Vice President of Operations

Lead the Next Generation of a 94-Year-Old Family-Owned Foodservice Company

Saval Foods is seeking an accomplished Vice President of Operations to lead our multi-site warehouse and distribution operations and help shape the next chapter of a 94-year-old, family-owned company .

Saval was recently named the #1 Best Place to Work among large companies in the Baltimore Area by the Baltimore Business Journal —recognition that reflects the culture, relationships, and commitment to our people that have defined our company for generations.

Now, were preparing for one of the most significant investments in Savals history.

We are breaking ground on a new facility just five miles from our current headquarters, with move-in targeted for December 2027. The new facility will consolidate our current warehouse, transportation, office support, Specialty Cut Steaks, and Produce operations , creating an integrated platform for Savals continued growth.

The VP of Operations will have a critical role in helping us get there—and in leading the operation that emerges.

What Youll Lead

As a member of Savals senior leadership team, youll have executive responsibility for safety, service, productivity, inventory integrity, people, and operating costs across warehouse operations.

Youll lead receiving, putaway, replenishment, order selection, loading, inventory control, sanitation, returns, will call, material handling, offsite produce operations, and surplus storage.

Your priorities will include:

• Operational Performance: Build the management routines, KPIs, standards, and accountability needed to improve safety, accuracy, service, productivity, labor performance, and cost.
• People & Leadership: Develop managers and supervisors across shifts and sites, build succession depth, and create an accountable, high-performing organization.
• Safety & Food Safety: Champion workplace safety and ensure compliance with OSHA/MOSH, food safety, sanitation, storage, handling, and traceability requirements.
• Inventory & Accuracy: Own warehouse error-rate performance and inventory integrity, including receiving, rotation, cycle counts, catch-weight reconciliation, shorts, mispicks, returns, and warehouse credits.
• Systems & Continuous Improvement: Partner with our Chief Digital Officer and IT team to advance throughput capabilities, scanning, directed putaway, replenishment, slotting, picking, shipping, reporting, and automation.
• Capacity, Facilities & Capital: Help define the operating model and requirements for our new facility while leading current capacity, equipment, layout, and capital decisions.
• Financial Performance: Own the warehouse operating budget and drive disciplined management of labor, overtime, inventory loss, equipment investments, and controllable expenses.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Transportation, Purchasing, Sales, Food Safety, HR, Finance, IT, Production, and executive leadership.

This is not a desk-only executive position. We want a leader equally comfortable on the warehouse floor, developing managers, analyzing operating performance, evaluating technology, and helping the executive team make long-term growth decisions.

A Rare Opportunity to Build the Future Operation

The timing of this role matters.

With our new facility targeted for December 2027 , the VP of Operations will have the opportunity to influence a major operational transition rather than simply inherit and maintain the status quo.

Youll help translate decades of operating knowledge into the next generation of Savals distribution platform—considering workflow, material movement, technology, equipment, staffing, management structure, capacity, and customer-service continuity.

Youll also help develop the transition and move strategy necessary to consolidate major parts of our business while maintaining high service levels to our customers.

For an operations leader who enjoys building as much as running , this is a significant opportunity.

Who Were Looking For

Our strongest candidates will bring substantial leadership experience in broadline foodservice, grocery, cold-chain, or another high-volume, multi-temperature distribution environment .

You understand the realities of the business: overnight selection, inbound constraints, cold-chain requirements, labor management, inventory accuracy, catch-weight products, warehouse errors, service pressure, equipment, and capacity limitations.

A relevant bachelors degree is valued, but demonstrated operating leadership and results matter most.

Why Saval?

94 years of stability. A family-owned culture. Recognition as Baltimores #1 Large Company to Work For. And a major investment in whats next.

If youve built your career within a national distributor, your next opportunity doesnt necessarily need to be a larger version of the same job.

At Saval, youll have the opportunity to own the whole problem —people, process, systems, inventory, facilities, technology, capacity, capital, and cost.

Youll work directly with senior company leadership. Your decisions will be visible. Youll be close enough to the operation to see their impact. And youll arrive at a pivotal moment when were designing and building the physical and operational foundation for our next generation.

Regional doesnt mean simple. Youll find the operational complexity and performance expectations of sophisticated foodservice distribution, combined with the agility, access, and influence that can be difficult to find in a national organization.

How Youll Be Measured

Success will be defined by measurable improvement in employee safety, warehouse and produce accuracy, inventory integrity, productivity, labor efficiency, overtime, inventory loss, service performance, successful facility transition, and management bench strength.

Ultimately, we want you to build an operation that is safer, more accurate, more predictable, more scalable, and better led—and successfully position Saval for its next generation of growth.

Ready to Build Whats Next?

If youve learned how excellent foodservice distribution operations run and are ready to apply that experience with broader responsibility, greater influence, and the opportunity to help build a new operation from the ground up , wed like to talk.

Saval Foods is an equal opportunity employer.