Shipping Lead

About the role

The Shipping Lead oversees day-to-day shipping and fulfillment operations at our facility, ensuring customer orders are picked, packed, processed, and shipped accurately, efficiently, safely, and on schedule. This hands-on leadership role coordinates daily workload and staffing, monitors productivity and accuracy, and collaborates with fulfillment, inventory, receiving, and other departments to keep orders moving without unnecessary delays. The ideal candidate is a proactive operational leader who can manage people, priorities, order volume, shipping deadlines, inventory issues, and warehouse processes in a fast-paced environment, identify bottlenecks, solve problems in real time, improve processes, hold employees accountable, and take ownership of daily shipping performance.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee daily shipping and fulfillment activities.
• Coordinate the processing, packing, labeling, staging, and shipment of customer orders.
• Ensure orders are shipped accurately and according to established deadlines and service-level expectations.
• Prioritize shipping workload based on order volume, carrier schedules, customer requirements, staffing, and operational priorities.
• Monitor the status of orders throughout the shipping process and address delays or issues immediately.
• Ensure shipping labels, packing slips, documentation, and carrier requirements are accurate.
• Coordinate daily carrier pickups and ensure shipments are properly staged and ready on schedule.
• Monitor outbound staging areas and prevent completed orders from accumulating unnecessarily.
• Investigate and resolve shipping discrepancies, including incorrect items, quantities, labels, packaging, and carrier issues.
• Work closely with Picking, Packing, Inventory, Receiving, Client Service, and other departments to resolve order issues.
• Ensure urgent, priority, and time-sensitive orders are identified and processed appropriately.
• Maintain an organized and efficient shipping area.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement solutions to improve shipping speed, accuracy, and overall workflow.
• Verify products, quantities, labels, shipping documentation, and customer requirements before orders leave the facility.
• Identify and communicate inventory shortages, incorrect inventory, damaged products, and other issues affecting order fulfillment.
• Research order and inventory discrepancies and assist in identifying root causes.
• Partner with Inventory Control and other departments to resolve inventory issues.
• Ensure proper product handling and inventory rotation practices are followed where applicable.
• Identify recurring errors and implement corrective actions to prevent them from happening again.
• Coordinate labor and resources across picking, packing, shipping, replenishment, inventory, and other fulfillment functions.
• Monitor workflow between departments to ensure work moves efficiently from picking through final shipment.
• Maintain clean, organized, and clearly defined work areas.
• Monitor shipping capacity, staging space, equipment, and workflow.
• Identify space, staffing, or process issues before they negatively affect order completion.
• Assist with warehouse layout, workstation organization, process flow, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure equipment and operational areas are used appropriately and maintained in an orderly condition.
• Directly supervise shipping employees and frontline leads as assigned.
• Plan daily staffing and assign work based on expected order volume and operational priorities.
• Establish clear expectations for productivity, accuracy, attendance, safety, and workplace conduct.
• Coach, train, and develop employees and leads.
• Provide timely feedback and address performance issues consistently.
• Hold employees accountable for following established processes and meeting performance expectations.
• Build a culture of accountability, teamwork, urgency, and continuous improvement.
• Conduct daily shift-start meetings or operational discussions to communicate priorities, staffing, workload, and expectations.
• Ensure employees are properly trained before performing assigned duties or operating equipment.
• Lead by example and maintain a professional, respectful, and productive work environment.
• Maintain a safe working environment and ensure employees follow established warehouse safety procedures.
• Ensure shipping areas, aisles, staging areas, dock areas, and emergency access points remain clean and unobstructed.
• Reinforce proper material-handling and equipment-operating practices.
• Conduct routine observations of warehouse conditions and immediately address unsafe practices or conditions.
• Ensure employees use required personal protective equipment and follow company safety policies.
• Report accidents, injuries, damaged equipment, and unsafe conditions promptly.
• Ensure compliance with applicable company policies and federal, state, and local requirements.

Qualifications

• 1+ years of warehouse or fulfillment operations experience, with significant experience in shipping, order fulfillment, distribution, or related operations.
• 1+ years of warehouse leadership or supervisory experience preferred.
• Experience managing high-volume shipping or fulfillment operations strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of picking, packing, shipping, order processing, inventory control, and material flow.
• Experience working with a Warehouse Management System (WMS) or similar inventory/order management system.
• Ability to investigate shipping, order, and inventory discrepancies and determine root causes.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills.
• Comfortable managing multiple priorities and changing workloads simultaneously.
• Ability to lead warehouse employees in a fast-paced and changing environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with employees, leads, management, carriers, and other departments.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or similar reporting tools.
• Experience with parcel, LTL, FTL, and warehouse dock operations preferred.
• Forklift and other material-handling-equipment experience preferred.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to regularly walk and stand throughout a warehouse environment.
• Ability to bend, reach, climb, and perform other activities associated with warehouse operations.
• Ability to safely lift and move materials consistent with company safety policies.
• Ability to work around forklifts, pallet jacks, trucks, loading docks, warehouse equipment, and varying warehouse temperatures.
• Ability to remain active on the warehouse floor for extended periods of time.