Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Returns Processing Operations

• Direct daily intake, sorting, verification, and disposition of returned pharmaceutical product across all shifts, ensuring work is completed within established service-level agreements.

• Manage the credit processing workflow end to end, from product receipt through submission to manufacturers and wholesalers, driving customer credit turnaround toward the 14-day standard.

• Coordinate the return of product to manufacturers and authorized returns processors, and schedule destruction of non-returnable product in line with company procedure.

• Monitor queue volume, aging, and backlog daily; reallocate staffing and adjust priorities to prevent bottlenecks and missed commitments.

• Maintain accurate inventory control and reconciliation for all product held in the department, investigating and resolving discrepancies promptly.

Compliance & Quality

• Ensure all processing activity complies with applicable federal and state regulations governing controlled substances, pharmaceutical distribution, and hazardous waste, as well as company standard operating procedures.
• Own departmental documentation and recordkeeping, including receipt records, inventories, transfer and destruction records, and chain-of-custody documentation.

• Enforce security controls over controlled substances, including restricted access, dual-employee verification where required, and timely reporting of discrepancies, losses, or thefts.

• Serve as the operational point of contact for internal audits, customer audits, and regulatory inspections; prepare records and respond to findings with documented corrective action.

• Partner with the Quality and Compliance functions to investigate deviations, complete root-cause analysis, and implement corrective and preventive actions.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop supervisors and processing technicians; set clear performance expectations and conduct regular one-on-ones and formal reviews.

• Own staffing for the department — forecasting labor needs, participating in hiring, and managing schedules, overtime, and temporary labor against budget.

• Design and maintain onboarding and ongoing training programs covering processing procedures, controlled substance handling, safety, and quality standards; maintain complete training records.

• Build a culture of accountability, safety, and continuous improvement, and act decisively on performance and conduct issues.

• Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Define, track, and report departmental metrics including throughput per labor hour, processing accuracy, credit cycle time, error and rework rates, and safety incidents.

• Analyze process and system data to identify constraints, then design and implement workflow, layout, and procedural improvements.

• Partner with IT and systems teams on enhancements to processing and inventory platforms, including testing and change management.

• Prepare and present operational performance summaries to leadership, with clear explanation of variances and corrective plans.

• Cross-Functional Partnership

• Coordinate with Transportation and Warehouse teams on inbound receipt scheduling and outbound manufacturer shipments.

• Support Sales and Account Management on customer questions, site visits, and reporting requests related to returns processing.

Required Education, Skills and Experience:

• Five or more years of operations experience, including at least two years directly supervising or managing a team in a distribution, warehouse, laboratory, manufacturing, or pharmacy environment.
• Demonstrated experience working in a regulated environment with documented procedures, recordkeeping requirements, and external audits or inspections.
• Proven ability to manage to measurable performance standards — productivity, accuracy, cycle time, and cost.
• Strong working knowledge of inventory management systems and Microsoft Excel, with the ability to build and interpret operational reports.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to write clear procedures and communicate effectively with frontline staff, executives, customers, and auditors.
• High level of personal integrity and sound judgment; must be able to pass a background check and drug screen, and meet all requirements for handling controlled substances.