Wonderful Citrus is America’s largest integrated grower, shipper and packer of fresh citrus, including clementine/mandarin, navel and Valencia oranges; lemons; limes; grapefruits; and other citrus varieties. Wonderful Citrus owns, cultivates and harvests more than 58,000 acres of fresh citrus and ships around the world each year to ensure a year-round supply. Our citrus can be found in all channels of distribution, with our consumer brands most visible in the produce department of grocery stores across America under the flagship consumer brands of Wonderful Halos mandarins and Wonderful Sweet Scarletts Texas Red grapefruit.

Overview:

The Sr. Director of Operations develops strategic plans for short and long term goals for packinghouse operations, that align with company objectives.  This role requires a leader who is able to connect with multiple stakeholders within the organization to be successful, including Sales, Finance, Procurement, Food Safety/Quality Systems, Harvest, Varietal Planning and Human Resources. 

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Sets the strategy for short term and long term business goals for the packinghouse.
• Maintains overall safety programs, ensuring safety as first priority, adhering to and enforcing all labor laws
• Develops and oversee annual budget for the facility aligning to company cost targets.
• Drives continuous improvement in maximizing plant efficiencies while targeting a reduction in labor and overhead cost
• Oversees purchases of all equipment and capital expenditures within the packinghouse.
• Creates and delivers presentations to corporate officers for business updates
• Regularly communicates and interacts with Harvest, Supply Chain, and Sales operations
• Frequently communicates for alignment on strategic initiatives with peers and Executive Team
• Oversees the analysis, maintenance, and communication of records required by law or local governing bodies, or other departments in the organization
• Ensures investigation of customers’ complaints involving such matters as fruit quality, overcharges, and delay in shipment, and makes necessary adjustments.
• Establishes plant structure and facilitates strategic priorities by leveraging SWOT analysis
• Drives the strategic direction of Wonderful Citrus at the plant level by establishing, implementing, and supporting execution through consistent monitoring and adaptation
• Engages with vendors to develop a collaborative relationship, while enabling both parties to challenge each other regularly in the spirit of continuous improvement
• Sets expectations for vendor relationships and hold vendors accountable to agreements around pricing, delivery, service, confidentiality, etc.
• Implements best practices to ensure a One Wonderful operations playbook across the Wonderful Citrus footprint.

Here’s what you’ll bring to the table:

• COVID vaccination will be required for this position unless candidate has a legally valid exemption.
• B.S. in Engineering or Business Administration plus 5-7 years of relevant work experience, preferably in high-volume food/beverage manufacturing operations or supply chain management.  Citrus, Fresh, or Produce experience is a preferred.
• Effectively communicate verbally and in writing in English
• Knowledge of statistics desired but not required.
• Budgeting and Purchasing knowledge.
• Advanced computer skills and familiar with computer spreadsheets programs (i.e. Excel). 
• Understanding of high-volume food or beverage manufacturing and strategic planning.
• Excellent employee relations, supervision, and leadership skills to manage 10 or more people.  Must understand safety and labor laws. 
• Demonstrated technical skills in large scale lean manufacturing techniques (Process Improvement, Six-Sigma, etc.)
• Excellent communicator, enterprise thinker, works well with diverse cross-functional teams.
• Experience in employee safety and food quality

Here’s what we’ll bring to the table:

• Wonderful Giving – a one-of-kind program that donates company money to charities close to our employees’ hearts
• Employee college tuition reimbursement
• Employee referral program* - $1,500 per exempt referral; $500 per non-exempt referral. *Taxes Applicable
• Full benefits package – Medical, dental, vision, 401(k) retirement plan, company matching and annual catch-up, Employee Assistance Program, company-paid life insurance (spouse and dependents to age 26), life insurance, AD&D insurance, flexible spending accounts (FSAs)

Wonderful Citrus is part of The Wonderful Company, a successful, fast-growing privately held $4 billion company with 9,000 employees worldwide. We’ve made Wonderful Pistachios one of America’s top-selling salty snacks. We’ve turned pomegranates and POM Wonderful into a worldwide phenomenon. Wonderful Halos is the No. 1 mandarin orange in America. FIJI Water is the No. 1 premium bottled water in America. JUSTIN Wine produces California’s top-selling, high-end Cabernet Sauvignon. And Teleflora is the world’s largest flower delivery service.

The Wonderful Company has a long-standing commitment to corporate social responsibility, including more than $120 million invested in environmental technologies and sustainability research, $45 million in charitable giving and education initiatives every year, $30 million toward the construction of a new charter school campus in California’s Central Valley, and innovative health and wellness programs, including two new, free primary care clinics for employees and their dependents.

Wonderful Citrus is an Equal Opportunity Employer and with opportunities for advancement. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories.

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