPIs, improve reporting, and build operational discipline.
- Strong negotiation, vendor management, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to analyze complex operational and financial information and translate insights into actionable business decisions.
- Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and drive accountability throughout an organization.
Preferred Qualifications
- Leadership experience within food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, meat/protein, food manufacturing, agriculture, or a related consumer products industry.
- Experience helping scale a founder-led, privately held, entrepreneurial, or rapidly growing organization.
- Familiarity with outsourced manufacturing models and managing third-party production partners.
- Experience supporting retail, wholesale, distributor, or national account expansion.
- Background in building operational infrastructure within an organization experiencing significant growth.
- Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain management, operations, finance, engineering, or a related discipline. Equivalent professional experience will also be considered.
See All 82 Operations Director Jobs in Wisconsin
Find roles in Wisconsin that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Operations Director JobsOperations Director Jobs by City in Wisconsin
Where Wisconsin roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Operations Director Job Market in Wisconsin
A snapshot from current Wisconsin openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Construction & Real Estate
- Healthcare & Medical Services
- Manufacturing
What Wisconsin Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in operations director jobs across Wisconsin.
- Bachelor's degree in business administration, operations management, or a related field required
- Seven or more years of progressive operations leadership experience in Wisconsin industry sectors
- Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional teams and large-scale operational budgets
- Proficiency with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Dynamics
- Strong background in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies
- Excellent communication skills with experience presenting to executive leadership and boards
Operations Director Jobs in Wisconsin: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a operations director in Wisconsin?
Most operations director roles in Wisconsin require a bachelor's degree in business, operations management, industrial engineering, or a closely related field, with a master's degree increasingly preferred at larger organizations. Wisconsin does not require a state-issued license specific to operations directors, but candidates who advance through manufacturing or healthcare operations often hold certifications such as Certified Supply Chain Professional or Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, which carry strong weight with Wisconsin employers in those sectors.
Which companies hire operations directors in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin operations director roles are posted by Wissota Chophouse - De Pere, Ascension, and Michels and others right now, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Wisconsin's mix of large manufacturers, regional health systems, and major retail and distribution headquarters creates consistent year-round demand for senior operations leadership across the state.
Which Wisconsin cities have the most operations director jobs?
Milwaukee, Madison, and Appleton have the most operations director openings in Wisconsin. Milwaukee leads because it anchors the state's largest concentration of corporate headquarters, manufacturing firms, and regional health systems, while Madison's government agencies, university-affiliated organizations, and tech-adjacent employers drive demand there, and Green Bay's dominant food processing, packaging, and logistics industries sustain steady openings in that market.
Are there remote operations director jobs in Wisconsin?
Yes, but they're rare. Operations directors typically oversee physical facilities, staff, and workflows that require regular on-site presence, so fully remote roles are uncommon. About 38% of operations director openings tied to Wisconsin are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, and those positions tend to involve enterprise-level strategy, multi-site oversight, or business process functions rather than hands-on plant or clinic management.
How can I get hired as a operations director in Wisconsin with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is moving into an operations supervisor or operations manager role first, then building toward director-level responsibilities over several years. Large Wisconsin manufacturers such as Oshkosh Corporation and Generac, and regional health systems like Froedtert Health, regularly hire operations coordinators and department managers who rotate through structured leadership development tracks. Earning a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or a Project Management Professional certification while in those roles signals readiness for director-level promotion and makes Wisconsin candidates more competitive for internal advancement.
Where can I find and apply to operations director jobs in Wisconsin?
You can find and apply to operations director jobs in Wisconsin on Migrate Mate, which lists current Wisconsin openings updated regularly. Find roles that fit your background and apply directly to the ones that match.
See All 82 Operations Director Jobs in Wisconsin
Find roles in Wisconsin that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Operations Director Jobs