Process Excellence Sr. Manager

About the role

As a Process Excellence Sr Manager, you will play a critical leadership role on Columbia Sportswear Company's Retail Operations team, driving operational excellence across our North America Direct-to-Consumer business. This role combines strategic thinking, retail expertise, and process improvement leadership to enhance store performance, improve operational efficiency, and drive profitability. You will partner closely with senior leaders across Retail, Planning, Merchandising, Finance, Human Resources, and other cross-functional teams to develop and execute operational strategies, remove barriers to success, and ensure consistent adoption of processes, programs, and best practices across stores and corporate functions. Leading a team of managers and analysts, you'll drive operational consistency, champion process excellence, and help translate business strategy into scalable solutions that improve store performance and drive profitable growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing team focused on delivering operational improvements and business results.
• Drive the retail process excellence strategy by identifying opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, and profitability across the store fleet.
• Partner with executive and cross-functional leaders to gain alignment, influence priorities, and advance strategic initiatives.
• Use data and operational insights to identify opportunities, solve complex business challenges, and drive informed decision-making.
• Champion consistent execution of retail processes, policies, and operational standards across stores and corporate teams.
• Influence technology roadmaps and partner with technology teams to prioritize tools and capabilities that support business growth.
• Lead the design, implementation, and measurement of retail programs, processes, and operational improvements.
• Develop and maintain retail process documentation, best practices, and training programs that support adoption and accountability.
• Drive collaboration between field and corporate teams to improve execution, remove roadblocks, and enhance operational performance.
• Establish performance metrics and reporting that enable continuous improvement and support achievement of business objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree, master's degree, applicable certification, or equivalent combination of education and experience. 5-8 years of experience in retail operations, process management, business operations, or a related field, including experience leading people leaders and individual contributors.

Qualifications

Strong understanding of retail operations, systems, and store processes, with the ability to leverage data to influence decisions and deliver results. Excellent communication, presentation, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills; process improvement certifications (Six Sigma, Prosci, CBPL, or similar) are preferred.

Skills

• Strategic and analytical leader who can connect operational improvements to business results.
• Influential communicator who builds strong partnerships across functions and levels of the organization.
• Collaborative problem-solver who thrives in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Passionate about developing people, building high-performing teams, and creating a culture of continuous improvement.
• Results-oriented, adaptable, and motivated to drive meaningful change across the retail organization.

Benefits

At Columbia Sportswear Company, we’re proud to offer regular full-time employees a benefits package that includes a variety of services and products to help make your life and work more rewarding. Our benefit programs contribute to overall employee well-being by aligning those programs with the fundamental elements of well-being: physical, social/emotional, financial, career and community. Benefits that can protect your family’s financial future and help you save money through our 401k plan plus a generous company match. Columbia offers medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, and an assortment of voluntary benefit offerings (accident