Chief Operating Officer

Farmlink Project; Los Angeles (CA); Remote; USD 190,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401k matching

Life insurance

Unlimited time off

Remote work environment

Job summary

Farmlink Project is seeking an experienced operations executive to lead our nationwide food recovery network, combining post-harvest and pre-harvest efforts to maximize impact.

This remote-first role is based in the USA, with up to 20% travel, and requires a track record of scaling complex operations, building teams, and driving data-informed decisions to meet ambitious 2030 goals.

Qualifications

• Seasoned executive with experience running teams and setting strategy.
• Background in operations, supply chain, or logistics.
• Experience with perishable goods and freight economics is a plus.
• Strong negotiation and deal-making capabilities.
• Data-driven decision making and KPI tracking.
• Low-ego, high-EQ leadership and ownership mindset.
• Remote-first, USA-based leadership role with travel up to 20%

Responsibilities

• Own operating plan for the food recovery network and set annual targets.
• Oversee food operations and logistics across post-harvest and pre-harvest.
• Build and lead a cross-functional team.
• Develop earned revenue channels.
• Drive continuous improvement and pilot new operating models.

Skills

Leadership

Strategy development

Negotiation

Data-driven decisions

Remote leadership

Job description

The Opportunity

Farmlink is at a pivotal moment. What began in 2020 as a group of students building relationships with farmers one call at a time has grown into a national food rescue organization that has moved more than 500 million pounds of donated, surplus food on roughly $10 million a year in philanthropic support, unlocking nearly $90 million in food value, with no trucks or warehouses of its own.

Farmlink runs two food recovery programs, post-harvest and pre-harvest, on one shared operational backbone. Post-harvest rescue is already at scale, delivering nearly 150 million pounds of food a year to communities in need. Pre-harvest, recovering surplus at the farm level before it's ever picked, is the path ahead. Farmlink has piloted it at small scale for several years, but it's more complex and far more expensive than post-harvest, and today only 2% of the 30 billion pounds of on-farm surplus each year gets rescued.

Closing that gap is the innovation: harvest labor, packaging, cold storage, and transport partnerships that bring the cost down until pre-harvest runs at or near cost parity with post-harvest, sustained over time and across more than one crop and region. Long term, closing that gap also depends on government partnerships and policy work that make on-farm recovery and farmer payment sustainable industry-wide. At the scale Farmlink is aiming for, it means significantly more people are fed.

The Chief Operating Officer will join a growing team of ~25, holding the full picture of this operational network and deciding how to use all of it, post-harvest and pre-harvest together, for the most impactful outcomes. That means owning the operating plan for Farmlink's food recovery network, food operations and logistics, and the supply chain; building the capacity intelligence, data, tools, and systems that match available food to the organizations that can receive it, along with the community partner network that grows and supports those organizations; delivering program execution and operational technology; developing earned revenue channels; and driving continuous improvement as the network scales.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for a seasoned executive leader, someone who has run teams and set strategy. Ideally that person came up through hands-on operations, supply chain, or logistics work early in their career, the kind of experience where they learn intimately what packaging and freight actually cost, what motivates a partner to say yes to a deal, and what a counterpart will and won't agree to, and then grew into a seat where they set goals, prioritize across functions, and lead a team.

The right person keeps asking how the whole network, post-harvest and pre-harvest surplus recovery together, adds up to the biggest outcome, and has the ability to execute on that. Pre-harvest and earned revenue are still pilots Farmlink is testing, not final models, and the right person has the judgment to change direction if the data doesn't support the hypothesis, or if it takes Farmlink somewhere unexpected.

Vision & Strategy:

• Own Farmlink's operating plan for its food recovery network, translating our 2030 goals into annual targets, resourcing, and sequencing.
• Set strategy and oversee execution of food operations and logistics across post-harvest and pre-harvest: trucking, cold chain, timing, in response to market dynamics.
• Serve as the CEO's operational counterpart on org-wide decisions, and partner with the CEO on strategy for the board and external stakeholders, ensuring Farmlink's vision holds up against operational reality.

Operations & Continuous Improvement:

• Build and oversee the supply chain: the network of growers, food donors, shippers, carriers, and other logistics partners that make food movement possible.
• Own the strategy for national partner network growth, working with the Senior Strategist of Food Recovery, who leads the on-the-ground relationship and coalition building.
• Drive continuous improvement and operational innovation, piloting new approaches and new operating models, with the judgment to change course when a hypothesis doesn't hold.

Innovation:

• Close the cost gap between pre-harvest and post-harvest food recoveries, testing packaging, harvest labor, and transport partnerships until pre-harvest runs at or near cost parity with post-harvest, blended across the portfolio, sustained over time, and holding up across more than one crop.
• Develop, test, and iterate earned revenue channels to deliver mission-aligned revenue beyond philanthropy.
• Build capacity intelligence, the data, tools, and systems, including surplus risk tracking and our food rescue database, that match available food with the organizations that can receive it.

Leadership & Teamwork:

• Collaborate with the VP of Programs & Impact to ensure all programs deliver our mission in measurable ways.
• Own the operating budget that runs the food rescue network day to day, partnering with the VP of Finance & Administration on forecasting and expense management and with the VP of Programs & Impact to determine how much of the total budget funds proven post-harvest work versus pre-harvest and other innovative pilots.
• Build and lead a high-performing, cross-functional team across food operations, logistics, technology, and innovation, cultivating strong leaders who ensure mission impact in a fast-changing, playbook-light environment.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Experience: A seasoned executive leader who has run teams and set strategy, with a track record of taking a working model and scaling it into something repeatable at a larger scale.
• Business Model: A career built inside a complex operational, supply chain, or logistics environment, with real exposure to perishable goods, freight, packaging, distribution, and vendor economics.
• Industry: Direct experience in food recovery or fresh produce movement is a plus, not a requirement.
• Partnerships & Deal Making: A strong negotiator and dealmaker, comfortable structuring agreements between farmers, partners, and agencies where the terms have to work for everyone at the table.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: An analytical mind that tracks data, KPIs, and progress against goals closely, and turns that tracking into clear decisions rather than just a dashboard.
• Culture: You are a low-ego, high-EQ leader who fosters a culture that prioritizes collaboration and shared success.
• Remote-First: Comfort running an asset-light, fully remote, fully dispersed operation, where the job is coordinating a network Farmlink doesn't own or directly control.
• Location: Based full-time in the USA. Able and willing to commit to up to 20% travel time.

Personal Attributes

• Entrepreneurial. You think outside the box, you can build from scratch, and you are resourceful and fiscally responsible in the pursuit of business objectives.
• Low Ego. Apolitical by nature, you are driven by objectives and impact in your work, not by personal aggrandizement or recognition.
• Ownership Mentality. You operate with an ownership mentality, coming to the table proactively with solutions to problems/challenges. You understand how your actions and leadership impact the broader team, and you hold your team to the same standards of ownership that you demonstrate.
• Structured/Organized. You are driven by process, which is logical, progressive, and grounded in data. You love scale and thrive in continuously improving by being better organized.
• Adaptable. Comfortable operating with real ambiguity, with the openness to being wrong and the willingness to change course when a hypothesis doesn't hold.
• Hands-On. You thrive in fast-paced environments where you can execute alongside your team. A big-company mindset with unlimited resources will not be a fit here—this role requires rolling up your sleeves and leading by doing.

Compensation and Benefits

• Annual salary range of $190,000-$220,000
• Competitive health insurance benefits for employee and dependents
• 401k employer matching
• Life insurance policy
• Unlimited time off policy
• Remote work environment