Director of Operations

The Director of Operations is a leadership team role that has overall responsibility for the Account Management Department of H&W and Dayton Foods. This position is responsible for planning, coordinating, and controlling the activities of the Account Management team to maintain and enhance Customer, Supplier and Sales relationships to meet organizational and operational objectives.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead and develop an operational team to enhance performance by setting clear accountable performance measures.
• Overall responsibility to select, motivate, train, oversee and manage team activity.
• Define and implement scalable methods and procedures to gain optimal operations efficiencies for the brokerage and distribution business.
• Continually seeks opportunities through internal and external resources to develop and enhance management skills and drives continuous development of the staff.
• Partner with HR to develop programs to drive results and maintain a culture of employee engagement.
•  Be visible, involved, informed, engaged, creative, intuitive, challenging, and supportive to team members.
• Eliminate barriers between and within departments.  Resolve employee issues with assistance from Human Resources and President.
• Ensure all are qualified to carry out assigned tasks by providing adequate training, coaching and guidance.
• Oversee the interviewing and hiring of representatives with a focus on H&W Core Values.
• Handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with company policy.
• Provides clear expectations regarding measurables, Core Values, roles & responsibilities of direct reports.
• Communicates through open, honest, and frequent two-way dialogue with direct reports.
• Lead weekly department L10’s.
• Performs quarterly check-in conversations with direct reports and annual performance reviews.
• Plans, directs, and controls the Account Management function to meet company goals.
• Create core processes which achieve business goals and objectives around customer service and when needed technical service.
• Develop and implement high service standards, procedures and policies in accordance to company service goals, while maintaining efficient operation.
• Provide strategic recommendation regarding staff, programs, and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements impacting customer care function.
• Coordinate and ensure all necessary information related to policy and process is communicated to proper personnel across the business.
• Partner with Sales Executives to optimize existing client profitability through business planning and collaboration and deliver increased revenue streams.
• Reduction of the cost to serve customers while improving service.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve customer experience by seeking new industry tools and technologies.
• Develop programs to continually improve quality of service through employee engagement and training.
• Facilitate problem solving by modeling continuous improvement methodologies to eliminate root causes and permanently reduce variance through cross functional coordination with other key department managers.
• Stays abreast of best industry practice methodology, recommends, and implements improvement opportunities.
• Develop key performance metrics for the team and company related to customer satisfaction and retention.
• Provides support and communication to customers around escalated issues.
• Acts as the internal voice of the customer to the organization.
• Ensures that all projects, department milestones, and goals are met while adhering to approved budgets.
• Report and review monthly financial and tracking data for the group and look for trends and methods to reduce costs or improve operational effectiveness.
• Supports company efforts and implements methods to record, assess, and analyze customer feedback.
•  Responsible for driving and improving Perfect Service Metrics and identifying trends for improvement.

Basic Qualifications
•    Knowledge and skills at a level normally acquired through the completion of a bachelor’s degree preferred in Business or a related field. 
•    8+ years of professional experience in Service Management Experience, preferably in a Food Related Industry
•    Food Industry Experience preferred

Specialized Knowledge/Skills/Abilities  
•    Process oriented and trained Account/Customer Service best practices
•    Proven Management and/or relationship management experience on a strategic level 
•    Evidence of well-developed leadership skills
•    History of building high functioning teams
•    Excellent communication and negotiation skills
•    Tracking budget expenses 
•    Utilize lean, statistical, and data-visualization tools.
•    Strong analytical and problem-solving techniques
•    Experience in the evaluation of optimal account/customer service organization and structure
•    Ability to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences and in a public forum among peers and team members
•    Strong communication skills, and able to lead and motivate leadership and team members daily in a face past environment, while driving consistent results
•    Strong leadership and management skills in accordance with H&W Core Values
•    Self-Driven, motivated individual with an active continuous improvement approach
•    Advanced knowledge of MS Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, etc.)
•    Advanced knowledge of ERP and CRM systems; experience in Sage X3 preferred

Working Hours/Environment
•    Office hours are 45-50 per week – Monday – Friday, 8:00 – 5:00; may require additional hours periodically, including evening and weekends depending on business needs
•    Work typically performed in an indoor office setting

Tools and Equipment Used
•    Personal computer, copier, fax/scanner, phone, and other typical office equipment
Travel
•    Minimal – less than 5% of the time

Physical & Mental Demands
•    Frequently required to sit at a desk/workstation for long period of time
•    Ability to work at a computer terminal for extended periods of time
•    Digital dexterity and hand/eye coordination in operation of office equipment
•    Light lifting and carrying of supplies, files, etc.
•    Ability to speak to and hear employees/clients via phone or in person
•    Body motor skills sufficient to enable incumbent to move around the office environment