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

Supervisory/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.

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.