Director, Pharmacy Operations

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Founded in 1986, J. Knipper and Company, Inc. and its affiliates, KnippeRx and Eagle Pharmacy, are dedicated to providing services exclusively for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. We are in an exciting accelerated growth phase fueled by our three integrated business units; Third-Party Logistics (3PL), Custom Pharmacy Solutions (CPS), and Marketing Support and Samples Management (MSSM).  Our company’s focus and mission are based on building partnerships and collaborating with our clients to create solutions that are strategically designed, faithfully executed and driven by market insight and data to ensure maximum return on our clients’ investment, ultimately improving people’s lives. 

The Knipper Vision: Create the shortest path between patient and therapy.

Summary

Under the direction of the Vice President of Pharmacy Operations, the Director of Pharmacy Operations provides site leadership and operational oversight to ensure the safe, compliant, and efficient dispensing of prescription products nationwide. This role is accountable for achieving strategic, financial, and operational goals across a multistate, high-volume pharmacy enterprise. The Director will oversee a highly automated fulfillment environment and drive continuous improvement initiatives to ensure optimal scalability, quality, and patient satisfaction.

This role is located ON-SITE at our facility in Lakeland, Florida. Occasional overnight travel as needed for training, collaboration, and leadership meetings may be required (<10%).

• Develops and maintains pharmacy services in accordance with State and Federal regulations, accepted standards, professional practices, and company policies in coordination with the Pharmacists-in-Charge.
• Leads operations supporting multistate licensure, ensuring readiness for shipment to all 50 states, including oversight of pharmacist and pharmacy licensing, state-specific compliance requirements, and audit readiness.
• Oversees high-volume automation and robotic dispensing systems and associated vendor relationships, including configuration, maintenance, and performance optimization, ensuring seamless integration with the pharmacy management system.
• Ensures maintenance and optimization of robotic systems, conveyor networks, and automated labeling, counting, and packaging systems to support national-scale prescription volume.
• Provides strategic oversight of cold-chain management processes for temperature-sensitive medications, including monitoring, packaging validation, facilities, equipment, and excursion management programs and systems to ensure product integrity.
• Oversees management of inventory control and pharmacy supplies, including forecasting, purchasing, storage, reconciliation, and waste reduction to support continuous operations and minimize stockouts.
• Oversees the planning, supervision, coordination, and execution of all activities related to pharmacy operations, including prescription processing, fulfillment, packaging, and logistics.
• Provides onsite operational support to the data entry and clinical review teams, ensuring efficient communication, issue escalation, and workflow alignment—while maintaining collaborative partnership with the remote Director having direct supervision responsibility for those functions.
• Monitors operational throughput, production metrics, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive efficiency, reduce error rates, and maximize resource utilization.
• Coordinates and supervises departmental operations, including but not limited to hiring, determining workload, delegating assignments, training, monitoring, scheduling, evaluating performance, and initiating corrective and disciplinary actions.
• Mentors, trains, and develops staff and management team to support career growth and succession planning.
• Collaborates cross-functionally with Compliance, Quality, IT, Human Resources, and Talent Acquisition
• Oversees quality improvement initiatives and ensures standard operating procedures (SOPs) reflect best practices in automation, fulfillment, safety, and patient care.
• Partners with IT and vendor partners to validate system upgrades and implement process automations to enhance operational capacity.
• Supports the annual budgeting process, including forecasting for technology upgrades, cold-chain infrastructure, automation expansion, inventory management systems, and compliance costs.
• Maintains strict adherence to HIPAA and other confidentiality requirements, protecting patient data and proprietary business information
• Serves as the primary onsite point of contact for client and manufacturer relationships, facilitating effective communication, resolving operational issues, and ensuring contractual and service-level agreements (SLAs) are met.
• Enforces company policies and procedures and performs other duties as assigned.

The above duties are meant to be representative of the position and not all-inclusive.

MINIMUM JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• 5+ years of progressive pharmacy operations leadership, preferably within a central fill, mail-order, or specialty pharmacy environment.
• Advanced degree (PharmD and MBA, or equivalent) preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing large-scale automated pharmacy systems (e.g., robotic dispensing, high-speed packaging, or conveyor networks).
• Experience with Pharmacy Management System software platforms
• Proven experience with multistate licensure, nationwide distribution, and familiarity with state board regulations across multiple jurisdictions a requirement
• Experience overseeing cold-chain operations and managing temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products.
• Experience managing large-scale inventory and supplies operations within a regulated pharmacy or healthcare environment.
• Pharmacist licensure in one or more key states — including AL, CO, FL, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MI, MS, OR, TN, TX, VA, and WV — is highly desirable but not required.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Excellent leadership and management skills
• Ability to effectively package data/metrics and present information to senior leadership
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Visio.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills
• Ability to accept changing workflows and unexpected demands requiring flexibility
• Ability to work under pressure and appropriately prioritize responsibilities
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Ability to develop collaborative working relationships

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Location of job activities 100% inside
• Noise and/or vibrations exposure
• Reaching (overhead), handling, and feeling
• Stand and sit for prolonged periods of time
• Lift, carry, and move up to 50 pounds

This position is in a typical office environment which requires prolonged sitting in front of a computer. Requires hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate standard office equipment including operation of standard computer and phone equipment.  May have occasional high stress when dealing with customers/clients.

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.