About the Company
An established, locally based food distribution company in the San Francisco Bay Area is seeking an experienced Warehouse Operations Manager to lead and strengthen its warehouse operation.
The company is entering an important stage of growth and investing in its people, processes, systems, and technology to build a more scalable, efficient, and disciplined operation.
The Opportunity
We're looking for an experienced warehouse leader who has been there before and knows what strong warehouse operations look like.
This role combines hands-on leadership of day-to-day warehouse performance with the opportunity to make a significant and lasting operational impact. You'll help build the processes, systems, accountability, and operational discipline needed to support continued growth.
There is meaningful opportunity for improvement. The ideal candidate will be energized by an environment where some processes are still evolving and where their experience can create greater structure, clarity, repeatability, and efficiency.
You'll have significant influence over the future of the operation, including warehouse organization and layout, inventory controls, employee development, process improvement, technology adoption, and the development of scalable operating standards.
What You'll Own
- Lead warehouse operations from receiving through outbound shipment, with accountability for inventory accuracy, order fulfillment, productivity, safety, and service.
- Lead, coach, and develop warehouse employees while building a culture of accountability, urgency, teamwork, and operational excellence.
- Own inventory integrity through disciplined receiving, product rotation, cycle counts, inventory controls, discrepancy resolution, and continuous improvement.
- Lead the ongoing development and optimization of warehouse organization and location systems, ensuring high location accuracy and continuously improving product placement, storage utilization, material handling, equipment utilization, and inventory flow.
- Develop scalable warehouse processes, SOPs, controls, and operating rhythms while supporting the company's evolution toward more sophisticated warehouse management technology.
- Own warehouse safety and ensure strong execution of food safety, sanitation, workplace safety, and regulatory requirements while maintaining a safe, audit-ready operation.
- Establish and monitor meaningful warehouse KPIs, analyze performance trends, identify bottlenecks and operational risks, and implement improvements that increase accuracy, productivity, and consistency.
- Partner closely with Purchasing, Customer Service, Transportation, and senior leadership to ensure strong cross-functional execution and support continued growth.
What We're Looking For
We're looking for an experienced, hands-on warehouse leader—not someone stepping into warehouse management for the first time.
You lead from where the work happens. You're comfortable developing people, setting expectations, making operational decisions, and holding teams accountable while remaining approachable and collaborative.
You're also a systems thinker. When something repeatedly goes wrong, you look beyond the individual mistake to understand what process, training, technology, communication, or accountability needs to change.
Experience leading operational transformation is strongly preferred. You've helped improve an existing warehouse operation by strengthening processes, improving inventory controls and warehouse organization, establishing clearer accountability, and implementing repeatable systems that allowed the business to grow more efficiently.
You enjoy creating order from complexity and building an operation that becomes stronger, more disciplined, and more scalable over time.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience at the Warehouse Manager, Warehouse Operations Manager, Distribution Manager, or comparable management level, with direct responsibility for warehouse operations, inventory, employees, and operational performance.
- Demonstrated success leading warehouse teams and improving operational performance, productivity, and inventory accuracy.
- Experience developing or improving warehouse processes, inventory controls, SOPs, KPIs, and operational systems.
- Food distribution, grocery, refrigerated/frozen, perishable, or similar distribution experience strongly preferred.
- Strong knowledge of inventory management, receiving, order fulfillment, material handling, warehouse safety, and food safety best practices.
- Experience using ERP, inventory management, or warehouse management systems and operational data to improve performance.
- Experience supporting warehouse technology, location-management, or WMS implementations is a plus.
- Strong communication, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Forklift certification or ability to obtain certification.
- Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus.
Why This Opportunity
This is an opportunity to do more than maintain an existing warehouse operation.
You'll bring your experience into an established business that is actively investing in its next stage of growth. You'll have the opportunity to improve how the warehouse operates today while helping build the systems, processes, team, and infrastructure that will support tomorrow.
As the business grows and its operational capabilities expand, this role has the opportunity to grow with it.
For someone who enjoys operational transformation, building high-performing teams, and seeing the direct impact of their work, this is an opportunity to help build something meaningful.
Pay: From $100,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Have you held a Warehouse Manager, Warehouse Operations Manager, Distribution Manager, or comparable role with direct responsibility for warehouse employees, inventory, and operational performance for at least 5 years?
- Briefly describe a warehouse operation you inherited or joined that needed significant improvement. What did you change, and what measurable results did you achieve?
- How many years of warehouse management experience do you have in a customer-fulfillment operation involving food, grocery, refrigerated/frozen, or other perishable products?
- Briefly describe the most relevant customer-fulfillment warehouse you have managed, including the products handled, approximate SKU and order volume, team size, and your responsibility for inventory availability, receiving, picking, order accuracy, shorts/substitutions, and on-time customer fulfillment.
Work Location: In person
