Director of Supply Chain
The Director of Supply Chain owns procurement, warehousing, logistics and delivery, making sure products are in stock, reach customers on time and at an acceptable cost.
What a Director of Supply Chain does
The Director of Supply Chain manages the entire flow of goods, from demand planning and supplier selection to warehousing, customs, delivery and returns. In e-commerce, and especially in verticals with physical products, this function directly affects revenue, margin and brand perception. An empty shelf, a late shipment or a lost parcel immediately hurts conversion and repeat purchases.
Companies in high-risk e-commerce verticals (nutra products, deliveries with high failure rates, goods that require certification or special storage conditions) face additional constraints: supplier due diligence, product documentation, regulator and marketplace requirements, and high return rates. The role exists to keep these constraints from slowing the business down or turning into fines or account blocks.
The role usually reports to the commercial director or CEO and oversees procurement, warehouses, logistics and often customer service for delivery status. The team may include procurement managers, logistics specialists, warehouse heads and demand analysts. The director coordinates budgets and working capital with finance, forecast demand for marketing campaigns with marketing, and sets launch timelines for new SKUs with product.
Responsibilities
- Build demand forecasts by SKU and sales channel and align them with marketing and finance
- Plan purchasing and supplier order volumes, accounting for production and transit lead times
- Select and manage suppliers: delivery terms, quality, documentation, alternative sources
- Manage the warehouse network: stock levels, inventory turnover, slotting, stocktaking
- Organize first-mile and last-mile logistics: carriers, rates, delivery zones and lead times
- Monitor delivery SLAs, the share of failed deliveries, damaged and lost goods, and handle carrier claims
- Organize returns processing and exchanges to reduce losses from the reverse flow
- Manage working capital and inventory levels together with finance
- Align certificates, labeling and product requirements with legal and compliance teams
- Develop and implement processes and accounting systems: WMS, TMS and supply chain reporting
Skills
- Demand forecasting and inventory planning
- Negotiating with suppliers and carriers
- Process-level management of warehousing and logistics
- Unit economics analysis of delivery and order cost
- Supply risk management: disruptions, blockages, customs delays
- Data work: Excel, SQL, BI reports on stock and delivery
- Team management and clear division of responsibilities across functions
- Coordination with finance, marketing and product
- Understanding of legal and regulatory requirements for goods and transport
- Prioritization and decision-making under shortages and time pressure
Tools
- ERP system (e.g., 1C or SAP)
- WMS (warehouse management system)
- TMS (transportation management system)
- Excel and Google Sheets
- BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio)
- Order management systems and integrations with marketplaces and CRM
- Task trackers (Jira, Trello) for logistics launch projects
- SQL for stock and delivery data extracts
How performance is measured
- In-stock rate for key SKUs
- Inventory turnover and share of dead stock
- On-time delivery rate
- Delivery cost per order and its share of revenue
- Share of returns and losses in the warehouse and in delivery
- Demand forecast accuracy
By vertical
E-Commerce
In e-commerce the role focuses on delivery speed and predictability, returns, and last-mile cost. The director ensures that marketing campaigns are not held back by missing stock and that logistics and failed deliveries do not erode margin.
Levels
Head of / Director
The Head of / Director is responsible for the overall supply chain strategy: budgets, the choice of warehouse and transport model, and decisions on launching new regions and channels. They work with leadership to balance working capital, customer service and margin, manage sub-function heads, and answer to the business owner for results.
How to get there
People usually enter the role from procurement, logistics, warehouse management or demand planning. A typical path is procurement specialist or logistics coordinator, then team lead, then director. Experience working with multiple suppliers, carriers and warehouses is valuable, as is experience launching new processes or systems from scratch. In e-commerce, understanding of marketplaces, FBO/FBS models and dropshipping is valued if the business uses them.
To prepare, learn the basic calculations: order cost including delivery, inventory turnover, reorder point and safety stock. Build skills in Excel and SQL, understand management accounting and be able to read a P&L. For high-risk verticals, it is important to know how product restrictions, documentation requirements and counterparty checks work.
Growth comes from expanding your scope of responsibility: from one warehouse or one channel to a network, from manual processes to systems and analytics, from execution to strategic planning. A strong candidate shows concrete results in metrics: higher in-stock rate, lower losses, shorter delivery times and lower logistics cost per order.
Next steps: Chief Operating Officer (COO), VP of Operations, Head of Logistics, Head of Procurement, Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO)
FAQ
How is a Director of Supply Chain different from a logistics specialist?
A logistics specialist handles the execution of specific shipments and routes, while the director is responsible for the entire chain from purchasing to delivery and returns. The director makes decisions on budgets, suppliers, the warehouse network and priorities, not just day-to-day dispatch. This role usually requires experience managing several functions.
What education is needed for this role?
There is usually no formal requirement, but economics, engineering or logistics degrees are common. Proven experience managing procurement, warehousing or logistics, and results in metrics, matter more. Knowledge of finance and analytics is an additional advantage.
What determines a Director of Supply Chain's income?
Income depends on the size of the business and sales volume, the number of warehouses and channels, product complexity and delivery geography. The company profile and pay structure (fixed salary plus performance bonuses) also matter, as does responsibility for working capital. Specific figures vary widely between companies.
Which systems should I know?
Most commonly required are an ERP for accounting, a WMS for the warehouse, a TMS for transport, and BI tools for reporting. The exact set depends on the company's scale and tech stack. Understanding process logic and being able to define system requirements matters more than knowing one particular platform.
How does the job differ in high-risk verticals?
Additional constraints apply: product restrictions, supplier and document checks, requirements from regulators and platforms, and high rates of returns and failed deliveries. The director works closely with legal and compliance teams to ensure the supply chain does not become a source of blocks or fines.
What matters most for success in this role?
The most important skills are forecasting demand and balancing stock availability, working capital and delivery cost. Negotiation with suppliers and the ability to resolve disruptions quickly are also critical. A good director spots risks early and builds processes that do not depend on any single person.
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