Senior Human Resources Manager (Chicago, IL)

Senior Human Resources Manager

People keep foodservice kitchens running—and this business keeps those people supplied. You will build the workforce system behind a growing distributor of maintenance, repair, and operations parts, supplies, and equipment: hire faster, keep skilled people, and give frontline leaders the tools to run a fair, compliant operation. Success here is measured on the floor and in the numbers, not in policy volume.

Performance Objectives

• Cut time-to-fill for warehouse, driver, customer service, and sales roles so open seats stop slowing orders and deliveries.
• Reduce regrettable turnover among tenured operators and drivers by diagnosing exit causes and fixing the few practices that actually move retention.
• Install a simple performance rhythm managers use quarterly—clear expectations, documented feedback, and consequences that hold.
• Keep the company audit-ready on wage-and-hour, leave, hiring, and safety-related employment rules across every site you support.
• Reset pay and incentive ranges so critical roles stay competitive without uncontrolled cost growth.
• Stand up workforce plans with operations before peak seasons so overtime, temps, and hiring are choices, not surprises.
• Coach supervisors through difficult employee issues so most problems are resolved at the source, cleanly and on record.

Environment & Resources

You report to senior leadership and sit with operations, warehouse, transportation, and sales—not apart from them. Expect a lean HR setup: you will shape process, partner with payroll, benefits, and recruiting vendors, and use the existing HRIS rather than wait for a new platform. Decisions are close to the work. Budget is practical and tied to hiring, retention, and risk, not programs for their own sake.

Essential Qualifications

• Proven ownership of full-cycle recruiting and retention results in a multi-site distribution, logistics, or industrial operation.
• Hands-on command of U.S. employment law as it hits hourly, driver, and exempt workforces—not textbook familiarity.
• A record of building manager accountability: performance documentation, coaching, and defensible terminations.
• Experience setting pay structures and incentives that operations leaders will actually use.
• Comfort making calls with incomplete data and explaining them in plain language to non-HR leaders.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; senior HR credential a plus, not a substitute for results.

Role Selling Points

• Private, mid-size distributor: your work changes how the company runs this year, not after a corporate rollout.
• Direct line to leadership and daily contact with the people who pick, ship, sell, and service.
• Room to design HR for a growing operation instead of maintaining someone else’s playbook.
• A business with a clear customer—foodservice operators who cannot wait on a missing part.

Call to Action

If you have built HR that operators trust and auditors can follow, apply. Tell us which workforce metric you moved, how you measured it, and what you would fix first here.