Circle Brands: Vice President of Operations

Circle Brands

Job Description: Vice President of Operations

We exist to fuel the equestrian-inspired lifestyle through trusted craftsmanship that fits.

Circle Brands believes that every teammate makes a significant contribution to our success. Contributions can be within and outside of assigned responsibilities. It is our expectation that each teammate will offer their services whenever necessary to satisfy our customers, embrace our values, and ensure the success of our business.

Who Are We?

Circle Brands is a subsidiary of Kaspar Companies. We design, manufacture, market, and distribute handcrafted Western saddles, tack, bits, pads, saddle trees, and related equine products at scale through the Circle Y, Tucker Trail, Reinsman, and Precision Saddle Tree brands.

We create customer value via our evidence-based, configure-to-order Western product ecosystem centered on superior fit, function, quality, and customer confidence.

Vice President of Operations Job Summary

The Vice President of Operations is the senior operational leader responsible for the end-to-end performance of manufacturing, planning, materials, warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment.

The position leads the Senior Manufacturing Manager and Director of Logistics and Facilities and ensures that Circle Brands has the people, systems, capacity, technology, processes, and capital required to meet customer commitments and support future growth.

The Vice President of Operations is accountable for operational strategy, safety, quality, delivery, productivity, inventory, cost, cash flow, capital effectiveness, leadership development, and continuous improvement.

The Vice President is expected to be a visible and active practitioner of Kaspar Business Systems (KBS), build KBS into the operating system and leadership routines of Circle Brands, and develop leaders and teammates who use KBS principles to identify problems, improve work, and deliver increasingly strong results.

Vice President of Operations Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the operational strategy required to support Circle Brands’ business plan and growth objectives.
• Translate company strategy into clear manufacturing, planning, materials, warehousing, fulfillment, capacity, technology, organizational, and capital priorities.
• Build scalable systems capable of supporting increased revenue, product complexity, channel growth, and configure-to-order production.
• Lead and develop the Senior Manufacturing Manager and Director of Logistics and Facilities.
• Establish clear accountability across manufacturing, planning, materials, warehousing, distribution, and fulfillment.
• Hold operational leaders accountable for safety, quality, delivery, productivity, inventory, cost, employee engagement, and leadership performance.
• Establish a connected operating scorecard with clear definitions, targets, owners, and review cadences.
• Build effective daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly operating reviews.
• Require leaders to identify causes, countermeasures, owners, and due dates rather than merely report missed results.
• Ensure manufacturing and warehousing operate as one connected value stream.
• Improve the connection between production completion, inventory, customer priorities, order fulfillment, and shipment execution.
• Ensure planning, purchasing direction, material availability, supplier performance, and inventory policies support the operating plan.
• Create visibility to demand, backlog, capacity, supply constraints, inventory risks, and customer-service issues.
• Partner with centralized purchasing resources on supplier performance, sourcing, cost, lead time, and risk.
• Establish and continually improve the Circle Brands Lean operating system.
• Integrate lean daily management, leader standard work, flow, pull, standard work, visual management, 5S/6S, Kaizen, and structured problem-solving.
• Build internal lean leadership capability throughout the organization.
• Own the operational contribution to profitability, cash flow, working capital, inventory, and return on invested capital.
• Establish and manage operating budgets and cost-improvement plans.
• Review labor, material, freight, overhead, scrap, rework, inventory, and productivity performance.
• Develop long-term capacity, equipment, automation, facility, technology, and capital plans.
• Identify constraints before they prevent growth or affect customers.
• Develop business cases and prioritize capital based on safety, quality, customer impact, capacity, cost, risk, and return.
• Lead major capital, technology, facility, and operational-transformation projects.
• Build succession plans and leadership capability across Operations.
• Partner with Product Quality and Lifecycle Management, Product Development, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Maintenance, and centralized Purchasing.
• Represent Operations as a member of the Circle Brands leadership team.
• Perform all other duties assigned by management.

Vice President of Operations Skills and Competencies

• Senior-level manufacturing and operations leadership
• Lean systems and operational excellence
• Manufacturing, materials, planning, warehousing, and fulfillment
• Financial management and business acumen
• Strategic planning and execution
• Organizational design and leadership development
• Capacity planning and capital allocation
• ERP/MRP systems and operating technology
• Data-driven performance management
• Change leadership and structured problem-solving
• Executive communication and cross-functional influence

Vice President of Operations Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, operations, supply chain, product management, business, or a related field preferred
• Advanced degree preferred
• Ten or more years of progressive manufacturing or operations experience
• Five or more years leading managers and multi-department operations
• Demonstrated responsibility for manufacturing and warehousing, distribution, fulfillment, materials, or comparable end-to-end operations
• Demonstrated success improving safety, quality, delivery, productivity, inventory, cost, and financial performance
• Strong working knowledge of Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement
• Experience developing leaders and building scalable operating systems
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems, operating budgets, capital planning, and financial performance
• Experience supporting significant business growth or operational transformation preferred

Physical Requirements

• Extended periods of sitting, standing, and walking
• Frequent presence in manufacturing and warehousing areas
• Occasional bending, climbing, reaching, stooping, and lifting up to 25 pounds
• Ability to travel as required

Vice President of Operations Work Environment

• Office, manufacturing, and warehouse environments
• Exposure to noise, equipment, leather dust, oils, adhesives, variable temperatures, and material-handling activity
• Regular work across multiple operational areas
• Travel may be required

Benefits:

• Health Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• 401k
• Paid Time Off
• Profit Sharing
• Counseling