Outdoor Operations Manager Jobs in Minnesota (NOW HIRING)

Essential Functions

Manufacturing & Shop Floor Leadership

• Provide direct operational oversight of all manufacturing activities for Homecrest Outdoor Living and Innovative Surfaces, with accountability for safety, quality, throughput, and cost.
• Maintain active, visible shop floor presence—setting performance standards and driving accountability at the supervisory and floor level.
• Assist Production Supervisors with workflow in and between departments.
• Rely on floor supervisors for shift-level execution while remaining involved enough to identify problems, remove obstacles, and intervene when needed.
• Lead a structured, continuous improvement program grounded in lean manufacturing principles.
• Own plant-level quality outcomes with direct accountability for results.
• Manage in-process inspection activities, defect tracking systems, and corrective action processes.
• Drive measurable reduction in rework and scrap through disciplined process control and data-informed decision making.
• Oversee maintenance operations in partnership with the maintenance team leader to ensure equipment reliability supports production commitments.
• Serve on the Safety Committee and ensure all operations personnel adhere to established safety policies.
• Maintain environmental compliance for Homecrest Outdoor Living and Innovative Surfaces operations.

Materials Management & Procurement

• Own the end-to-end flow of materials from supplier to production floor.
• Coordinate purchasing, receiving, staging, and inventory management as an integrated system.
• Work with Materials Manager to validate activities, including vendor identification and selection, sourcing strategy development, and purchase order management.
• Evaluate and manage supplier performance against defined criteria—quality, cost, and delivery reliability.
• Partner with Materials Manager on strategic supplier relationships and contract negotiations for key raw materials, components, and services.
• Identify and proactively mitigate supply chain risks, including tariff exposure, single-source dependencies, and lead time variability.

Inventory Management

• Develop and maintain inventory management policies that appropriately balance service level requirements with working capital efficiency.
• Establish and manage a cycle count program that drives sustained inventory accuracy across all stock locations.
• Monitor inventory levels, turns, and aging; identify and address excess, obsolete, or slow-moving stock systematically.
• Ensure inventory data integrity within Business Central as the foundation for reliable planning and reporting.

Production Scheduling & Planning

• Own the master production schedule, maintaining alignment between incoming customer demand, available production capacity, and material availability.
• Track and drive improvement in schedule attainment and on-time shipment performance.
• Use scheduling data to identify recurring capacity constraints and bottlenecks; develop and implement structural solutions.

Data, Performance, & Systems

• Define and maintain a core set of operational KPIs spanning manufacturing, procurement, inventory, and scheduling.
• Track, analyze, and report KPI performance regularly and report results with clear recommended actions.
• Use operational data proactively to diagnose performance gaps and prioritize improvement efforts across all operations.
• Build and sustain a performance rhythm of daily and weekly operational reviews grounded in current, accurate data.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, develop, and hold accountable a cross-functional operations team spanning production supervision, purchasing, and scheduling.
• Coach supervisors toward greater independence, ownership, and decision-making capability.
• Recruit and onboard supervisory and managerial talent as needed
• Conduct structured annual performance appraisals with clear goals and individual development plans for all direct reports.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering, supply chain management, operations management, or a closely related field strongly preferred. Equivalent combination of relevant education and progressively responsible operations experience will be considered.
• Minimum 10 years of operations experience with demonstrated growth in scope and responsibility over time.
• Minimum 5 years in a management role with cross-functional accountability—manufacturing plus at least one of: procurement, inventory, or production scheduling.
• Experience in a high-mix/low-volume or custom/semi-custom manufacturing environment strongly preferred.

Technical Competencies

• Hands-on, working knowledge of lean manufacturing tools and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience building or maturing a continuous improvement initiative.
• Strong supply chain and materials management foundation, including procurement strategy, inventory optimization, and supplier performance management.
• Direct working experience with Microsoft Business Central ERP.
• Experience building and presenting from KPI dashboards, operational scorecards, and planning tools.

Leadership & Interpersonal Competencies

• Proven ability to lead and develop cross-functional operations teams.
• Clear, direct communicator across all levels of the organization from shop floor to board of directors.
• Able to work cross-functionally with customer service, sales, product development, and finance without losing operational focus.
• Self-directed and accountable; follows through on commitments and operates with a consistent sense of urgency.
• Operate effectively from both the strategic and tactical level as the role demands.