Our client plays a critical role in supporting Victoria's public health system, providing supply chain, procurement and logistics services that help ensure essential products are available to health services when and where they are needed.

An outstanding opportunity now exists for an experienced Head of Distribution Centre Operations & Process Excellence to lead their distribution operations across Derrimut and Dandenong. This is much more than a traditional warehouse leadership role!

You will take accountability for the day-to-day performance of two complex distribution centres while helping lead a significant operational transformation agenda. Your mandate will be to stabilise, optimise and scale the operation, strengthen leadership capability and establish consistent, documented and sustainable ways of working.

You will inherit an environment with significant opportunity to improve operational maturity, accountability and process consistency. Success will require someone who is comfortable getting close to the operation, understands the numbers, sees issues before they become problems and can bring people with them through change.

Importantly, this is not a role for someone who leads from behind a spreadsheet. You will be visible across the DCs, working closely with your Distribution Centre Managers and operational leaders, coaching them to take greater ownership while establishing the operating disciplines, cadence and accountability required of a high-performing distribution environment.

What You'll Be Responsible For

Reporting to the Supply Chain Operations Director, you will lead a team including two Distribution Centre Managers, a Facilities and Fleet Manager, Distribution Centre Administrator and Logistics Process Analyst.

Your responsibilities will include

- Lead end-to-end operational performance across the Derrimut and Dandenong DCs.
- Deliver against safety, service, throughput, accuracy, productivity, labour and cost KPIs.
- Establish strong daily operating rhythms and visibility of performance across both sites.
- Lead through your DC Managers and operational leaders, developing their capability and ownership.
- Build a culture where accountability sits at the appropriate level and issues are addressed early.
- Standardise and document operational processes across both distribution centres.
- Identify duplication, inconsistency and non-value-adding activity and implement better ways of working.
- Ensure process improvements are genuinely embedded through communication, coaching, training and accountability.
- Maintain business continuity and customer service while significant operational and infrastructure change is implemented.
- Support Target Operating Model initiatives, facility upgrades and WMS-related change.
- Lead workforce planning and labour utilisation, including labour hire and overtime management.
- Oversee facilities, property services, material handling equipment and fleet operations.
- Manage significant operational budgets ($20m) with a strong focus on cost-to-serve and commercial outcomes.
- Strengthen operational ownership of safety,



risk and compliance.
- Work across organisational boundaries and with health service stakeholders to solve operational and customer challenges.

What Success Will Look Like Within your first 12-18 months, you will have helped create a noticeably different operation.

- There will be clearer and consistently applied processes, stronger leadership capability and greater accountability throughout the DCs.
- Operational leaders will understand their numbers, know what is happening within their operation and have plans to address performance issues before being asked.
- Frontline employees will have greater visibility of their contribution to overall performance and, importantly, understand how the work they do ultimately supports Victorian hospitals and patients.
- You will also have established stronger foundations from which HSV can continue to transform and scale its distribution capability.

About You You are an experienced distribution or warehouse operations leader who combines strong operational discipline with genuine people leadership.

You are likely to bring:

- Significant experience leading complex, high-volume distribution or warehouse operations.
- Senior leadership experience with direct accountability for site performance.
- Multi-site operational leadership experience, ideally across two or more locations.
- A strong track record of improving operational performance while simultaneously leading change.
- Demonstrated experience standardising, documenting and embedding operational processes.
- Robust knowledge of warehouse operating disciplines across inbound, putaway, picking, despatch and returns.
- Experience using data and KPIs to diagnose issues, improve performance and drive accountability.
- Commercial capability including labour, productivity, cost-to-serve and budget management.
- Working knowledge of WMS platforms and the operational implications of system change.
- Experience developing operational leaders rather than stepping in and doing their jobs for them.
- Strong safety, risk and compliance leadership.
- The ability to operate effectively in a complex stakeholder environment.
- Your experience within healthcare, FMCG, retail, pharmaceutical, medical distribution, third-party logistics or another highly regulated and complex distribution environment will be well regarded.
- Experience within complex distribution environments involving multiple customer types, service levels, fulfilment requirements and operational workflows would also be highly regarded.
- A tertiary qualification in logistics, supply chain, operations or business is desirable, but extensive relevant operational experience will be equally valued. Lean,



Six Sigma or another process improvement methodology would be advantageous; demonstrated practical process improvement capability is more important than certification alone.
- Experience within a unionised environment and an understanding of enterprise agreements would also be beneficial.

Your Leadership Style The leadership style required for this opportunity is important. You will be a credible, visible and highly accountable operational leader who is comfortable moving between strategic discussions, data and performance reviews, and conversations on the DC floor. You will:

- Lead through your leaders rather than around them.
- Coach, demonstrate and develop capability rather than simply issue instructions.
- Communicate clearly and directly, including when the message is difficult.
- Hold people accountable firmly and fairly.
- Use evidence and data to support decisions.
- Think several steps ahead and understand the consequences of operational decisions.
- Be curious enough to challenge how things are currently done without assuming the solution that worked elsewhere will automatically work here.
- Build respect and trust through consistency, follow-through and operational credibility.
- Remain calm, pragmatic and solutions-focused during periods of considerable change.

Above all, you will be someone who can win hearts and minds while raising expectations. Why Consider This Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to have a tangible impact on an operation that matters.

You will have the scope to shape leadership capability, operating disciplines and processes across two distribution centres while contributing to a broader transformation of Victoria's health supply chain.

The environment is complex, the transformation agenda is substantial and there is genuine executive commitment to improving how the operation performs.

For an accomplished distribution leader who enjoys building, improving and transforming - not simply maintaining an established operation - this represents an outstanding next career step.

The role is primarily based at Derrimut, with regular attendance at the Dandenong Distribution Centre and other customer locations as required. Some flexibility to work from home is available from time to time.

Interested?

Please be comfortable in that knowledge that your salary will be negotiated based on your specific experience, expertise and demonstrated capability. So, for a confidential discussion regarding this prospect, please contact Louisa from Hinchen Recruitment Group, on [0459 991 061](tel:0459 991 061) or submit your application via SEEK.

Hinchen Recruitment Group is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment experience and welcomes applications from candidates of all backgrounds. If you require reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please let us know.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

📌 Head of Distribution Centre Operations & Process Excellence (Derrimut)
🏢 Hinchen Recruitment Group
📍 Derrimut