Operations Jobs in Minnesota

INTRODUCTION

The Director, Customer Experience & Operations – General Industrial (USCA) leads two critical pieces of the U.S. and Canada business region: The Customer Service function, and the Business Operations (PNL management) function.

For Customer Service, the Director is responsible for delivering a consistent, reliable, and transparent customer experience across the full order‑to‑cash (O2C) cycle. This includes ensuring accuracy and clarity from order entry through production coordination, shipment, issue resolution, and post‑delivery support.

In this role, the Director integrates day‑to‑day service operations with broader business execution by aligning closely with Sales, Global Supply Chain (GSC), Finance, and IT. The leader ensures that customer expectations are translated into dependable operational commitments and that internal teams are coordinated around meeting those commitments. This includes managing delivery reliability, backlog visibility, demand/supply coordination, and order quality—key drivers of customer satisfaction and business performance.

The Director also oversees a skilled team responsible for frontline service, operational troubleshooting, and data accuracy, helping ensure customers find Sherwin‑Williams easy to work with and responsive to their needs. By balancing customer experience with operational efficiency and process discipline, this role helps strengthen customer relationships, support commercial growth, and improve the predictability and effectiveness of the overall General Industrial (GI) business.

For Business Operations, the Director is responsible for proactively engaging with critical functions (eg. GSC, Performance Coatings Group (PCG) Facilities) to optimize PNL cost for the business, while maintaining agreed upon service metrics, and driving continuous improvement across all fronts. Examples of cost driven activities include asset utilization, raw material cost optimization, balanced working capital/conversion cost strategies, and finished good obsolescence optimization.

This is not a remote/hybrid position and will report to our offices in Downtown Minneapolis, MN.

At Sherwin-Williams, our purpose is to inspire and improve the world by coloring and protecting what matters. Our paints, coatings and innovative solutions make the places and spaces in our world brighter and stronger. Your skills, talent and passion make it possible to live this purpose, and for customers and our business to achieve great results. Sherwin-Williams is a place that takes its stability, growth and momentum and translates it to possibility for our people. Our people are behind the strength of our success, and we invest and support you in:

Life … with rewards, benefits and the flexibility to enhance your health and well-being

Career … with opportunities to learn, develop new skills and grow your contribution

Connection … with an inclusive team and commitment to our own and broader communities

It's all here for you... let's Create Your Possible

At Sherwin-Williams, part of our mission is to help our employees and their families live healthier, save smarter and feel better. This starts with a wide range of world-class benefits designed for you. From retirement to health care, from total well-being to your daily commute—it matters to us. A general description of benefits offered can be found at http://www.myswbenefits.com/. Click on “Candidates” to view benefit offerings that you may be eligible for if you are hired as a Sherwin-Williams employee.

Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case and will impact where actual compensation may fall within the stated wage range. The wage range listed for this role takes into account the wide range of factors considered in making compensation decisions including skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. The wage range, other compensation, and benefits information listed is accurate as of the date of this posting. The Company reserves the right to modify this information at any time, with or without notice, subject to applicable law.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws including with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act where applicable.

Sherwin-Williams is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, age, pregnancy, genetic information, creed, marital status or any other consideration prohibited by law or by contract.

As a VEVRAA Federal Contractor, Sherwin-Williams requests state and local employment services delivery systems to provide priority referral of Protected Veterans.

Please be aware, Sherwin-Williams recruiting team members will never request a candidate to provide a payment, ask for financial information, or sensitive personal information like national identification numbers, date of birth, or bank account numbers during the application process.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS – CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

• Develop and execute the USCA Customer Experience & Operations strategy, aligning with GI commercial goals, supply chain readiness, and customer expectations for responsiveness, transparency, and delivery reliability.
• Set a multi‑year direction for the customer service function, aligning people, processes, technology, data, and digital capabilities to strengthen service execution, operational reliability, and cross‑functional coordination.
• Serve as coowner of customer commitments with GSC, ensuring alignment between demand, supply, and customer promise dates within the USCA region.
• Represent Customer Service in S&OP forums, partnering with Demand Planning, Supply Planning, and Sales to evaluate risks, constraints, allocations, and customer prioritization.
• Codify and maintain clear definitions for OTIF/perfect order, fill rate, lead time, and exception categories across functions.
• Own the endtoend order management process, including order validation, promisedate accuracy, change management, shipment coordination, documentation accuracy, and proactive communication of delays or risks.
• Partner with Finance to reduce invoice dispute rates, prevent rework, and shorten timetoresolution.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts to reduce order cycle time, improve backlog visibility, and eliminate defects that impact reliability or service cost.
• Act as the executive escalation point for key industrial OEM and strategic accounts within USCA.
• Establish and maintain a VOC program that feeds product, supply chain, and commercial improvement roadmaps.
• Oversee service recovery actions and ensure recurring issues drive structural fixes across GSC, plants, logistics, or commercial processes.
• Partner with IT, Operations Excellence, and Supply Chain to enhance ERP/CRM and ordertracking capabilities to support visibility, accuracy, and digital selfservice.
• Drive talent development, succession planning, and crosstraining across customer operations functions.
• Ensure compliance with trade, regulatory, quality, data integrity, and financial.
• Maintain risk management plans for disruptions such as logistics constraints, material shortages, quality holds, and system outages.
• Coordinate across GSC, Manufacturing, and Sales to implement mitigation plans that protect customer commitments.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS – BUSINESS OPERATIONS

• Partner with Technology and Procurement to systematically evaluate and execute on raw material strategies balancing cost and risk to the business.
• Partner with GSC, and with IBP, to optimize asset utilization and working capital investments to deliver the best cost structure that delights (serves) customers.
• Partner with GSC, PCG Facilities, and Sales to proactively avoid excessive finished goods obsolescence. When finished goods obsolescence is either at risk of occurring, or does occur, partner with sales and marketing to minimize the PNL impact.
• Partner with PCG Facilities to optimize working capital investments and variable costs to deliver the best cost structure that delights (serves) customers.

Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company’s staff, employees, and business relationships.

This position is eligible for health benefits, such as medical, dental and vision coverage, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), disability coverage, security, retirement and saving benefits, and more. Additional benefits include a generous time away from work package, including personal leave, paid parental leave, medical leave, vacation, holidays, among other benefits.

FORMAL EDUCATION

Required:

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, or related field.

Preferred:

MBA or relevant graduate degree.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

Required:

• 10+ years progressive experience in customer operations, customer service, supply chain, planning, or related functions in a B2B industrial/manufacturing environment.
• Experience participating in or leading S&OP cycles, partnering across sales, planning, manufacturing, logistics, and finance.
• Proven ability to lead process transformation, digital enablement, ERP/CRM enhancements, or cross‑functional continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong communication, executive presence, and escalation management skills.

Preferred:

• Experience in coatings, chemicals, specialty materials, or industrial manufacturing.
• SAP Sales & Distribution or order management process experience; understanding of integration with planning, logistics, and finance systems.