Vice President Operations

*** THIS IS NOT A ROLE AT FORCEBRANDS ***

*** THIS ROLE REQUIRES 3 DAYS A WEEK ONSITE IN SAN DIEGO ***

Job Title: Vice President of Operations

Report to: COO

Location: San Diego, CA

Job Summary:

The Vice President of Operations leads our brand's end-to-end supply chain, including contract manufacturing, procurement, planning, customer fulfillment, and logistics. This executive is responsible for building a resilient, scalable, and cost-competitive supply network that supports rapid growth and delivers best-in-class customer service.

This leader partners cross-functionally to align priorities, optimize resources, and execute initiatives that enhance service performance, margin expansion, and operational resilience. As a trusted advisor to senior leadership, the Vice President provides visibility into performance, risk, and long-term operational strategy. Given the company’s international supply network, success in this role requires cultural fluency and experience building strong cross-border partnerships, particularly in Mexico.

Responsibilities:

Enterprise Operations Leader

• Lead and scale a high-performing operations organization spanning procurement, contract manufacturing, planning, fulfillment, and logistics.
• Provide strategic counsel and operational insight to the COO and executive team.
• Deliver clear performance reporting, risk visibility, and forward-looking operational planning.
• Drive a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and execution excellence.
• Build organizational capability through talent development, succession planning, and leadership coaching.
• Lead operational scalability initiatives to support accelerated growth and margin expansion.
• Partner with Finance, Commercial, and executive leadership to deliver annual and long-range operating plans that enable scalable growth and margin improvement.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives across Operations, Finance, and Commercial to align execution with business objectives and drive enterprise performance.

Customer Fulfillment & Logistics Excellence

• Provide strategic leadership for the full order-to-delivery lifecycle.
• Establish a control tower operating model for end-to-end visibility and execution discipline.
• Lead 3PL sourcing, contract governance, and performance management.
• Optimize transportation network strategy to reduce landed cost while protecting service performance.
• Improve OTIF performance and elevate customer experience.
• Ensure logistics financial stewardship, invoice accuracy, and cost productivity.

Supply Planning & Inventory Optimization

• Lead supply planning strategy to align demand forecasts with production and inventory optimization.
• Ensure planning discipline, execution reliability, and inventory health across the network.
• Optimize working capital through improved inventory turns and safety stock strategies.
• Support and strengthen S&OP / IBP processes to enhance decision-making and forecast alignment.

Contract Manufacturing & Supply Network Strategy

• Lead the strategy, selection, and governance of contract manufacturing partners.
• Establish performance scorecards and structured review cadences to ensure quality, service, and cost targets are met.
• Negotiate commercial agreements and capacity commitments aligned with company growth objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives including waste reduction, root cause analysis, and corrective actions.
• Strengthen network resilience through redundancy planning and risk mitigation strategies.
• Build strong, culturally aware partnerships with international manufacturing partners, ensuring effective communication, mutual accountability, and long-term collaboration.

Strategic Procurement & Sourcing

• Lead procurement strategy to ensure supply continuity, cost competitiveness, and risk mitigation.
• Provide market intelligence and cost forecasting for key inputs (e.g., avocados, eggs, aluminum, glass) to support pricing and margin management.
• Develop strategic sourcing initiatives that reduce cost volatility and improve supplier performance.
• Establish sourcing contingency plans for critical materials and packaging.
• Strengthen supplier partnerships and contract governance.

Success in This Role Will Be Measured By:

• Service performance and OTIF improvement
• Supply continuity and network resilience
• Cost productivity and margin expansion
• Inventory optimization and working capital efficiency
• Quality and food safety performance
• Operational scalability to support growth
• Team engagement and leadership development

Leadership Scope:

Direct Reports:

• Contract Manufacturing (2)
• Procurement Manager
• Director of Network Supply
• Sr. Manager of Customer Fulfillment & Logistics

Total Team: ~25

Professional Qualifications:

• BS/MS in Supply Chain or Business Management
• 12–15 years progressive operations leadership experience
• Experience leading complex outsourced manufacturing networks
• Food, beverage, CPG, or regulated manufacturing experience strongly preferred
• Proven success scaling operations in a high-growth environment
• Experience driving cost improvement and supply chain resilience
• Deep experience with ERP, planning systems, WMS, TMS, and procurement platforms
• Professional certifications (APICS, CSCP, CPIM) a plus
• Experience operating in international supply chains and managing cross-cultural supplier relationships; Mexico / LATAM experience strongly preferred.

Leadership & Functional Competencies:

• Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline
• Data-driven decision maker with strong analytical capability
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional organizations and influence at the executive level
• Strong negotiation and supplier management skills
• Excellent communication skills across executive, operational, and external stakeholders
• Ability to lead through complexity and change
• Demonstrated success building high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated cultural intelligence and effectiveness working across international teams and supplier partners.

Travel Requirements

Ability to travel approximately 20–25%, including visits to contract manufacturers, suppliers, and 3PL partners in the US, Mexico, and Canada.