Director of Operations in Hialeah, Florida at Lou's Police Distributors, Inc.

Lou's Police Distributors has been in business in Hialeah since 1954 and has served Florida law enforcement for decades. We supply firearms, ammunition, body armor, uniforms and duty gear to consumers, businesses and government agencies (B2C, B2B and B2G), domestically and internationally, through multiple channels: a retail showroom, an outside agency sales force, drop-ship and wholesale. We run the business on a full-suite ERP and are building the operating discipline to double the business and beyond. We're in a highly regulated industry and compliance is of utmost importance. We do things the right way because it's the right thing to do. It's aligned with our principles and it's what our customers and community expect of us. Your mission demands readiness. Delivering it is ours.

Job Summary:

The Director of Operations owns everything that touches inventory or an order, from the purchase order to the customer: purchasing and inventory, receiving and the warehouse, drop-ship and agency order fulfillment, the Police Supply retail operation, trade-in and pre-owned inventory, the facility, the technology the operation runs on, and the operating standards that hold it all together. The President leads revenue and the sales teams. The Controller leads finance and business operations. This seat leads operations. This is a business-leadership seat, not a retail store manager role. We are hiring a business leader with an operations mindset who can grow into running day-to-day operations, so the President can focus on growth and business development.

This is a new seat. It exists to build the operating discipline that profitable growth requires. The first job is to define the measures our operation runs on and publish them weekly. The second is to move them. This seat is responsible for execution, delivery, service and the customer experience across every channel, and works in step with sales so that nothing operational is the reason sales cannot grow. This seat is measured in three areas: operations excellence, customer experience, and inventory and store controls. To scale, we standardize systems, operations and processes, hire well, train better and hold people accountable.

This is a leadership job, not an individual-contributor job. The Director leads through four direct reports and their teams, owns their scorecards, and builds the bench under them. We want a decisive leader who is also a systems thinker: someone who asks whether we are solving the right problem before acting, sees the effect on the teams upstream and downstream, and decides without waiting for perfect information.

Key Responsibilities

- Lead four direct reports and their teams. Run weekly one-on-ones and a weekly operations review, and put every direct report on a written scorecard.

- Own purchasing and inventory: buying, replenishment, stocking levels and product data. Protect margin at the point of purchase.

- Own receiving, the warehouse and fulfillment, including drop-ship and agency orders, from purchase order to invoice.

- Lead Police Supply retail, including alterations and embroidery, and grow it by earning repeat business.

- Own the process for trade-ins, buybacks and pre-owned firearms.

- Set and enforce control standards on the retail floor: cash and POS close, inventory handling, returns and refunds.

- Own the operations SOPs and act as process owner for the ERP. Document it, train people to it and hold them to it.

- Own the facility, the safety program and technology operations.

- Execute the FFL and ATF requirements set by our compliance function.

Qualifications

- Decisive leader with sound judgment. Asks whether we are solving the right problem before acting, sees the effect of a decision on the teams upstream and downstream, and makes the call without waiting for perfect information. This is the single most important qualification.

- Resourceful, curious and self-directed. Teaches themselves new systems and tools and puts them to work without waiting to be trained and without being managed through it. This seat owns technology operations and the use of the ERP and AI tools.

- Seven or more years leading multi-function operations in distribution, wholesale or multi-channel retail, including at least three years managing managers.

- Hands-on leadership of warehouse, purchasing and order-fulfillment operations. Retail operations experience is a plus.

- Has hired, coached up and, where needed, exited managers.

- Accountable for a cost or gross profit result, in dollars and points, not activity. Bring the numbers.

- Has made a measure measurable that was not, and then moved it.

- ERP fluency as an operator, not a passenger. Odoo (ERP) experience is a plus; the ability to make an ERP the source of truth is required.

- Willing to learn and use the AI tools LPD provides. You do not need to be an AI expert, and you cannot be anti-technology. Use the Tools is how we work.

- Age 21 or older.

- Must pass a background check with no restriction on working in the firearms industry.

- Comfortable in a long-established business that is modernizing, with long-tenured people and real institutional knowledge.

- English fluency required.

Preferred Skills

- Spanish fluency is a plus.

- Firearms, law enforcement supply, tactical, uniform or other regulated-product distribution.

- Experience with FFL, ATF or ITAR-regulated inventory.

- Drop-ship and vendor-direct fulfillment at volume.

- Lean, Six Sigma, 6S or EOS (Traction) experience: replaces exceptions with documented, repeatable process.

- Has scaled an operation through a growth inflection, such as adding sites, business units, categories or functions.

What Success Looks Like

- 90 days: Every direct report on a written scorecard, reviewed weekly. A baseline set for each operations measure within 30 days of start. Key measures published weekly. A weekly operations review running without the President. Four operations SOPs drafted, tested and in use.

- 6 months: Operating decisions and first-run people conflicts resolved inside the function. A purchasing and inventory request-and-approval system with dollar-based approval levels. A dashboard for receiving, shipping and inventory accuracy that the team runs from. A clean location structure in the ERP, so every item can be found, counted and replenished. Every direct report meeting their scorecard or on a documented plan.

- 12 months: Operations-controllable gross profit measurably above the baseline. Inventory accuracy, backorder rate and on-time fulfillment at the targets set in the first 90 days. The operations function running without the President's daily involvement. Built for scale: simple, repeatable, predictable operations that make profitable growth possible, with a capable manager under every function and an organization ready to scale.

How We Work: The LPD Principles

Seven principles define how we work at LPD. We hire to them, coach to them and promote against them. They apply to every person in every role, from the warehouse floor to the President.

- Integrity - Do the right thing, every time, especially when nobody is watching.

- Customer First - The customer comes first in every decision we make.

- Ownership - Own the outcome, not just the task.

- Figure It Out - Solve it, and write down how so the next person doesn't have to.

- Say the Hard Thing - Disagree in the room, commit outside it, never in the parking lot.

- Get Better - Keep growing. Tenure is not a substitute for performance.

- Use the Tools - The tools are not optional. We will train you. We will not work around you.

Benefits

Benefits: medical, dental and vision; 401(k) with company match; paid time off per the LPD handbook; employee purchase program subject to company policy. For firearms, the same 4473 and background check process applies as for any other sale.

Compensation will be discussed individually with qualified candidates.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

On-site in Hialeah, Florida. Our operation runs six days a week. 40+ hours, Monday to Friday base, with periodic Saturdays on site. Store hours are 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Daily presence on the retail floor, in the warehouse and on the loading dock, including walking and standing on concrete for extended periods and occasionally lifting up to 50 pounds. Reasonable accommodations will be considered for qualified individuals with disabilities.

How to Apply

Email careers@louspolice.com with "Director of Operations" in the subject line. Include one paragraph on why you want this seat and one thing you would fix in the first 60 days.

Lou's Police Distributors, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to any characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Lou's Police Distributors participates in E-Verify.