Company description

Food Lifeline’s mission is to feed people experiencing hunger today while working to end hunger for tomorrow.

Job description

Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Operations Leadership
• Provide strategic leadership for warehouse operations, inventory management, transportation, food safety, quality assurance, and operational support functions.
• Develop and implement departmental goals, operational plans, budgets, and performance metrics aligned with organizational priorities.
• Establish operational controls and management systems that ensure accountability for inventory, fleet assets, purchasing, reconciliations, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure operational risks are identified, monitored, and mitigated through effective policies, procedures, documentation, and internal controls.
• Contribute to organizational planning, emergency response efforts, and cross functional initiatives.
• Develop annual operational goals, work plans, and key performance indicators that align with Food Lifeline's strategic plan, using data and cross-functional partnership to monitor progress and evaluate outcomes.

Warehouse Operations, Inventory, and Distribution
• Direct warehouse operations including receiving, storage, inventory control, order fulfillment, and distribution activities.
• Ensure inventory accuracy, product integrity, and compliance with Feeding America standards and organizational policies.
• Oversee fleet management, transportation planning, routing, vehicle oversight, DOT compliance, fleet utilization, and associated operational controls.
• Ensure warehouse capacity, labor planning, inventory levels, transportation resources, and operational workflows effectively support organizational priorities and changing community demand.
• Oversee inventory governance, cycle counting, reconciliation processes, loss prevention efforts, and inventory accuracy.
• Leverage ERP and other management systems to monitor operational performance, investigate inventory discrepancies, identify root causes, and implement corrective actions.
• Partner with Food Resources leadership to align food acquisition, inventory strategy, storage capacity, and product flow.
• Partner with Agency Programs leadership to ensure operational systems and service levels effectively support partner and community needs.

Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Workplace Safety, and Compliance
• Oversee food safety, food defense, warehouse sanitation, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance programs.
• Ensure organizational readiness for external audits and inspections through proactive monitoring, documentation, corrective actions, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with Feeding America standards, HACCP principles, FDA, WSDA, OSHA, AIB, and other applicable regulations.
• Oversee audits, inspections, recalls, corrective actions, product traceability systems, and compliance reporting.
• Foster a culture of food safety, workplace safety, quality, and accountability throughout Operations.
• Ensure employees consistently follow established safety protocols, utilize required personal protective equipment, and operate equipment safely.

Leadership and Team Development
• Provide leadership and support to managers, shift leads, professional staff, and support personnel.
• Establish clear performance expectations, accountability measures, and professional development opportunities.

Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Collaborate with leaders across Food Lifeline to align food acquisition, inventory management, distribution, volunteer production activities, facilities planning, and organizational priorities.
• Partner closely with Finance to ensure strong financial stewardship, inventory controls, operational purchasing practices, capital planning, and budget management.
• Collaborate with Safety and Facilities to ensure safe operations within the warehouse and transportation teams, OSHA compliance
• Provide regular operational reporting, analysis, and KPI updates to organizational leadership, including monthly and quarterly performance reviews.
• Utilize operational data and outcome measures to identify trends, inform decision making, and support continuous improvement efforts.
• Build strong partnerships that improve operational effectiveness, service delivery, and community impact.

Supervisory Responsibility
Provides leadership and supervision for staff responsible for warehouse operations, inventory management, transportation and logistics, food safety and quality assurance, and operational support functions. Directly supervises managers, shift leads, professional staff, and support personnel within the Operations department.

Qualifications
Required
• Seven years of progressively responsible leadership experience in warehousing, logistics, supply chain management, food distribution, manufacturing, or related operations.
• Experience leading managers, supervisors, and operational teams in a complex environment.
• Strong knowledge of warehouse operations, inventory management, transportation logistics, food safety, and regulatory compliance.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging ERP and warehouse management systems to investigate inventory issues, perform root cause analysis, and strengthen inventory control processes.
• Experience developing and managing budgets, operational plans, and performance metrics.
• Ability to analyze operational and financial data and make sound decisions.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and Food Lifeline's mission.
• Ability to demonstrate an understanding of the intersections between hunger, poverty, racial inequity, and social justice and their impact on the communities Food Lifeline serves.

Preferred
• Experience within food banking, food distribution, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, or other complex food supply chain environments.
• Knowledge of Feeding America standards and food banking operations.
• Lean Six Sigma certification or experience leading continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lived experience with hunger or food insecurity.

Certifications
• Washington State Food Worker Card or ability to obtain within 30 days of employment.
• Food Safety Manager Certification or ability to obtain within 90 days of employment.
• HACCP Certification or ability to obtain within 120 days of employment.

Working Conditions
Work is performed in both warehouse and office environments. Position requires regular presence in warehouse operations, including refrigerated and freezer environments. Exposure to warehouse equipment, product handling activities, and typical warehouse noise levels is expected.

Physical Requirements
Must be able to regularly walk warehouse floors, observe operations, inspect inventory and equipment, and occasionally lift or move items weighing up to 25 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, varies DOE, $115,000.00 - $140,000.00

Application instructions

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Deadline

July 15, 2026