ALO - Director, Supply Chain Automation

• Partner with the VP to shape ALO's multi-year automation roadmap, contributing technical assessments, capacity models, and investment recommendations. • Translate the roadmap into prioritized programs, project plans, and resource needs across ALO-operated and 3PL facilities. • Evaluate emerging automation technologies through research, site visits, and pilots, and recommend where they can create operational and financial value. • Benchmark automation performance against leading retail, e-commerce, and apparel distribution operations. • Lead automated DC design for assigned programs, from conceptual design and process flow through detailed engineering. • Assess and recommend technologies including AS/RS, goods-to-person, AMRs, robotics, sortation, conveyance, automated packaging, and vision systems. • Develop capacity models, layouts, and simulations that support growth and peak-volume requirements. • Partner with Technology to integrate automation with WMS, WCS/WES, labor management, and other distribution platforms. • Own end-to-end delivery of automation projects, accountable for scope, schedule, budget, quality, and risk. • Develop requirements, technical specifications, RFPs, project plans, and budgets, and lead vendor evaluations in partnership with the VP and Procurement. • Lead testing, commissioning, integration, cutover, go-live, and post-go-live stabilization. • Ensure operational readiness through system and volume testing, SOPs, training, maintenance plans, spare parts, and contingency plans. • Build and continually improve repeatable deployment playbooks to speed up implementation across the network. • Set and track KPIs for deployed automation, including throughput, uptime, accuracy, safety, and cost per unit. • Implement preventive and predictive maintenance programs, spare parts standards, and escalation processes in line with the reliability strategy set by the VP. • Lead root-cause analysis on system issues and drive continuous improvement of automated operations. • Support lifecycle planning for automation assets, including upgrades, obsolescence, and replacement needs. • Manage day-to-day relationships with automation providers, integrators, OEMs, and engineering partners. • Hold partners accountable to contractual commitments, performance standards, and project milestones. • Assess vendor solutions on capability, scalability, reliability, implementation risk, and total cost of ownership. • Build capital business cases with ROI, payback, and total-cost-of-ownership analysis for VP and executive review. • Lead, coach, and grow a team of automation engineers, controls specialists, and project managers. • Build team capability across automation engineering, systems integration, reliability, and project execution. • Create clear ownership and accountability for project delivery and system performance. • Foster a culture of technical excellence, urgency, collaboration, and continuous improvement. • Manage project budgets and track realized benefits against approved business cases. • 30%-40% of this role will involve traveling