Director of Bookstore Operations - FT

Overview

As a non-profit ministry of Westminster Theological Seminary, the Westminster Bookstore has been tasked with supplying the church with the best Christian books available–kindergarten through MDiv. We believe that books play a profound role in the life and health of the church and so we take seriously our mission to distribute biblically rich, theologically robust, and pastorally relevant books to God’s people.

Who Are You?

You are a commerce operations leader who knows how to design and run the systems that allow an eCommerce business to scale reliably and profitably. You think in terms of inventory flow, forecasting, constraints, and unit economics, not just task execution.

You’ve led operations for a multi-SKU retail business and understand how demand, purchasing, fulfillment, and cash flow interact. You are comfortable owning inventory strategy, managing vendors and 3PL partners, and building repeatable processes that replace firefighting with foresight.

You bring clarity where others bring effort. You anticipate problems before they surface. You are able to say “no” when operational reality requires it—and to build frameworks that allow the organization to say “yes” more often in the future.

Most importantly, you bring a heart for ministry and stewardship, aligning operational excellence with Westminster Bookstore’s mission to serve the church faithfully through trustworthy, biblically rich resources.

Key Responsibilities

Inventory Strategy, Forecasting & Replenishment

• Own inventory planning and forecasting across ~8,000 SKUs
• Develop and maintain reorder point logic, safety stock levels, and inventory turn targets
• Anticipate stockout risk and overstock exposure on 30/60/90-day horizons
• Oversee SKU lifecycle management, including new titles, replacements, and discontinuations
• Partner with Marketing to align inventory readiness with promotions, campaigns, and seasonal demand

Purchasing & Publisher / Vendor Management

• Own all purchasing strategy and execution with publishers and suppliers
• Standardize PO cadence, lead times, reorder processes, and communication workflows
• Build and maintain publisher scorecards (fill rate, lead time reliability, margin contribution)
• Strengthen Westminster’s leverage and professionalism in vendor relationships
• Identify opportunities for improved terms, efficiency, or risk reduction

Fulfillment, Logistics & 3PL Oversight

• Serve as primary operational owner of the 3PL partnership (Productiv)
• Monitor and manage SLAs including pick accuracy, ship speed, and receiving accuracy
• Coordinate inbound inventory flow from publishers through Productiv to Shopify
• Plan fulfillment capacity for peak seasons, conferences, and major sales events
• Develop and maintain SOPs for fulfillment, returns, and issue resolution

Catalog, Merchandising & eCommerce Operations

• Oversee operational integrity of the product catalog, pricing rules, and category structure
• Partner with Marketing on on-site merchandising, promotional readiness, and catalog priorities
• Ensure inventory accuracy, system sync reliability, and clean data across tools
• Collaborate with contractors and internal teams to improve site functionality and performance as it relates to operations

Unit Economics, Reporting & Optimization

• Own visibility into true landed cost and contribution margin by SKU, category, and publisher
• Establish and monitor KPIs related to inventory health, margin, fulfillment efficiency, and cash usage
• Use data to inform decisions around growth, purchasing, and operational risk
• Translate complex operational data into clear insights for leadership

Leadership & Scale Readiness

• Develop systems and processes that support an 8-figure revenue retailer
• Replace reactive workflows with documented SOPs and predictable operating rhythms
• Lead cross-functional initiatives spanning marketing, fulfillment, finance, and customer support
• Set clear expectations, define ownership, and cultivate a calm, high-trust operating culture
• Leverage operational expertise to support and multiply the success of the Storyglory Kids partnership

Required

• A heart for ministry and a passion to serve the global church through biblically faithful resources
• Strong alignment with Westminster Bookstore’s Core Values
• 7–10+ years experience in eCommerce or retail operations
• Proven experience managing large catalogs (thousands of SKUs)
• Experience owning inventory planning, forecasting, and purchasing strategy
• Experience managing 3PL or fulfillment partners
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret and present operational data
• Excellent cross-functional communication and leadership abilities

Preferred

• Experience in books, publishing, or wholesale-driven retail
• Shopify-based eCommerce operations experience
• Familiarity with inventory planning, ERP, OMS, or supply chain tooling
• Experience scaling operations through meaningful revenue growth
• Demonstrated ownership of unit economics or P&L-adjacent decision making

This is full-time, exempt position, with 40-45 hours per week expected.

This position may be remote, with travel to 2 or 3-day conferences / events expected several times per year.

Westminster Seminary offers FT employees valuable benefits including:

Generous PTO, retirement plan contributions, medical/dental/vision/life insurance, a flexible and casual work environment for most positions, and a faith-based culture rooted in God’s word.

Westminster Theological Seminary hires only personnel who belong to a Protestant evangelical church and subscribe to Biblical orthodoxy (belief) and orthopraxy (practice). Employees shall affirm their agreement with the historic, trinitarian Christian faith as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed. Otherwise, Westminster Theological Seminary is an equal opportunity employer, dedicated to providing equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, except as specifically allowed by federal and state law, and basing employment decisions on merit, qualifications and training. Westminster Theological Seminary does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion (except as religion is a bona fide occupational qualification), sex, national origin, age, disability or any other classification protected by law.

In accordance with the above paragraph, all employees are required to sign Westminster Theological Seminary's Community Life Policy affirming their commitment to Christian belief and practice as described in the policy.

This is intended to be an accurate presentation of this position. There may be duties and accountabilities that will be presented to an incumbent of this position that are not included in this position description. Position descriptions are subject to on-going changes so as to ensure the organization operates effectively.