On - Senior Lead – Distribution Center Network Design & Planning - Zürich

Team for Career Site

Supply Chain

In short

The Senior Lead – Global Distribution Center (DC) Network Strategy is a strategic leader in the Global Distribution & Logistics team responsible for long-term distribution network planning and optimization. The role leads a small team of experts to strategize, plan, and optimize our global DC and logistics footprint, securing premium customer experience at the most optimized spend, and ensuring our capabilities are scalable, efficient, and strategically aligned to meet brand ambitions and evolving regional demand for years to come.

Your mission

Build and Drive Global DC Network Strategy:
– Lead the design and governance of On’s global DC network strategy, ensuring it is future-ready and fully aligned with our LRP expectations, commercial strategies, brand ambitions and regional demand.
– Drive the governance for end-to-end data gathering and validation, establishing a strong process-driven framework while assuming deep collaboration and involvement from regional operational teams (regional Distribution & Logistics).
– Implement resilience and scalability as core principles of our DC network to manage future volatility and enable seamless commercial expansions around the globe.
– Define and spearhead the long-term warehouse automation strategy, evaluating where and what automated technologies make practical and economic sense for our global footprint.

Network Study, Expansion Planning & Optimization:
– Oversee comprehensive network studies and assessments, balancing cost-to-serve metrics with a premium customer experience (CX) across channels.
– Provide expert support and rigorous analysis for business cases related to network expansion, relocation, or consolidation, influencing strategic investment decisions.
– Lead mid-to-long term expansion planning, analyzing the distribution network impact of new Retail formats, MarketPlace models, and Dropship launches.
– Manage and provide governance for advanced scenario modeling and flow optimization. You will steer the methodology, guide project frameworks, and interpret results to influence strategic investment decisions.

RFP Support & Strategic Capacity Management:

– Support logistics procurement and tender projects by contributing to the pipeline definition, establishing project scopes, and engineering standardized data frameworks.
– Provide end-to-end RFP support, including standardized solution design, 3PL capability assessment, and contractual definition to ensure new partnerships meet On’s scalability and efficiency targets.
– Develop and implement a multi-tiered forecasting framework spanning from Long-Range Planning (LRP) down to granular methodologies, supporting precise capacity management and proactive planning alongside our global 3PL partners.
– Continuously monitor warehouse capacity across our global network, identifying and projecting additional needs for the mid-to-long term.
– Lead contingency planning efforts to ensure network resilience and agility in response to unforeseen challenges, potential disruptions and demand shocks.

Your story

– 10+ years of experience in supply chain network design, logistics capacity planning, or a similar analytical role, preferably in a fast-paced retail or consumer goods environment.
– Possession of a strong analytical mindset, with a strong understanding of network modeling methodology and industry-standard design tools (e.g., Coupa Supply Chain Design / formerly LLamasoft). Direct technical execution of models is not required, but strong conceptual fluency is a must.
– Proven experience leading large-scale RFPs, 3PL solution design, and data standardization practices.
– Adept at translating complex network studies and data into clear, actionable strategies, commercial insights and compelling business cases.
– Advanced experience working with 3PLs and understand the intricacies of global multi-channel distribution networks.
– Proactive problem-solver with excellent communication skills, capable of influencing and collaborating with diverse stakeholders across functions and regions.
– Experienced leader with a passion for building, mentoring and developing high-performing teams.
– Proficiency in English. Other languages are a plus.

Meet the team

Our Global Distribution & Logistics team is the backbone of On’s Supply Chain on a clear mission to build the most advanced fulfillment network in the industry. We are a data-driven, action-oriented group that thrives on collaboration and challenges the status quo. We work across continents and functions, partnering with the best 3PLs in the world to deliver excellence and build a resilient, innovative, and world-class supply chain.