At Rite-Hite, your work makes an impact. As the global leader in loading dock and door equipment, we design and deliver solutions that keep our customers safe, secure, and productive. Here, you’ll find innovation, stability, and the chance to grow your career as part of a team that’s always looking ahead.
Primary Purpose & Scope
The Service Underwriting Manager leads the Service Underwriting team, ensuring timely, accurate parts sourcing, vendor coordination, and order execution while standardizing processes, improving team performance, and enabling field teams to focus on customers. This is a new function where the team will centralize customer quote intake, scope development, parts identification and sourcing, estimating, quote preparation, and customer follow up so service needs can be supported efficiently and consistently.
This role is a critical operational and customer support function for the Service organization. Today, quoting is largely handled by sales representatives in the field. Over time, this function will evolve into a centralized and scalable customer solutions operation designed to support a large volume of quotes per month with speed, accuracy, and strong customer responsiveness.
The Service Underwriting Manager reports to the Distribution Operations Excellence Leader, who sets strategy, priorities, and performance expectations for the function. The Service Underwriting Manager, in turn, leads the Service Underwriting team, driving performance, workload balancing, coaching, and continuous development across the team.
Values and Culture Expectations
All employees are expected to consistently demonstrate Rite-Hite’s Values in Action. These values shape the way we work together and how we serve our customers. This includes modeling company values in daily interactions, decision-making, and how work is accomplished. Employees are expected to contribute to a culture of accountability, collaboration, and respect.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Safety Responsibilities:
- Support and promote a culture of safety.
- Follow all Company and OSHA safety policies and procedures.
- Proper use of required personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Report hazards, near misses and incidents promptly
Job Responsibilities:
People leadership
- The ideal leader brings a strong people-leadership mindset, analytical thinking, operational discipline, and a bias for action. This person must be confident, resourceful, and able to take full ownership of a new function, build the process, develop the team, and solve problems as the business scales.
- Lead the Service Underwriting team, driving performance, workload balancing, coaching, and continuous development
Service Writing & Quote Management
- Build the Service Writing process from the ground up, including intake, scoping, estimating, quote preparation, and follow-up.
- Centralize quote support currently handled by field sales representatives.
- Ensure customer requests are translated into clear, accurate, and executable quotes that meet customer requirements.
- Manage a high-volume quote environment while maintaining speed, accuracy, and consistency.
- Establish standards for quote quality, documentation, pricing assumptions, exclusions, approvals, and response times.
- Serve as an escalation point for complex quoting questions, customer issues, and scope clarification needs.
Parts Identification & Sourcing
- Own parts sourcing standards and processes, ensuring consistent execution across ordering, quoting, and vendor management
- Oversee complex sourcing and escalations, resolving supplier, pricing, availability, and fulfillment issues within defined guardrails
- Build the team’s capability to accurately identify parts and materials required to support customer service and repair needs.
- Develop processes, tools, and reference materials that enable Service Writing team members to identify the correct parts based on equipment information, service requirements, technicians findings, and customer requests.
- Research alternative sourcing options when standard or OEM parts are unavailable, back-ordered, obsolete, or have extended lead times.
- Establish clear escalation paths for difficult to identify, obsolete, superseded, or unavailable parts.
- Develop and maintain institutional knowledge around common equipment, parts, suppliers, substitutions, and sourcing strategies to improve team speed and accuracy over time.
- Identify recurring parts and sourcing challenges and work cross functionally to develop longer term solutions that improve service execution.
Cross Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Service & Sales leaders, prioritizing work to support customer commitments and field execution
- Work closely with Supply Chain, Product Support, Tech Support, Sales, Service Support, and field teams to gather information and resolve quote-related issues.
- Partner with Supply Chain and Service Support to identify parts availability, sourcing questions, lead times, and vendor coordination as needed.
- Collaborate with Product Support to confirm product details, configuration questions, and technical requirements that impact quote accuracy.
- Work with Tech Support to resolve technical scope questions, repair feasibility concerns, and customer-specific service requirements.
- Support field sales teams by providing a centralized quoting resource and clear ownership for customer solutions.
- Communicate clearly with internal stakeholders regarding open issues, quote status, process changes, service risks, and improvement initiatives.
Process improvement & automation
- Drive vendor performance and continuous improvement, improving sourcing efficiency, turnaround time, and process consistency
- Evaluate current quoting workflows to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, rework, and opportunities for standardization.
- Build standard work, SOPs, templates, checklists, training guides, and escalation paths to support consistent execution.
- Use data and performance metrics to manage priorities, monitor productivity, and improve team performance.
- Drive continuous improvement efforts that improve speed, reduce errors, increase visibility, and strengthen the customer experience.
- Help shift the function from a manual, reactive quoting process into a more proactive, scalable operating model.
- Partner with systems, operations, and field leadership to improve tools, reporting, and workflow automation where possible.
Systems & Reporting
- Manage service underwriting reporting, monitoring KPIs, workload, quality, and opportunities for operational improvement
- Support the use of Salesforce Field Service and JDE in the customer solutions, quoting, and order management process.
- Ensure quotes, service requests, and related customer data are entered accurately and maintained with strong process discipline.
- Use Salesforce Field Service, JDE, and related systems to improve visibility, workflow management, and execution.
- Monitor quote aging, open quote status, follow-up activity, and reporting metrics to support operational performance.
- Identify opportunities to improve system usage, data integrity, and reporting quality across the function.
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or related field, or equivalent professional experience
- 5+ years of experience in parts sourcing, procurement, service underwriting, or related operations roles
- 5+ years of experience managing or leading a team
- Demonstrated experience managing vendor relationships and resolving sourcing/fulfillment issues
- Experience working cross-functionally with Service, Sales, and Supply Chain teams
Certifications/License
- None specifically required
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities
- Strong understanding of parts sourcing, quoting, and vendor management processes
- Ability to prioritize workload, improve productivity, and manage service levels across a team
- Ability to resolve complex sourcing and escalation issues involving supplier, pricing, availability, and fulfillment challenges within defined guardrails
- Experience improving vendor/supplier performance and driving accountability for fulfillment quality
- Ability to standardize workflows and drive continuous improvement in sourcing and order execution
- Strong KPI management, reporting, and operational decision-making skills
- Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, partnering effectively with Service, Sales, and Supply Chain teams
Preferred Job Requirements
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management or Business Administration strongly preferred; advanced degree a plus
- 7+ years of experience (vs. the 5+ minimum) in service underwriting, procurement, or sourcing leadership roles
- Prior experience managing vendor performance programs at scale
- Experience in distribution, industrial, or B2B field service environments
- Experience partnering directly with Regional Service & Install Leaders on prioritization and escalations
Certifications/License
- APICS/ASCM certification (e.g., CPIM, CSCP)
- Six Sigma or process improvement certification a plus
- Vendor/supplier management certification a plus
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities
- Familiarity with procurement and sourcing analytics/reporting platforms
- Experience negotiating vendor terms related to lead time, fulfillment, and service levels (short of commercial pricing negotiation)
- Knowledge of inventory coordination and supply chain fulfillment strategy
- Experience building or improving quoting accuracy and turnaround time processes
- Familiarity with escalation management frameworks across sourcing and fulfillment issues
Role Specific Compliance Requirements
- Ability to satisfy customer and company site safety, security, and access requirements
- Ability to travel approximately 15%
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound business judgment
- Ability to pass background check
- Eligibility to work in the United States
Work Location, Schedule and Environment
- Work Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
- Work Environment: Office
While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and use hands to manipulate objects or controls. The employee is regularly required to stand and walk. On occasion, the employee may be required to stoop, bend, or reach above the shoulders. The employee must occasionally lift up to 25 pounds. Specific conditions of this job are typical of frequent and continuous computer-based work requiring periods of sitting, close vision, and the ability to adjust focus. Occasional travel may be required.
Disclaimer: All responsibilities and requirements are subject to possible modifications to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities.
This Job description in no way states or implies that these are the only responsibilities to be performed by an employee occupying this job. This job description is subject to change, and the employer retains the right to change or modify the duties of this job at any time.
What We Offer
At Rite-Hite, we take care of our people – because when you’re supported, you can do your best work. Our benefits are designed to support your health, your future and your life outside of work:
Health & Well-being: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus life and disability insurance. A robust well-being program with an opportunity to receive an extra day off and more.
Financial Security: A strong retirement savings program with 401(k), company match, and profit sharing.
Time for You: Paid holidays, vacation time, and personal/sick days each year.
Join us and build a career where you’re supported – at work and beyond.
Rite-Hite is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. In accordance with VEVRAA, we are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for protected veterans. We are also committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace for the safety of our employees and customers.
