Sr Manager of 3rd Party Warehouse and Logistics

Position Description:

Performs functions to recommend, implement, and manage continuous improvement initiatives with our 3rd party warehouses and logistics department to improve productivity, quality, efficiency and reduce costs.

Primary Responsibilities:

Plant Warehouse Operations

• Owns all on-site warehouse operations, including receiving, storage, staging, picking, loading, and shipping.
• Drives warehouse efficiency through labor productivity, overtime control, space utilization, and optimized slotting and material flow.
• Has full ownership of truck yard operations, including trailer management, carrier behavior, dwell time, yard rules, congestion control, and utilization of dry and refrigerated equipment
• Designs, documents, and continuously improves warehouse processes, replacing tribal knowledge with standardized, auditable procedures.
• Use KPIs to identify and drive improvements, including inventory accuracy %, OTIF, Freight/lb, Storage cost / pallet, and dock performance metrics

Inventory Management

• Owns inventory accuracy and book-to-book integrity, partnering with Operations, Planning, and Finance to ensure completeness and correctness.
• Serves as the warehouse sign-off authority to Finance for inventory accuracy at month-end.
• Leads warehouse execution for month-end close, including after-hours coverage as required to ensure timely and accurate results.
• Acts as the primary warehouse and logistics contact for annual audits, supporting inventory, storage, freight, and yard-related audit requests.
• Investigates and resolves inventory discrepancies, aging issues, and root causes of variance.

Invoice Management / Finance Partnership

• Partners with Finance on accrual accuracy by ensuring complete, timely, and accurate invoice approvals, proper GL coding, and visibility to all storage, freight, trailer, and accessorial costs.
• Review and approve 3PL, freight, trailer, and accessorial invoices; challenge and resolve discrepancies / inaccuracies.
• Provides Finance with clear explanations for over/under-budget performance related to warehouse, freight, and storage costs. (Controllable cost management)

3PL Network & Freight Optimization

• Designs, optimizes, and manages the end-to-end 3PL network, building a cohesive efficient strategy
• Leads negotiations with 3PLs and carriers on rates, capacity, service levels, and accessorials; escalates final decisions as required.
• Owns freight optimization across mode selection, lane strategy, carrier performance, and accessorial accountability, including charging carriers for service failures.
• Develops and maintains carrier and 3PL scorecards to drive performance, cost control, and service reliability.
• Ensures materials and finished goods move efficiently across internal sites, 3PLs, and customer destinations

Cold Chain, Tempering & Blast Freezing

• Owns warehouse planning and execution of tempering and blast freezing operations, in partnership with Procurement, Sales, Operations and QA.
• Ensures strict adherence to temperature control, food safety, and cold-chain compliance requirements.
• Supports QA with audits, testing, and investigations related to 3PL storage, tempering, and handling practices.

Customer Pickup & Service Execution

• Owns warehouse execution and coordination of customer pickups, partnering with Sales and Customer Service on communication and expectations.
• Ensures warehouse and logistics performance supports on-time, in-full (OTIF) delivery commitments.
• Leads root-cause analysis and corrective actions for service failures tied to warehouse, yard, or freight execution.
• Performs other duties as assigned

S upervisory/Management Responsibilities:

• Leads a team consisting of one clerk, two warehouse supervisors, and one freight coordinator, with indirect leadership of approximately 35 union employees.
• Hires, fires, coaches, counsels, develops, and motivates staff.
• Oversees administration of timecards and approval of time off requests.
• Oversees employee participation and adherence to food safety and employee safety programs and policies.
• Provides strong union workforce leadership through supervisors, ensuring adherence to labor agreements, safety standards, and company policies.
• Participates directly in disciplinary actions as appropriate and coach supervisors in effective, consistent employee management.
• Develops talent, builds bench strength, and fosters a culture of accountability, safety, and continuous improvement.
• Guides the enforcement of systems, policies, and procedures consistently and fairly.
• Resolves personnel issues in accordance with company guidelines and policies.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree related to Business, Logistics or Warehouse Management, or equivalent experience.
• 3 or more years warehouse or dock experience including personnel management.
• Experience working with an ERP or WMS software, strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and analytical skills.
• Must be able to speak, read and write English proficiently.
• Detail oriented with strong organizational & planning skills.
• Ability to work flexible hours, including various shifts and weekends, as needed.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to walk the production floor for extended periods throughout the shift.
• Ability to lift to 25 lbs., bend, kneel, and climb as needed to observe and inspect operations.
• Ability to ascend and descend ladders
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, industrial environment
• Frequent exposure to fluctuating temperatures, including cold and heat, depending on the production environment.
• Frequent exposure to operational noise from machinery in the production environment.

The company is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position, provided such accommodations do not create an undue hardship on the Company. The Company reserves the right to modify, interpret, or apply this job description as business needs require. This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the position.

Benefits for this role include: Medical, vision, dental, discretionary bonus up to 20% (50% personal performance based & 50% company performance), 401(k) with matching up to a max of 4% and 120 hours PTO in the 1st 12 months.