Problem Manager

FORTNA partners with the world’s leading brands to transform omnichannel and parcel distribution operations. Known world-wide for enabling companies to keep pace with digital disruption and growth objectives, we design and deliver solutions, powered by intelligent software, to optimize fast, accurate and cost-effective order fulfillment and last mile delivery. Our people, innovative approach and proprietary algorithms and tools ensure optimal operations design and material and information flow. We deliver exceptional value every day to our customers with comprehensive services and products including network strategy, distribution center operational design and implementation, material handling automated equipment, robotics and a comprehensive suite of lifecycle services.

At FORTNA , we believe in fostering a workplace that isn't just a job but a movement – a collective effort to redefine success and transform challenges into opportunities. "Join the Movement" encapsulates our commitment to a workplace culture that thrives on collaboration, celebrates diversity, and empowers every individual to contribute to something greater than themselves. Our Team. Our Passion. Our Approach.

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,