General Manager - Barneveld

General Manager – Barneveld
Warehousing & packaging

Role summary
The General Manager for Americold Barneveld holds full strategic, operational, commercial, and financial responsibility for a multi facility cold chain operation consisting of two warehouses, including a dedicated packaging division. The GM ensures safe, reliable, and efficient service delivery to customers, with a specific focus on supporting and growing major food retail / supermarket accounts.

This role requires deep expertise in retail grade logistics, including store order fulfilment, high frequency distribution, SKU complexity, and strict service level expectations. The GM leads high performing teams, drives continuous improvement, and ensures the site meets Americold’s standards for safety, compliance, customer service, and financial performance.

Key responsibilities

Operational leadership

• Lead daily operations across both Barneveld warehouses and the packaging division, ensuring service, safety, quality, and cost targets are consistently achieved.
• Maintain full accountability for site P&L, EBITDA performance, labour efficiency, and cost control.
• Ensure optimal warehouse flow, inventory accuracy, packaging productivity, and transport coordination where applicable.
• Oversee WMS/TMS/MRP utilisation to ensure accurate storage, efficient handling, and timely order fulfilment.

Food retail / supermarket expertise

• Serve as the operational lead for key food retail customers, ensuring service levels meet supermarket expectations for accuracy, speed, freshness, and compliance.
• Understand retail distribution patterns, store order profiles, promotional volume spikes, and shelf ready packaging requirements.
• Drive operational readiness for retail seasonality, high volume peaks, and strict delivery windows.

Customer & commercial management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key customers, acting as the primary operational point of contact.
• Ensure customer pricing, profitability analysis, and service metrics are in place and continuously reviewed.
• Support Business Development with operational insights, feasibility assessments, and customer growth opportunities.

People leadership & development

• Lead, coach, and develop supervisors, managers, and frontline teams across warehousing, packaging, and support functions.
• Ensure succession planning, engagement, and capability building at all levels.
• Promote a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and customer focus.

Safety, compliance & quality

• Champion a safety first culture across all Barneveld operations.
• Ensure compliance with food safety regulations, labour laws, import/export requirements, and Americold policies.
• Partner with Safety and HR teams to proactively mitigate risk and maintain high standards.

Continuous improvement & lean

• Drive Lean and Six Sigma initiatives to improve process flow, labour utilisation, packaging efficiency, and cost control.
• Identify operational opportunities, develop action plans with measurable milestones, and ensure timely execution.
• Conduct weekly operational reviews covering KPIs, labour hours, cost drivers, customer issues, safety concerns, and employee matters.

Site & asset management

• Ensure the physical condition of both warehouses and the packaging division meets Americold standards.
• Oversee maintenance, equipment utilisation, and capital planning.
• Ensure work order processes are updated for accurate billing and payroll.

Work schedule flexibility

• Ability to work nights and weekends when needed to support operational or compliance requirements

Qualifications & experience

Education & professional background

• Bachelor’s degree in Logistics, Supply Chain, Operations Management, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years experience in logistics, warehousing, food distribution, or supermarket supply chain.
• 5+ years senior leadership experience managing large teams in a fast paced, temperature controlled environment.
• Proven experience supporting food retail / supermarket clients.

Technical & functional skills

• Strong operational and financial acumen; proven ability to manage P&L and deliver EBITDA improvements.
• Skilled in WMS, labour management tools, and MS Office Suite.
• Experience with packaging operations is a strong advantage.
• Lean/Six Sigma certification or practical experience preferred.

Leadership & personal attributes

• High energy, resilient, decisive, and calm under pressure.
• Strong communicator with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Customer centric mindset with a track record of building strong partnerships.
• Analytical, pragmatic, and solution oriented.
• Demonstrates integrity and leads by example.
• Willing and able to travel as required.