Director of Fulfillment & Network OperationsWalden Local Meat Co. | Tewksbury, MA (
on-site) | Full-time
About the roleOur physical network works, but it is not yet run as a business. It can be dramatically better for our members and more cost-effective for Walden. This role owns how a Walden order gets from our freezer to a member's door, and makes the structural calls about that network's future. Your two priorities: member satisfaction and Walden's financial performance.
You will also own an established third-party cold storage business that stores products for outside food companies in our facility. This is a network leadership role, not a warehouse management role. You will inherit an established team, assess it, and decide what structure and leadership it needs to run well. The goal is a floor that runs day to day excellently without you, so you can focus on the decisions that shape the business.
In your first year, you will set the plan for how our network evolves to serve members better at lower cost.
What you'll own- Core operations. Receiving, inventory, picking and packing, and last-mile delivery for every Walden order, plus storage and handling for our third-party cold storage customers. Deliver on time, accurately, and in good condition, at a cost that improves our margins.
- Network economics. The total cost to fulfill Walden orders, from our Tewksbury DC through last-mile delivery in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Find the highest-leverage improvements, and evaluate where partners such as carriers and logistics providers can do it better.
- Network footprint. Lead the plan for how our physical footprint evolves as we grow, and run the changes that follow.
- Third-party cold storage. Grow an established business that stores products for outside food companies. Own pricing, customer mix, and channels, including brokers and marketplaces. Recommend whether and how to add sales support.
- Your team. Lead, coach, and align On-Road Operations, Facilities, Fulfillment, and Inventory teams. Define high operational standards, mentor leaders to achieve them, and make decisive organizational calls to drive operational excellence.
- Safety and compliance. Own workplace safety across our facilities and partner with our food safety team on regulatory and quality standards.
Who you are- Non-negotiable: analytical rigor. You can build the model yourself. You're handed messy cost data and you come back with a clear recommendation. You know unit economics cold: cost per unit, cost-to-serve, 3PL rate structures, and what drives each. You change your mind when the data says so, and you can defend your call to a CEO and the board.
- Strongly preferred: you've run a physical operation. You have led managers who lead frontline teams, ideally in a warehouse or distribution setting. If your experience is mainly with 3PLs, show us you understand what changes when the labor is yours: shifts, attendance, safety, and teams who need coaching.
- Strongly preferred: you've managed logistics partners. You have selected, launched, or managed carriers, 3PLs, or other logistics partners. You know how partner contracts, rate structures, and SLAs work, and how to hold a partner accountable when performance slips.
- Strongly preferred: Proven ability to simplify systems, optimize resource allocation, and eliminate redundant processes, elevating your role by driving organizational efficiency and leverage.
- Plus: commercial instinct. You have priced, negotiated, or sold a service. Negotiating 3PL contracts from the buyer side counts.
- Nice to have: Background in cold chain, food, or DTC is preferred, but strong core skill sets and adaptability matter most. We'll bring you up to speed on the industry specifics.
Typically 8+ years across operations, supply chain, consulting, or strategy, including people leadership. A bachelor's degree is expected; quantitative training or an MBA is a plus.
What the job actually looks like- You will spend real time on the floor in Tewksbury. This is not a remote strategy role.
- The data is imperfect. Part of the job is fixing it before you can use it.
- You will work with a CEO and CSCO who push back hard. Bring a recommendation and expect it to be tested.
- Success is measured by the quality of your decisions and the economics of the network.
What We Offer- Compensation: $150,000 to $170,000 base salary + annual performance based bonus eligibility.
- Financial: 401k (starting at 90 days)
- Health & Wellness: Medical, Dental & Vision
- PTO, Volunteer Time Off, 9 Paid Holidays, Parental Leave
- The Fun Stuff: 25% off up to 2 Walden monthly meat shares, 25% discount at our South End Boston butcher shop
When You Join Walden...You'll be part of a small team doing meaningful, demanding work: sourcing meat from East Coast farms who do it right, delivering it to families who care, and holding ourselves to standards most companies would find inconvenient. We sweat the details because our members notice. We need people who'd rather get it right than get it done fast. Who can handle the truth that regenerative agriculture is hard, the margins are real, and the shortcuts don't exist here. If that sounds like more fun than it sounds like work, we should talk.
