Problem Manager

Position Summary

The Problem Manager leads the identification, investigation, analysis, and permanent resolution of recurring and high-impact incidents affecting automated material handling and warehouse automation systems. The role reduces operational disruption by identifying root causes and coordinating corrective and preventive actions across WES, WCS, WMS, controls, PLCs, robotics, material handling equipment, databases, networks, and related integrations.
 

The Problem Manager is the central owner of the Problem Management lifecycle for complex customer and production issues, working closely with Technical Support, Software Engineering, Controls Engineering, Site Operations, Customer Success, Product Management, Quality Assurance, Infrastructure, and third-party vendors to prevent repeat incidents and improve system reliability.
 

This role partners closely with Incident Management but owns a distinct piece of the lifecycle: Incident Managers own real-time restoration during an active incident, while the Problem Manager owns root-cause investigation and permanent resolution once an incident is stabilized or identified as recurring.

Key Responsibilities

1. Problem Management Ownership

• Own and manage the end-to-end Problem Management process for recurring, major, complex, and high-business-impact incidents.
• Identify patterns across incidents, tickets, alerts, and escalations; determine when related incidents represent a common problem requiring formal root cause investigation.
• Lead structured Root Cause Analysis (RCA) using methodologies such as 5 Whys, Fishbone/Ishikawa, Fault Tree Analysis, Pareto, FMEA, or Kepner-Tregoe.
• Facilitate cross-functional RCA sessions with Engineering, QA, Infrastructure, and Operations, ensuring findings are evidence-based rather than symptom-based.
• Establish and maintain formal Problem Records and Known Error Database (KEDB) entries — root cause, workaround, corrective/preventive action, ownership, and closure criteria.
• Prioritize problems by customer impact, operational risk, frequency, severity, downtime, and recurrence likelihood.
• Develop, assign, and track Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) plans, and validate that fixes materially reduce recurrence before closing problems.
• Identify systemic issues affecting multiple customers or platforms, escalate significant risks to leadership, and provide regular reporting on major problems and root-cause trends.

2. WES/WCS and Automation Troubleshooting

• Lead investigations spanning WES/WCS and their integration with WMS, ERP, PLCs, robotics, conveyors, AS/RS, AMRs, and related automation technologies.
• Analyze failures across the order, task, and routing lifecycle — work release, task generation, divert logic, inventory movement, and tote/carton/pallet tracking.
• Analyze failures at the equipment and controls layer — conveyor/sortation exceptions, equipment jams, PLC communication, robotics/AS-RS behavior, and WMS-to-WES-to-WCS-to-PLC communication.
• Investigate performance degradation, latency, message failures, data synchronization issues, and abnormal equipment behavior.
• Partner with Software and Controls Engineering to distinguish software, configuration, integration, equipment, controls, infrastructure, and process-related causes.
• Develop technical workarounds and Known Error documentation to limit impact while permanent fixes are developed.

3. Major Incident Support (Partnering with Incident Management)

• Partner with Incident Managers and Technical Support during active incidents to ensure appropriate technical investigation, and transition recurring issues into formal Problem Management.
• Participate in incident bridges and executive/customer escalations as the technical problem-resolution owner when appropriate.
• Coordinate post-incident reviews and lead post-mortem/lessons-learned sessions after significant outages; ensure follow-up actions are documented, assigned, and completed.

4. Change and Release Coordination

• Review proposed changes and releases for known-problem fixes or operational risk; ensure fixes are tested, validated, and have a clear rollback strategy.
• Coordinate Requests for Change (RFCs) tied to problem resolutions and participate in Change Advisory Board (CAB) reviews when problem-related fixes are on the agenda.
• Monitor production performance after corrective actions are implemented and keep problem records current following releases and validated fixes.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Supply Chain, Industrial Automation, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
• 5+ years of experience in technical support, software engineering, systems engineering, automation engineering, IT service management, or a related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of experience investigating and resolving complex production or operational issues.
• Experience performing Root Cause Analysis and leading cross-functional corrective action initiatives.
• Experience supporting customer-facing, business-critical, or 24/7 production environments.
• Strong understanding of Problem Management and RCA methodologies, and knowledge of ITIL Incident, Problem, Change, and Knowledge Management processes.
• Ability to analyze application logs, system events, error messages, and transaction data.
• Exceptional analytical and critical-thinking skills, including the ability to differentiate symptoms from underlying root causes.
• Ability to manage ambiguous, complex technical problems spanning software, controls, equipment, infrastructure, and operational processes.
• Ability to lead cross-functional technical investigations without direct reporting authority.
• Strong facilitation and meeting-management skills, with excellent written documentation.
• Ability to communicate complex technical issues to technical and non-technical audiences, including customers.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced production environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience supporting warehouse automation, material handling systems, logistics technology, or industrial automation.
• Experience with WES, WCS, WMS, or comparable operational technology platforms.
• Understanding of warehouse automation architecture, material flow, and WES/WCS/WMS integration.
• Understanding of automated material handling technologies such as conveyor systems, sortation, AS/RS, AMRs, robotics, goods-to-person, and shuttle systems.
• Understanding of PLC and industrial controls concepts, and familiarity with industrial communication and integration technologies.
• Knowledge of APIs, messaging, interfaces, databases, and system integrations.
• Working knowledge of SQL and database troubleshooting (SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, or similar).
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools, and with Windows and Linux operating environments.
• ITIL Foundation, ITIL Managing Professional, or equivalent IT Service Management certification.
• Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
• Experience with ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar ITSM/work-management tools.
• Experience in Agile or DevOps environments, and knowledge of SDLC and release management processes.
• Experience supporting large-scale distribution centers, fulfillment centers, or e-commerce operations.
• Experience working directly with PLC-based automation systems and controls engineers.

Working Conditions

• Work may be performed in an office, remote, customer site, distribution center, manufacturing, or warehouse environment.
• Ability to participate in support escalation activities outside standard business hours when required.
• May require travel to customer sites for critical problem investigation, post-incident reviews, or system assessments.
• Ability to work safely around active material handling and automated equipment in accordance with all applicable safety procedures.

The base salary range for this role is $87,600 to $131,300.  This base salary range represents the low and high end of the base salary range for this position. Actual base salary offered will vary based on various factors including but not limited to location, level, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and performance.