Warehouse Admin Controller

SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:

Reports To: Warehouse Admin Manager

About the Role

3L Consulting is recruiting on behalf of a national market leader in cold-chain logistics, specialising in temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution for leading FMCG and food-service brands.

This is a fast-paced, high-volume and operationally demanding warehouse environment where accuracy, discipline, planning, communication and follow-through are critical.

This role is not suited to someone with only general office administration experience.

The successful candidate must understand warehouse operations, have strong administrative and planning ability, and be confident enough to communicate directly with customers, warehouse operations teams, drivers and internal stakeholders.

Purpose of the Position

The Warehouse Admin Controller / Warehouse Planning Admin Controller will play a critical link between customer requests or instructions and the operational execution of those requests within the warehouse.

A key part of the role will involve working with and managing the Planner Tool / planning board to support the smooth flow of inbound, put-away and outbound warehouse activities.

The successful candidate will be responsible for issuing time slots, allocating bays, updating the planning board, managing inbound and outbound booking confirmations, supporting operational turnaround times, and ensuring that warehouse administration, documentation and reporting are completed accurately and on time.

This position requires someone who understands how the warehouse floor works operationally — including receiving, put-aways, dispatch, outbound movement, PODs, bay flow and stock movement — ideally gained through previous warehouse administration, warehouse planning, receiving, dispatch or supervisory experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Warehouse Planning & Operational Coordination
  • Manage and update the Planner Tool / planning board to support daily warehouse operational flow.
  • Issue time slots to customers, transporters and drivers in line with operational capacity.
  • Allocate warehouse bays for inbound and outbound activity.
  • Coordinate inbound bookings and outbound dispatch requirements with the warehouse operations team.
  • Liaise with customers to confirm product movement, delivery requirements, collections and operational instructions.
  • Act as the key link between the client/customer and the warehouse operational team.
  • Ensure that customer requests are translated into clear and executable operational instructions.
  • Monitor turnaround times and assist in ensuring that vehicles, loads and warehouse activities are managed efficiently.
  • Support the smooth flow of inbound receiving, put-away activity, stock movement and outbound dispatch.
  • Communicate confidently with warehouse staff, supervisors, drivers, transporters and customers to resolve operational issues quickly.
• Operations Administration
  • Capture daily operational dashboards accurately and timeously.
  • Submit daily and weekly customer reports within required deadlines.
  • Manage inbound and outbound booking confirmations.
  • Ensure receiving and issuing documentation is accurate, complete and filed correctly.
  • Ensure all receiving packs contain the required documents, including put-away confirmations, photos of stock, quality control documents and completed forms.
  • Ensure proper closure of receipts, Goods Received and Goods Issued per shift.
  • Ensure PODs are updated and closed within required timeframes.
  • Process returns within required timelines and validate return reasons.
  • Ensure all operational documentation is properly filed and easily retrievable.
  • Manage stationery and administrative stock requirements for the warehouse admin function.
• Receipt, Issuing & Warehouse Documentation
  • Liaise daily with customers regarding the movement of products.
  • Check incoming documentation against seal numbers and load details.
  • Compare load contents against load sheets, receipt notes and supporting documents.
  • Allocate and issue pallet stickers for pallets being stored.
  • Generate receipt notes and communicate these to customers where required.
  • Ensure closure of Goods Issued and Goods Received transactions per shift.
  • Support accurate documentation flow between receiving, put-away, storage and dispatch areas.
• Inventory & Stock Administration
  • Support pallet management, including CHEP and brown pallets.
  • Assist with cycle counts, stock takes, capturing and reconciliations.
  • Support stock rotation and ensure administrative compliance with stock control procedures.
  • Ensure stock received under quarantine is correctly labelled and placed on hold where required.
  • Assist with the investigation and resolution of stock discrepancies, claims and documentation queries.
• Claims, Reporting & Client Support
  • Investigate claims and ensure they are closed off within the required timelines.
  • Ensure daily client reports are submitted accurately and timeously.
  • Escalate discrepancies, delays, documentation gaps or operational risks to management.
  • Maintain professional and clear communication with customers and internal teams.
  • Support service delivery by ensuring that operational instructions and reporting are accurate and complete.
• Team, Shift & Operational Support
  • Support shift planning and execution from an administration and planning perspective.
  • Monitor adherence to SOPs within the admin and operational process flow.
  • Assist with productivity control and follow-up where administrative or planning issues impact operations.
  • Provide support and guidance to admin staff where required.
  • Maintain a clean, organised and professional admin office environment.
  • Ensure compliance with time and attendance controls where applicable.
• Compliance & Quality
  • Ensure warehouse documentation meets company, customer and legislative requirements.
  • Support compliance with warehouse SOPs, food safety standards, quality requirements and audit readiness.
  • Assist with State Vet, NRCS, PPECB or other regulatory requirements where applicable.
  • Ensure products not cleared by the relevant authority are not issued from the warehouse.
  • Maintain confidentiality of customer and product information.

Minimum Requirements

• Matric / Grade 12 is essential.
• Minimum 3 years’ experience in a similar warehouse administration, warehouse planning, receiving, dispatch, inventory, logistics or operations administration role.
• Experience in a warehouse, logistics, distribution, cold-chain, FMCG or food-related environment is strongly preferred.
• Must have a strong understanding of inbound, receiving, put-away, outbound, dispatch and warehouse floor processes.
• Previous warehouse floor exposure or experience in a warehouse supervisor, receiving, dispatch, planning or operational coordination role will be highly advantageous.
• Experience issuing time slots, allocating bays, updating planning boards, managing bookings or coordinating operational schedules will be advantageous.
• Experience working with WMS, ERP, warehouse management systems, planning tools or similar operational systems is advantageous.
• Strong MS Office skills, especially Excel, Word and Outlook.
• Valid South African driver’s licence and own reliable transport is important.
• Must be willing and able to work shifts, overtime or extended hours when operationally required.

Key Skills and Competencies

• Strong administrative accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent planning and coordination ability.
• Strong understanding of warehouse operational flow.
• Confident communication skills with customers, drivers, warehouse teams and operational staff.
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced warehouse environment.
• Strong sense of urgency and ability to follow through.
• Good problem-solving ability.
• Numerate and analytical, with the ability to work with reports, dashboards, stock records and operational data.
• Able to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Reliable, disciplined and accountable.
• Able to work closely with operations while maintaining strong administrative control.
• Comfortable dealing with pressure from customers, drivers and warehouse operations teams.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be someone who has worked in a busy warehouse or logistics environment and understands both the administration and the operational side of warehouse flow.

This person must be comfortable dealing with customer instructions, planning board updates, time slot issuing, bay allocation, inbound bookings, put-away activity, outbound dispatch and operational turnaround times.

They should not be purely office-based in their thinking. The successful candidate must understand what happens on the warehouse floor and must be confident enough to deal directly with warehouse operations staff, drivers and clients to ensure that customer requests are properly executed.

This role will suit a structured, organised and confident individual who enjoys being the link between customers and operations, and who can keep administration accurate while ensuring that warehouse execution keeps moving.

Important Note to Applicants

Please do not apply for this role if you do not have practical warehouse, logistics, receiving, dispatch, planning or operational administration experience.

This role requires someone who understands how inbound, put-away and outbound warehouse operations work and who can confidently coordinate between customers, drivers and warehouse operations teams.