Vice President of Operations

Position Title: Vice President of Operations

Department: Warehouse Operations

Reports to: Chief Operations Officer

Position Type: Full-Time, 40 hours

POSITION SUMMARY

The Vice President of Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for the nonprofit organization's distribution network, warehouse operations, center operations, production activities, transportation, inventory management, safety, logistics, facilities readiness, and operational performance. Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer, this role ensures the safe, efficient, compliant, and effective movement of food throughout the organization's multi-site network in support of agency, program, and community needs.

As a member of the Vice President Leadership Team, the Vice President leads through operational directors, managers, and functional leaders to translate organizational priorities into coordinated operational plans, performance expectations, capacity strategies, and continuous improvement initiatives. This position is responsible for strengthening day-to-day operational execution while building the systems, talent, processes, and infrastructure needed to support long-term growth and mission impact.

The Vice President of Operations partners closely with the Chief Operations Officer, VP of Food Sourcing, VP of Impact, Procurement, Finance, Philanthropy, Transformation, and other leaders to align food flow, inventory availability, transportation capacity, production capabilities, safety practices, and facilities resources with organizational priorities. This role directly oversees the Director of Warehouse & Inventory, Director of Centers & Production, Director of Transportation, and Safety Manager.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Operational Strategy & Network Performance

Develop and execute multi-year operational strategies that support organizational goals, distribution effectiveness, service responsiveness, safety, compliance, and mission impact.

Provide senior leadership for the organization's warehouse, inventory, center, production, transportation, logistics, safety, and operational readiness functions.

Ensure operational strategy, workflows, staffing models, equipment, facilities, technology, and resource allocation support organizational growth and service needs.

Balance operational capacity, food flow, product availability, transportation resources, production needs, agency demand, and program priorities across the network.

Identify opportunities to improve operational effectiveness, throughput, quality, service levels, productivity, financial stewardship, and cross-functional coordination.

Warehouse, Inventory & Food Flow Leadership

Provide oversight for warehouse operations, inventory management, receiving, storage, order fulfillment, staging, redistribution, and product movement across the organization's operating network.

Ensure inventory standards, controls, reconciliation practices, reporting, data integrity, and inventory accuracy are consistently maintained across locations.

Partner with Food Sourcing, Impact, Programs, Finance, and site leaders to support forecasting, product flow, allocation decisions, inventory visibility, and operational planning.

Optimize warehouse capacity, space utilization, labor deployment, cross-shift coordination, inventory utilization, and product availability.

Support operational strategies that maximize product movement, minimize waste, maintain food safety, and support agency and program needs.

Centers, Production & Multi-Site Operations

Provide oversight for center operations, production activities, food processing, and facility-based operations across multiple locations.

Partner with Volunteer Services leadership to align volunteer capacity with operational needs across warehouse, production, repack, and distribution activities.

Ensure production, processing, inventory utilization, and distribution activities are aligned with product volume, urgency, shelf life, facility capability, labor resources, and service needs.

Support safe, compliant, and efficient protein processing and other production activities, including inspection readiness and adherence to applicable standards.

Partner with site leaders to strengthen operational consistency, facility readiness, equipment planning, maintenance coordination, and infrastructure improvements.

Build a coordinated, system-wide approach to food distribution, production, inventory management, and service delivery across the operating network.

Transportation, Logistics & Distribution

Provide strategic oversight for transportation operations, logistics planning, routing, fleet utilization, driver safety, and distribution effectiveness.

Develop transportation and logistics strategies that improve service, route efficiency, reliability, cost management, safety, and responsiveness across the service area.

Partner with Warehouse, Centers, Food Sourcing, Agencies, Programs, and external partners to ensure timely, coordinated, and effective movement of food.

Use operational and logistics data to optimize routes, capacity, scheduling, fleet planning, and distribution network performance.

Support emergency response, seasonal operations, disaster recovery, and business continuity efforts by mobilizing transportation and logistics resources effectively.

Safety, Compliance & Operational Readiness

Lead and strengthen the organization's operational safety culture in partnership with the Safety Manager, operational leaders, and cross-functional partners.

Ensure compliance with OSHA, DOT, USDA, food safety, workplace safety, training, audit, inspection, and regulatory requirements.

Oversee operational readiness across facilities, equipment, maintenance planning, documentation practices, emergency preparedness, and infrastructure needs.

Lead continuous improvement efforts that reduce risk, improve safety performance, strengthen compliance, and support safe operating environments for staff, volunteers, partners, and visitors.

Support organization-wide business continuity, disaster recovery, emergency response, and operational risk management efforts.

Continuous Improvement, Technology & Performance Management

Develop and manage operational performance metrics and reporting to guide decision-making, resource allocation, capacity planning, and continuous improvement.

Ensure operational service levels meet agency, partner, and program expectations through reliable distribution, product availability, communication, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.

Analyze operational data, trends, costs, capacity, quality, productivity, service levels, safety performance, and compliance indicators to identify opportunities and risks.

Lead process improvement, technology enhancement, automation, standardization, and operational best practice initiatives that improve safety, accuracy, productivity, consistency, and service.

Evaluate capital investments, equipment purchases, facility needs, technology tools, and operational improvements through business case development and return-on-investment analysis.

Partner with Transformation and other leaders on major initiatives that require project management, change management, process redesign, or cross-functional implementation.

Financial Management & Resource Stewardship

Develop and manage budgets for assigned operational functions, including warehouse operations, inventory, centers, production, transportation, safety, equipment, maintenance, and capital projects.

Promote financial discipline, resource stewardship, productivity, and cost-effective service delivery across operational teams.

Identify opportunities to improve resource utilization, labor planning, facility capacity, fleet effectiveness, and operational return on investment.

Collaborate with Finance and operational leaders to support forecasting, budget planning, variance analysis, a