Director of Operations – Fishwife

ABOUT FISHWIFE:

Fishwife is a new women-founded and led food company aiming to make ethically-sourced, premium, and delicious tinned seafood a staple in every cupboard. We work with sustainable aquaculture farms, small boat fisherfolks, and microcanneries to bring the vibrance of European conservas culture to the North American table. We launched in December 2020 and have been featured by publications like The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Vogue, LA Times, Vanity Fair, Refinery29, New York Magazine, Epicurious, Nylon, and Conde Nast Traveler.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

As the Director of Operations at Fishwife, you’ll be the company’s first full-time hire, and should be thrilled at the prospect of building all things operations at a food CPG start-up from the ground up. You’ll own operations, supply chain, procurement, contract manufacturing, quality control, demand planning, warehousing, financial projections, and logistics. Reporting directly to the CEO, you will build a stable and scalable operational foundation, manage relationships with critical partners, and execute new product launches. This role has the potential to lead a growing team as the business scales.

This is a full-time role. Strong preference for candidates based in LA, but can be flexible for the right candidate.

 

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

• Spinnin’ plates, wearing hats: As one of two full-time team members at an early-stage start-up, you must be prepared and excited to wear many hats
• Supply Chain: Manage and own the day-to-day supply chain responsibilities needed to support our DTC and B2B/Wholesale channels
• Production Management: Support new product + packaging innovation and execute new product launches, sourcing ingredients, packaging, and other inputs
• Wholesale: Oversee wholesale order fulfillment and support wholesale sales initiatives
• COGs Optimization: Build/own COGS models for existing products as well as new products
• Manufacturing Optimization: Own all aspects of manufacturing, driving key metrics around cost, order fulfillment, and inventory control and leading COGS savings initiatives
• Co-packer Management: Support production, quality assurance and accountability with co-manufacturers and suppliers, maintaining robust QA/QC systems and procedures
• 3PL Management: Manage relationship with our fulfillment center, overseeing inventory management and shipping and fulfillment schedules
• Inventory Planning: Track current inventory and forecast future inventory needs; place purchase orders to support those needs
• Product Commercialization: Develop and execute on a plan for our scaled supply chain and manufacturing network
• Relationship Management: Build meaningful relationships with all partners in our supply chain through strategic and collaborative communication

 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 3-5+ years experience leading or managing operations and/or supply chain (food CPG startup experience  is a plus!)
• Bonus for background in management consulting or MBA-training
• Motivated self-manager who takes initiative and can deliver on high expectations with minimal oversight
• Analytical problem solver with very strong Excel skills and experience forecasting supply / demand, managing inventory, and supporting budgeting processes
• Proactive, hard-working and resourceful in pushing progress forward and meeting accelerated timelines
• Understands + is passionate about Fishwife’s mission, vision + values
• Highly organized + reliable, able to manage multiple projects at once
• Strategic, confident communicator both verbal and written
• Strong collaborator, skilled at building trusting relationships, getting buy-in and advocating for Fishwife’s needs and priorities

 

COMPENSATION:

We offer a competitive salary package, strong health benefits, and an unlimited vacation policy.

 

TO APPLY:

Please fill out this short application as soon as you’re able – we’re accepting applications on a rolling basis and are looking to fill this position as soon as possible.