Senior Director of Fresh Grocery (Produce, Meat & Seafood)

Key Responsibilities

• Drive the financial performance of the Fresh division (Produce, Meat, and Seafood), managing gross sales, margin contribution, shrink mitigation, and corporate net profitability targets.
• Directly manage high-level vendor relationships and contract negotiations. Accountable for vendor performance metrics, including fulfillment rates, strict quality compliance, and establishing a highly competitive cost of goods sold (COGS).
• Lead alignment and build scalable processes across Merchandising, Field Operations, and Supply Chain to establish clear, unified commercial and logistical goals from farm-to-shelf.
• Collaborate with buying and merchandising teams to design regional and localized product assortments that meet changing customer demands, dietary trends, and seasonal availability.
• Own strategic pricing frameworks and promotional cadences that maximize market competitive advantages while defending required margin profiles.
• Partner with supply chain, logistics partners, and food safety teams to establish, monitor and enforce strict quality standards, optimized transit flows, and cold-chain integrity to reduce shrink.
• Establish corporate visual merchandising directives, planograms, and display guidelines to drive basket size and elevate the perimeter customer experience for both the in-store and e-commerce experience.
• Collaborate with field operations to build training programs and labor metrics that equip store-level teams with the specialized skills needed to manage fresh prep, handling, and rotation standards.

Requirements

• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in grocery retail or fresh food operations, with at least 3 years of dedicated experience directing high-volume Fresh categories (Produce, Meat, and/or Seafood).
• Extensive, proven background in direct vendor management, supplier diversification, strategic contract negotiation, and SLA enforcement within the fresh food sector (e.g., packers, brokers, farm-direct programs).
• Explicit, past track record managing full P&L performance for a complex fresh business line, showing deep understanding of volume, margin, and shrink management variables.
• Demonstrated success operating within matrixed corporate environments, with a proven ability to influence and align teams across Merchandising, Logistics, and Field Operations.
• Strong understanding of perishable supply chain networks, cold-chain logistics, food safety/USDA regulations, and agricultural/livestock commodity market dynamics.
• Highly metrics-driven with the ability to interpret category data, customer loyalty insights, and operational metrics into actionable business strategies.