Partnerships Operations Manager

About Ridwell

Ridwell is a service that inspires people to create a future without waste. Today, we make it easy to reuse and recycle more by identifying recyclable and reusable items that the city doesn't collect through both our doorstep pickup and mail-in services, connecting those materials with local and national partners that can use them sustainably. Our future plans go much further and include making zero waste a reality for millions.

As a B Corp-certified company, sustainability isn't just a company value—it's a fundamental part of our purpose and interests. Our mission is to empower communities to waste less, and every success our team celebrates means more waste saved from the landfill and more valuable donations in the hands of local non-profits.

This is a pivotal moment of growth for Ridwell. We're looking for people who are energized by a challenging, fast-paced environment, ready to make a real impact on a mission that matters, and excited to grow alongside a team that's genuinely invested in one another!

About the Role

As Ridwell grows, the movement and disposition of materials become an increasingly important part of our operating model. How efficiently we process, store, transport, and ultimately dispose of materials has a direct impact on warehouse capacity, labor productivity, partner relationships, and cost.

Ridwell is looking for a Partnership Operations Manager to manage the day-to-day execution of material flow from Ridwell warehouses through final disposition.

Reporting into Operations, this role will work closely with the Partnerships team, which develops Ridwell’s recycling, reuse, and commodity relationships.

The successful candidate will execute and monitor processes across material processing, warehouse capacity, freight, partner performance and financial reporting. They should be comfortable tracking where material is going, how long it is sitting, what it costs to process and move, and flagging issues or opportunities for improvement.

This is an onsite role, with occasional travel to other Ridwell locations and partner sites as needed.

\n Our Values

• Our member is our hero. Our members are at the core of our company. Only by empowering them can we accomplish our vision.
• We Never Settle. We are relentlessly pursuing the exceptional and challenging the status quo–always making our service, experience, and company better.
• We Take Our Success Personally. We all have a stake in the success of Ridwell. You are empowered to make an impact.
• Purpose Drives Our Actions. Knowing why we are doing something enables us to focus on what is truly important.
• We Are Stronger Together. Every person is critical to our success. We need diverse perspectives to execute on creative solutions. By fostering collaboration and connection at every level, we can be phenomenal.

Responsibilities

Own material flow and timely disposition

• Maintain a consistent process for moving materials from Ridwell warehouses to recycling, reuse and commodity partners.
• Execute quality standards and auditing processes to ensure materials are accurately processed and dispositioned.
• Monitor material aging and warehouse capacity so inventory does not accumulate unnecessarily.
• Establish visibility into material weight, pallet location, age and disposition status.
• Work with market Operations teams and Partnerships to anticipate capacity constraints before they become operating problems.
• Manage service expectations and operating cadence with material partners.

Own freight and logistics execution

• Take operational ownership of freight scheduling and transportation associated with material disposition.
• Coordinate with brokers and carriers and monitor rates, lanes and service performance.
• Identify unnecessary brokerage premiums and flag opportunities for direct-carrier relationships where they may create better economics.
• Develop freight cost-per-pound and cost-per-lane visibility.
• Ensure transportation decisions balance cost, service, material volume and warehouse capacity.

Track the cost of processing materials

• Use warehouse job codes and material weight data to track processing cost by material category.
• Develop visibility into labor hours, cost per pound and incremental disposal expense.
• Partner with Finance and Operations to track contribution and total cost by material stream.
• Use this analysis when evaluating existing materials as well as new featured pickup categories.
• Help determine whether new material programs make operational and financial sense before they are launched broadly.

Build financial discipline around new materials and processes

• Complete ROI and payback analysis for equipment purchases and process changes using established assumptions and methodologies.
• Include labor savings, throughput improvement, disposal cost, freight impact, utilization and expected useful life when evaluating investments.
• Establish clear assumptions before an investment is approved.
  Measure results after implementation to determine whether expected returns were achieved.
  Use a repeatable framework for evaluating future equipment and process investments.

Partner effectively with Partnerships

• Work closely with Partnerships as new recycling, reuse and commodity relationships are developed.
• Provide operational and financial input before new material programs or partner commitments are finalized.
• Translate partner requirements into executable warehouse, transportation and disposition plans.
• Identify operational requirements, costs and constraints early rather than after programs launch.
• Maintain clear accountability between who develops the partner relationship and who owns operational execution.

Create visibility and accountability

• Maintain a focused set of operating metrics that make material performance visible across markets.
• Establish regular reporting around:
  - Material processing cost per pound
  - Freight cost per pound
  - Inventory weight by material
  - Material aging / days in warehouse
  - Warehouse capacity utilization
  - Disposition cycle time
  - Partner service performance
  - Disposal and incremental handling fees
  - Equipment ROI and payback
• Use the data to identify problems, improve processes and support better decision-making rather than simply producing reports.

Requirements

• Highly operational and financially minded
• Comfortable working across Operations, Partnerships and Finance
• Strong analytical skills and able to translate data into operating decisions
• Experienced with logistics, transportation, warehousing or material flow
• Comfortable managing external vendors, carriers and business partners
• Able to negotiate rates and challenge unnecessary costs
• Understands ROI, payback and basic business-case development
• Curious and willing to get into the warehouse and understand how the work actually happens
• Comfortable building processes where structure does not yet exist
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability
• Able to balance cost, service, capacity and sustainability
• Excellent collaborator who can work across teams without creating unnecessary bureaucracy

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare benefits, including medical, vision and dental
• Flexible vacation and sick leave policy
• Paid holidays
• Paid parental leave
• Flexible spending account for transportation
• Life insurance and disability
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Discount on a monthly Ridwell subscription
• 401(k) plan
• Stock option plan

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$85,000 - $110,000 a year

Compensation offered will be location-dependent.

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The compensation range represents our best estimate, with the final offer subject to internal compensation benchmarks, candidate experience, and market data.

Individuals seeking employment at Ridwell are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation.