Department: Operations
Reports to: Ownership
Location: 150 Dynamic Drive, Scarborough
Location Type: Onsite
Vacancy Type: This is a new role
WHO WE ARE
Harding Display Corp (HDC) is one of Canada’s pre-eminent point-of-sale and in-store marketing solution providers. Based in Scarborough, Ontario, we’re a family-owned company that’s proudly served clients across Canada and the U.S. since 1927!
Our clients include premier tier-1 CPG organizations who rely on us for our best-in-class customer-focused approach and innovative designs of temporary and permanent displays. More importantly, though, we are backed by a strong team of dedicated, diverse employees in all segments of our temporary and permanent business divisions including Sales, Graphic/Structural/Industrial Design, Production, Manufacturing, Logistics, Accounting, and People & Talent.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The Vice President (VP), Operations & Logistics is a high-impact, dual-strategic and tactical senior role responsible for the end-to-end supply chain ecosystem - encompassing custom manufacturing, facility management, and comprehensive North American logistics and fulfillment.
This role bridges the gap between production capacity and market delivery, ensuring the organization achieves stretch business results, maximizes profitability, and delivers projects On-Time, In-Full (OTIF), and On-Budget. The VP serves as the primary champion for continuous improvement, cross-functional synergy, and the overall Health & Safety of all plant and warehouse employees.
HOW YOU’LL MAKE AN IMPACT
1. Unified Supply Chain Strategy & Execution
- End-to-End Oversight: Drive corporate business strategy by seamlessly linking production capacities, material handling, warehouse space optimization, and freight execution with overarching corporate objectives.
- Capacity & Demand Planning: Oversee total project scope evaluations to develop comprehensive manufacturing and distribution strategies, balancing temporary capacity constraints with detailed planning, production and logistics solutions.
- Cross-Functional Liaison: Act as the anchor point between Sales, Design, Procurement, Production, and Logistics to manage timeline expectations, mitigate project risks, and swiftly resolve unforeseen operational bottlenecks.
- Risk & Contingency Management: Implement and refine robust risk management systems, processes, and postmortem reviews to eliminate recurring quality deficiencies or shipping delays.
2. Plant Manufacturing & Operational Excellence
- Plant Management: Oversee large-scale, multi-shift plant operations tasked with manufacturing, assembling, packaging and distributing custom display orders.
- Scheduling Optimization: Mastermind the integration of planning and scheduling tools across production and logistics teams to optimize machine utilization, space, staffing, and labor.
- Quality Assurance: Establish and enforce rigid quality assurance policies, including shop floor compliance and first-off production sample approvals, to guarantee a high quality finished product.
- Asset & Facility Management: Oversee plant sanitation, preventative machine maintenance schedules, critical spare parts inventory management, and small tool procurement to minimize costly operational downtime.
3. Freight, Logistics & Warehouse Optimization
- Distribution Footprint: Lead the shipping, receiving, and material handling departments to ensure flawless distribution execution across Canada and the United States.
- Carrier Networks & Negotiation: Strategically establish, negotiate, and monitor high-value partnership agreements (rate cards, business models, customs brokers) to secure long-term, cost-effective freight solutions.
- Space & Inventory Asset Maximization: Partner with Inventory and Logistics management to optimize warehouse layouts, move long-term storage offsite, purge obsolete scrap, and establish lean raw material thresholds.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all transit, freight, and distribution mechanisms rigidly adhere to North American export regulations, customs procedures, and duty frameworks.
4. Financial Stewardship & Profitability
- Budget Oversight: Design, monitor, and manage the combined operational and logistics budgets, encompassing capital investments (CapEx), building costs and manufacturing and freight variances.
- Labor Engineering: Analyze production actuals vs. estimates; propose optimal thresholds for full-time vs. temporary agency labor to maximize productivity and lower labor cost margins.
- KPI Metrics & Analytics: Design, implement, and track KPIs (e.g., OTIF shipping, machine and labor efficiency, quality) and deploy data-driven action plans to correct variances.
5. People Leadership & Culture
- Organizational Design: Establish and structure the entire Operations & Logistics corporate chart, defining clear leadership success criteria for subordinate Plant Managers/ Supervisors, Logistics Manager, and Coordinators.
- Talent Development: Work hand-in-hand with Human Resources to recruit, develop, and retain a high-performing, service-oriented operational team.
- Performance Architecture: Champion the corporate performance framework; deliver continuous coaching, establish rigorous KPIs, and execute fair disciplinary or corrective measures when necessary.
- Health & Safety Excellence: Serve as an executive sponsor of the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC), ensuring absolute health, safety, and regulatory compliance across the plant floor and warehouse docks.
Position Outcomes & Performance Standards
- Perfect Order Index: Mastery of On-Time, In-Full (OTIF) metrics for both plant production completion and freight customer delivery.
- Cost Minimization: Maintaining actual manufacturing labor, material wastage, and freight costs at or below target budgetary baselines.
- Operational Readiness: Minimal facility and machinery downtime achieved through sophisticated, automated preventative maintenance and parts tracking.
- Space Efficiency: Maximum utilization of warehouse cubic footage, keeping local inventory fluid and obsolete material purged.
- Safety Metrics: Maintenance of a zero-incident or drastically reduced LTIR (Lost Time Injury Rate) safety culture.
YOU’LL SUCCEED IN THIS ROLE IF YOU HAVE
Education & Experience
- Minimum Experience: 8–10+ years of progressive leadership experience managing a blend of manufacturing operations and multi-channel logistics networks.
- Industry Context: Direct experience in custom POP display manufacturing, print/display fabrication, or heavy-assembly environments is highly preferred.
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent combined education and experience. An MBA or advanced professional designation (e.g., P.Log., CSCP, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt) is an asset.
Technical Skills
- Systems Fluency: Advanced command of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software (e.g., Global Shop Solutions), material requirements planning (MRP) systems, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), and project management (Monday.com, Adobe Workfront).
- Data Literacy: Expert-level capability in utilizing business intelligence tools, analytics, and spreadsheets (MS Excel, PowerBI) to evaluate operational data and drive continuous improvement.
- Regulatory Expertise: Thorough, working knowledge of Canadian and US transborder shipping regulations, customs brokerage, and freight carrier contract negotiation.
Core Competencies & Behaviours
- Strategic Agile Mindset: An executive capable of fluctuating effortlessly from long-term high-level supply chain strategy to hands-on tactical troubleshooting on the shop floor.
- Crisis Management & Resilience: Ability to maintain a calm, methodical, and decisive approach under heavy pressure, short deadlines, and fluctuating priorities.
- Exceptional Communication: Superior verbal, written, and presentation skills; comfortable delivering tough feedback to internal teams or navigating high-stakes customer-facing resolutions.
- People First Leadership: Proven ability to inspire, mentor, and unify separate departments (operations vs. logistics) into a singular, respectful, collaborative, and highly engaged workforce.
Don’t tick every box? We’d still love to hear from you! We place high value on mindset, motivation, and the strengths you may bring to our team. If this role excites you, go ahead and apply. We’d love to learn more about what you bring to the table.
To be considered for this role, please ensure your application is fully completed. Only candidates with complete profiles will be reviewed, and only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
WHY WORK WITH US?
Our business continues to evolve, and we are looking for top talent to join our team and fuel our continuous growth. At HDC, we believe in People First, where everyone is welcome, and everyone knows you by name – you are never just a number! We acknowledge that Powerful Communication is our oxygen, and that we can’t live without it. Our Growth Mindset encourages us to be open to learning and adaptable to new ways of doing things. We are leaders in our industry, and our expertise allows us to Innovate Forward, bringing the best and brightest products and services to our clients. We relentlessly seek Continuous Improvements, looking for opportunities to work smarter, not harder.
Benefits of Joining Us
- Competitive pay + bonus opportunity
- Paid time off including vacation and sick/personal days
- Health benefits package that includes medical/dental/vision care, short and long-term disability (STD/LTD), life insurance, and an employee & family assistance program (EFAP)
- Ongoing team and company social events and celebrations
- Exposure to cutting-edge projects with high-profile clients
- Fun, collaborative work environment with a group of seriously talented individuals!
Compensation
We strive to offer compensation that is fair, competitive, and reflective of each individual’s experience and contributions. Compensation will vary based on experience and skill level (Developing, Proficient, Highly Proficient, Expert, Management, Senior Leader). Candidates who are continuing to develop key skills may be considered below the range, while those who bring specialized expertise, exceptional impact, or deep industry knowledge may be considered above it.
The target compensation for this role is $150,000+ annually and reflects an individual with extensive experience at a senior leader level.
HOW WE HIRE:
Artificial Intelligence
We prioritize a human-first approach to hiring, while also recognizing that AI tools can provide valuable support. AI may be used to assist with certain early steps in the process, such as reviewing and scoring questionnaire responses, but applications are ultimately reviewed by a member of our People & Talent Team and the hiring manager. Final hiring decisions are always made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Diversity and Accessibility
At Harding Display, we want people to love their work and show respect and empathy to all. We are committed to building a diverse workforce representative of the communities we serve and encourage applications from all genders, races, religions, ages, and sexual orientations, as well as parents, veterans, people living with disabilities, and any other groups that could bring diverse perspectives to our business.
We are proud to be in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), 2005 and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR). If you require accommodation at any point through the hiring process, please contact the People & Talent Department at
[email protected] using the subject line: Accommodation Request.
