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Decent Startup: Hiring a Supply Chain & Ops Manager to Take Operations Off the Founder's Plate
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Why this role was hard to fill
The role sat across three functions. The person had to understand supply chain, ecommerce, and customer experience at the same time, work directly with third-party logistics providers, and hold client-facing responsibility for all of it.
The scope broke into two parts. Ownership of 3PL relationships, which meant leading weekly logistics meetings, resolving fulfillment escalations, and reporting on service levels and cost. And ownership of inventory planning, which meant setting purchase timing against sales forecasts.
On top of that, two non-negotiables: Shopify proficiency and direct familiarity with U.S. DTC ecommerce brands. The candidate also had to partner with the CX team rather than manage it, which is a different working relationship than most supply chain hires expect.
Shopify was the constraint that shrank the pool. Plenty of supply chain operators have run 3PLs. Far fewer have done it inside a Shopify stack for a U.S. consumer brand.
The client also wanted someone fluent with AI tools, specifically for building automation and internal management systems on top of the supply chain workflow.
What made the hired candidate the fit
We screened for operators who had run supply chain end to end and could work independently across time zones.
The candidate we placed had run end-to-end supply chain at a U.S. DTC pet supplement brand, across powders, oils, and air-dried chews.
He sourced raw materials and packaging from suppliers in the U.S. and abroad, coordinated the manufacturing partners producing the finished goods, and worked with R&D on new product launches, including supplier sourcing and sample logistics. He also owned quality compliance, validating documentation and process against spec.
What separated him from the other finalist was how he communicated. This role reports into a founder and faces the client directly, so the hire had to be someone the founder would hand the function to without checking behind him.
How we handled a first international hire
This was Decent Startup's first international hire. That changed what the search required.
We built the candidate profile with the founder and recalibrated it as real candidates came through. We walked him through what hiring outside the U.S. would involve, ran the ecommerce and supply chain screening ourselves, and managed communication with candidates across the search. Reference checks were completed before the offer went out.
Process
- 20 candidates interviewed by Constant Hire
- 5 candidates submitted to the client
- 2 client interview rounds
- 1 client stakeholder
- 15 days to offer
- 2 finalists
- 1 offer
- Reference checks completed
Twenty candidate interviews, five submissions, two client rounds, and a signed offer inside 15 days.
A Supply Chain Leader Ready to Take Ownership
- Finalists: 2
- Offers: 1
- Time to Offer: 15 days
The hire took over the function the founder had been carrying. Day to day, that means owning the 3PL relationships and the weekly logistics cadence, resolving fulfillment escalations as they come, reporting service levels and cost back to the founder, and setting purchase timing against sales forecasts.
The longer mandate is process. Decent Startup was running operations on founder attention, which does not survive growth. The hire's job is to replace that with systems someone else could run.
Positioning Highlight
Most recruiters screening for supply chain would have sent operators who had run 3PLs at a distributor or a wholesaler. That profile fails here, because the role sits between fulfillment and customer experience on a Shopify stack, and a candidate who has never worked a U.S. DTC P&L will not see the connection. We screened for it directly, and we found the profile outside the U.S., in a market Decent Startup had not hired in before.
