Customer Operations Specialist

Customer Operations Specialist – Lutz, FL (Onsite)

Job Summary: The Customer Operations Specialist owns the end‑to‑end order lifecycle – from order receipt through invoicing – with precision, urgency, and accountability. As an Operations Business Partner, this role serves as the central communication hub between Sales, Supply Chain, Warehouse, Logistics, and retail partners, ensuring every order flows accurately, on time, and in full while driving collaboration and alignment across teams.

• Execute all customer purchase order management activities from order receipt through invoicing with accuracy, speed, and compliance, covering automated EDI transactions and manually processed orders.
• Take full ownership of assigned customers and orders, ensuring proactive communication, timely follow‑up, and clear documentation of all actions.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for customer and internal inquiries, leading conversations to resolution rather than escalating without action.
• Maintain up‑to‑date routing guides, compliance documentation, and customer requirements; actively review, interpret, and communicate updates or changes to all relevant internal teams.
• Maintain customer resources and requirements, including portal management, service‑level tracking, scorecards, and other customer‑specific documentation to ensure accuracy, compliance, and consistent visibility.
• Fully own chargeback management for assigned customers, including tracking, reporting, and analyzing all chargebacks and deductions such as OTIF, compliance, data accuracy, documentation, and shipping‑or‑labeling related chargebacks.
• Identify root causes and take direct action—initiating disputes with customers, driving recovery efforts, and leveraging deduction and chargeback applications to prevent revenue loss.
• Track and analyze order and chargeback performance, communicate findings, lead root‑cause reviews, and drive cross‑functional accountability across internal departments.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams—including Sales, Finance, Supply Chain, Warehouse, and Logistics—to support customer needs, resolve fulfillment issues, and drive business success.
• Partner closely with our third‑party logistics (3PL) warehouse provider to ensure compliance with customer requirements and operational standards, hold the 3PL accountable, and conduct root‑cause analysis, request credits, and verify resolution.
• Obtain supporting documentation from the warehouse partner and work directly with the customer to dispute or resolve issues when the root cause falls outside the 3PL’s responsibility.
• Ensure continuous operational accountability between DeMert and the warehouse partner, maintaining compliance, communication, and continuous improvement.
• Validate orders and collaborate with Sales to resolve discrepancies prior to fulfillment.
• Utilize ERP and EDI systems (Business Central, True Commerce, retail customer portals) to manage workflows and ensure accurate data across platforms.
• Analyze customer scorecards, supplier performance, and service‑level data to identify trends and provide insights that improve accuracy, compliance, and efficiency.
• Demonstrate professional written and verbal communication skills, including customer‑facing correspondence and cross‑department interactions.
• Apply fundamental business tools such as Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint for data organization, tracking, reporting, and process summaries.
• Contribute to continuous improvement by identifying inefficiencies, suggesting solutions, and supporting standardization of best practices.
• Be a self‑starter—proactively identify potential issues, gather information, and initiate conversations with cross‑functional partners to prevent problems before they occur.
• Lead problem‑solving efforts by scheduling meetings, facilitating discussions, and engaging the appropriate departments to develop and implement effective, sustainable solutions for customer‑specific challenges.

• Ownership mindset:
  Acts independently to identify, communicate, and resolve issues.
• Professional communication:
  Writes and speaks clearly, concisely, and respectfully.
• Technical…