van Gelder

Director of Operations

Location: Calhoun, GA

Company: van Gelder, Inc.

Role Type: Full-time, On-site

Reports To: VP Operations

About van Gelder, Inc.

van Gelder, Inc. is a family-run flooring manufacturer and importer with more than 49 years of experience serving commercial environments across the United States. Based in Calhoun, Georgia, our approximately 90-person organization combines the personal service and long-term relationships of a family business with the capabilities of an established, operationally sophisticated company.

Our product portfolio includes high-performance commercial flooring solutions such as luxury vinyl plank and tile, custom entrance matting systems, precision-cut logo matting, modular carpet tile, anti-fatigue flooring, grid matting systems, and other products designed for demanding commercial environments.

As van Gelder enters its next phase of growth, driven by new products, expanded capacity, and continued process improvement, we are looking for a high-capacity operations leader who can help us scale while maintaining the quality, service, reliability, and execution that have made the company successful.

About the Role

The Director of Operations will serve as a senior full-time, on-site operations leader, reporting to the VP Operations and working closely with the President, executive leadership, and department managers.

This role is responsible for helping translate company priorities into completed work, strengthening operational execution, improving cross-functional coordination, and building the processes and management structure needed to support continued growth.

The Director of Operations will oversee and support day-to-day operational activities across production, inventory, logistics, warehousing, purchasing, and customer service while also leading major strategic and operational initiatives.

This is not a narrow industry-specialist role. We are looking for a strong operator with sound judgment, leadership ability, project execution skills, and the capacity to learn our business deeply over time. The right candidate will be equally comfortable addressing practical day-to-day operating challenges and leading larger strategic initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

·       Serve as a senior, full-time, on-site operations leader for the company.

·       Help execute the company’s operating roadmap, strategic priorities, and growth initiatives.

·       Lead or support major operational projects, including facility expansion, warehouse buildouts, workflow redesign, staffing plans, capacity planning, and operational readiness.

·       Oversee and improve production workflows, inventory management, warehousing, logistics, and related operational processes.

·       Coordinate cross-functional work between Operations, Production, Logistics, Purchasing, Sales, Customer Service, and executive leadership.

·       Strengthen communication, accountability, and follow-through across departments.

·       Support senior managers responsible for production, logistics, warehouse operations, and customer service.

·       Identify operational bottlenecks, remove obstacles, and keep important projects and initiatives moving forward.

·       Develop and implement process improvements, standard operating procedures, workflow changes, and operational best practices.

·       Establish and monitor appropriate operational KPIs to improve efficiency, service levels, quality, and profitability.

·       Support budgeting, labor planning, resource allocation, and cost-control initiatives.

·       Help create structure around special customer and sales requests, including intake, feasibility review, approval paths, operational planning, and execution follow-up.

·       Support operational readiness for new product launches and new business opportunities.

·       Help scale labor, space, systems, processes, and management capabilities as the company grows.

·       Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and practical problem-solving.

·       Ensure compliance with company policies, workplace safety requirements, and applicable regulatory standards.

·       Maintain a strong customer-service mindset and help ensure operational decisions support a consistent, high-quality client experience.

Ideal Candidate Profile

We are open to candidates from outside the flooring industry who bring the right combination of leadership, operational judgment, and execution ability.

The ideal candidate will have:

·       Strong operations management and project execution capabilities.

·       Proven experience leading operational teams, managers, or complex cross-functional initiatives.

·       Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data and KPIs to guide operational decisions.

·       Experience improving processes, workflows, accountability, and organizational structure.

·       Practical budgeting, labor planning, resource planning, and cost-management skills.

·       Excellent communication and organizational skills.

·       The ability to work effectively with both executive leadership and front-line managers.

·       A high level of ownership, accountability, and follow-through.

·       The ability to create structure and consistency without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy.

·       Sound business judgment and the ability to make practical decisions in a fast-moving environment.

·       A customer-service orientation and an understanding of how operational performance affects the overall client experience.

·       A hands-on leadership style and strong presence as an on-site leader.

·       Humility, curiosity, and a willingness to understand the business before making major changes.

·       The ability to learn a product- and relationship-driven business over time.

·       The potential to grow into broader leadership responsibility as the company continues to expand.

Helpful Experience

Experience in one or more of the following areas would be beneficial:

·       Manufacturing

·       Flooring or building products

·       Distribution and warehousing

·       Logistics and supply chain

·       Importing

·       Construction

·       Consumer or industrial products

·       Facility expansion, warehouse moves, or buildouts

·       Operational scaling or capacity expansion

·       Managing managers or leading cross-functional teams

·       Process improvement and SOP implementation

·       Change management or operational transformation

·       Coordinating between sales and operations teams

·       Working in a privately held, family-run, founder-led, or entrepreneurial business

Flooring industry experience is helpful but not required.

Education & Technology

·       Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related field preferred; equivalent practical leadership experience will also be considered.

·       Experience working with ERP, inventory management, manufacturing, or similar operational systems.

·       Proficiency with standard business and office software.

·       Ability to understand operational data and use reporting tools to track performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

What This Role Is Not

This is not primarily a sales position, finance/reporting position, or technical systems role.

It is also not a position focused simply on maintaining the status quo.

We are looking for someone who can help van Gelder execute, communicate, improve, scale, and build the operational capacity required for our next stage of growth.

Why This Role Matters

van Gelder is entering an important stage of growth. That growth requires additional leadership depth, stronger on-site execution, improved coordination across functions, and the operational infrastructure to support increasing complexity without sacrificing service or quality.

The Director of Operations will play an important role in ensuring that strategic priorities become completed projects, managers have the support they need to succeed, and growth strengthens rather than strains the company’s operating foundation.

This is an opportunity for an experienced operations leader to join a healthy, established, family-run business and make a meaningful, visible impact on its next chapter.