Warehouse Manager
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Description
Company Overview
Latin Specialties LLC is a Houston-based importer, distributor, ripener, fresh-cut processor, and repacker of fresh produce serving retail, foodservice, and wholesale customers. Our perishable-product operations require disciplined inventory control, reliable cold-chain execution, food safety, and close coordination across teams.
Position Summary
The Warehouse Manager has end-to-end accountability for warehouse execution, including receiving, storage, inventory integrity, order picking, quality checkpoints, shipping, loading, returns, and accurate ERP transactions. This is a hands-on, floor-based leadership role—not an office-only supervisory position. The manager leads by example, develops qualified team leads, plans ahead, coordinates proactively with other departments, and independently designs, implements, and improves reliable processes.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Hands-On Floor Leadership & Team Development
- Maintain an active, visible presence on the warehouse floor; demonstrate, coach, and verify the work rather than managing solely from an office. Lead by example.
- Direct daily operations through trained leads; assign ownership, monitor execution, correct deficiencies, and follow up until issues are resolved. Own warehouse operations in full.
- Build schedules and cross-training plans around actual order volume, inbound deliveries, departure times, and qualified coverage—not merely minimum staffing. Build an effective team.
- Establish training and competency records for critical tasks. Do not permit untrained or unauthorized employees to perform critical warehouse functions independently. Train your team.
- Ensure designated, trained leadership coverage and documented handoffs for early shifts, late shifts, and weekends. Review work completed before arrival and after departure. Create team redundancies.
- Remain reasonably reachable for urgent operational escalations outside scheduled hours, or establish and communicate an approved qualified backup and escalation plan. Be available.
Proactive Planning & Cross-Department Accountability
- Prepare and communicate a forward-looking daily operating plan, ideally before the next shift, covering workload, staffing, product availability, inspections, equipment, truck schedules, and priorities.
- Coordinate proactively with Quality Control, Production, Logistics, Sales, Procurement, and Inventory Control to secure the information, releases, materials, staffing, and timing needed for successful execution.
- Identify dependencies and resolve potential bottlenecks before they disrupt work; clarify owners, deadlines, and contingency plans.
- Own warehouse outcomes even when another department contributes to an issue. Avoid blame-shifting; communicate facts, propose solutions, follow up, and escalate unresolved risks early.
- Lead brief daily huddles with warehouse leads and maintain effective shift-to-shift and department-to-department communication.
Shipping, Picking, Verification & Cold Chain
- Oversee order release, picking, staging, final verification, and loading to ensure correct items, quantities, lots, labels, customer specifications, and truck assignments.
- Establish documented checks for product condition, customer quality requirements, shipping paperwork, trailer suitability, and required product/trailer temperatures.
- Ensure loading and departures are coordinated with Logistics; investigate shipment errors, shortages, misloads, and customer claims, and implement preventive actions.
- Ensure appropriate traceability records and timely, accurate shipping transactions in the ERP.
Receiving, Inventory Integrity & ERP Ownership
- Direct inbound receipt, counting, inspection coordination, identification, lot control, temperature checks, put-away, storage, and FIFO/FEFO rotation.
- Partner with the Inventory Control Lead to perform cycle counts, investigate variances, reconcile physical and system inventory, and monitor aging or at-risk stock.
- Maintain working proficiency in the ERP (currently LinkFresh / Prophesy / Samsara / Microsoft Dynamics NAV and future systems) sufficient to execute, verify, troubleshoot, and audit key receiving, movement, shipping, and adjustment transactions.
- Require every material movement and disposition to be recorded accurately and promptly. Delegating data entry does not remove managerial accountability for system integrity.
Returns, Quality Holds & Product Disposition
- Establish a controlled return workflow: identify shipment and lot, count, document condition, segregate when necessary, obtain QA evaluation, record disposition, and reconcile ERP inventory.
- Ensure returns are promptly processed and routed to saleable stock, hold, sorting/repack, vendor return, donation, or disposal only under authorized criteria.
- Coordinate with Quality Control on inspections, holds/releases, food safety, and disposition authority; warehouse personnel execute approved handling and movement decisions.
- Proactively walk storage and staging areas to identify quality, temperature, damage, sanitation, and rotation concerns before product is selected for customers.
Process Improvement, Reporting & Accountability
- Create, document, train, audit, and continuously improve warehouse SOPs, checklists, verification points, shift handoffs, and escalation procedures.
- Track and report weekly KPIs, including shipping accuracy, inventory accuracy, ERP posting timeliness, returns closure, quality/cold-chain compliance, labor productivity, and training coverage.
- Summarize operational data and corrective actions for company financial and operational leadership; recommend and own measurable improvements.
- Use Excel, ERP reporting, and approved AI/automation tools responsibly to improve planning, analysis, documentation, and productivity while protecting confidential information.
- Promote safe work practices, sanitation, GMP, traceability, equipment care, and compliance with company food-safety and workplace procedures.
Qualifications & Skills
- Demonstrated hands-on leadership experience in a high-volume fresh-produce, refrigerated distribution, or comparable perishable-goods warehouse; fresh-produce experience strongly preferred.
- Proven ability to supervise and train teams, manage shift coverage, and hold leads accountable across receiving, shipping, and inventory functions.
- Working knowledge of ERP warehouse transactions, lot traceability, cycle counts, reconciliations, order fulfillment, returns, and cold-chain controls. Ability to learn and implement new systems as required.
- Strong analytical judgment, attention to detail, problem-solving, communication, and ability to anticipate operational needs across departments.
- Self-directed initiative to learn systems, improve processes, use technology and approved AI tools, and follow through under time pressure.
- Comfort working regularly in refrigerated areas and adjusting work hours to support operational needs. Bilingual English/Spanish preferred.
- Relevant experience and demonstrated leadership capability are more important than a particular college degree.
Performance & Management Standards
- Shipping execution and accuracy — 20%; inventory and ERP integrity — 20%; floor leadership, training, and shift coverage — 20%.
- Product quality and cold chain — 15%; receiving and returns — 10%; continuous improvement — 10%; cross-department planning and communication — 5%.
- Serious food-safety, employee-safety, and control failures require immediate escalation regardless of weighted score. Measures and targets will be established with management.