Bold Reuse is a full-service reuse platform that eliminates single-use waste. We’ve already eliminated more than 8 million pounds of packaging from the landfill, and we’re just getting started! Our mission is to make the circular economy a reality for any business that wants to reduce its packaging waste.

Director of Operations

About Bold Reuse

Bold Reuse is a full-service reuse platform that eliminates single-use waste. We have already kept more than 10 million packaging items out of landfill. We serve stadiums, campuses, arenas, and large events, and we are now scaling our operations footprint to new markets across the US.

The Role

The Director of Operations owns every operational outcome at Bold Reuse: sanitation, logistics, inventory, quality, safety, and operating cost, in every market we serve. You will build and run the operations facilities that wash, sort, inspect, and recirculate millions of reusable items, and you will stand up new facilities fast without sacrificing quality or unit economics.

This is a hands-on, in-person role based at a Bold Reuse operations facility in Seattle, WA or Portland, OR, with occasional travel to our other markets. You report to the CEO and lead the managers who run our wash hubs.

We are looking for someone who treats every process as improvable: fewer touches per item, lower cost per unit, higher throughput, and zero quality escapes. When something goes wrong in operations, you own the fix, the root cause, and the system that prevents it from happening again.

Our main product is our service.  Stadiums, arenas, and event operators stake their guest experience, their sustainability commitments, and their brand on our service working every time. A late delivery, a short count, or a cleanliness issue is not an internal problem; it is a failure our client feels in front of tens of thousands of fans. This leader must make decisions with that client impact in front of mind, every day and at every site.

What You Will Own

End-to-end operational ownership

• Own the full operating P&L for sanitation and logistics across all markets, including labor, consumables, equipment, and facilities.
• Own operational KPIs and report on them weekly: throughput, cost per item, touches per item, on-time and in-full delivery, client service-level adherence, client satisfaction, quality escapes, and safety incidents.
• Be the single accountable owner for operational problems. Lead root-cause analysis and put permanent corrective actions in place, not workarounds.
• Own service delivery for clients, including readiness, staffing, and post-event recovery.

Client success through operational excellence

• Treat client outcomes as the ultimate measure of operational performance. Our clients succeed only when our operations run flawlessly.
• Understand each major client's operating model, event calendar, and sustainability goals, and design service to support them.
• Define and meet service-level commitments for every account: delivery windows, inventory availability, cleanliness, and recovery rates.
• Partner closely with Customer Success and Sales on onboarding, event readiness, and account reviews, so operational capability and client promises stay aligned.
• Weigh client impact in every operational decision, from staffing and scheduling to process changes and cost reductions.
• When service falls short, own the client communication alongside Customer Success, deliver the fix fast, and follow up with a clear corrective plan.

Scaling physical operations facilities

• Plan, launch, and ramp new wash and logistics facilities in new markets, from site selection and layout through equipment install, hiring, training, and steady-state operation.
• Build a repeatable market-launch playbook so each new plant reaches target throughput and cost faster than the last.
• Run capacity planning across markets so that equipment, labor, and inventory stay ahead of contracted demand.
• Make build, buy, and partner decisions on equipment and facilities, with clear ROI cases.

Efficiency, touch reduction, and cost

• Map every process from pickup to recirculation and systematically remove touches, handoffs, and waste.
• Apply lean and continuous-improvement methods (for example, value-stream mapping, standard work, 5S, kaizen) to raise throughput and cut cost per item.
• Identify and implement automation in sorting, washing, drying, inspection, and packing where the ROI supports it.
• Partner with product and engineering to embed operational data into our Circular Intelligence System and use it to drive decisions.

Quality control and food safety

• Own the quality management system for sanitation, including written standards, inspection points, testing, documentation, and audit readiness.
• Ensure every item meets food-contact sanitation standards and applicable health department and client requirements.
• Track and drive down defects, rewash rates, and damaged or lost inventory.
• Lead customer-facing quality responses and corrective action plans when issues occur.

Supply chain and inventory

• Manage inventory of reusable serviceware across its full lifecycle: procurement, deployment, return, loss, and retirement.
• Manage suppliers of equipment, chemicals, and materials, ensuring supply keeps pace with rapid growth at the right cost.

People and leadership

• Hire, develop, and lead market managers, and through them, hourly operations teams.
• Set clear goals and standards while giving local teams autonomy to solve problems.
• Build a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Identify and advance top performers ready for greater responsibility.

What You Bring

Required

• 7+ years of operations leadership in manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, commercial laundry, food processing, or similar high-volume physical operations, including 5+ years managing managers.
• A proven record of rapidly scaling physical operations: opening or expanding plants, warehouses, or processing facilities and ramping them to target throughput and cost on a tight timeline.
• Demonstrated results driving efficiency, with specific examples of reducing touches, labor hours, or cost per unit through process redesign, lean methods, or automation.
• Hands-on experience building and managing quality control programs, including standards, inspection, corrective action, and audits. Food-safety or sanitation experience strongly preferred.
• Experience running client-facing or service-level-driven operations, where operational performance directly determined customer outcomes and retention.
• Full P&L or cost-center ownership for an operation, with a track record of hitting budget.
• Strong analytical skills: you build ROI cases, run operations on data, and are comfortable with operational systems and dashboards.
• Clear, direct written and verbal communication with teams, executives, and enterprise clients.

Preferred

• Experience in a fast-growing startup or a multi-site rollout.
• Lean Six Sigma (Green Belt or higher) or equivalent continuous-improvement training.
• Experience with commercial dishwashing, sanitation equipment, or reverse logistics.
• Experience with HACCP, ServSafe, or health department compliance.
• Experience supporting large live events or venues.

Our Values and Competency Expectations

At Bold Reuse, how we work matters as much as what we do. The Director of Operations is expected to model these competencies, with Ownership as the defining one for this role.

• Ownership: Owns outcomes across every operational activity, not just effort. Recognizes that our clients' success depends on our operations and acts accordingly. Anticipates problems before they reach clients, makes decisions without waiting, and closes the loop on root causes. Holds self and team accountable to measurable results.
• Boldness: Challenges how work is done and brings solutions, not just problems. Takes smart risks, weighing impact on customers and the business.
• Intentionality: Prioritizes by impact and urgency. Makes thoughtful decisions aligned with values and business goals. Models reliability and professionalism.
• Leadership: Builds alignment across people and teams. Delegates and creates ownership in others. Addresses conflict directly to maintain trust and momentum.
• Collaborative: Works across functions, synthesizes input, and raises the quality of work through feedback.
• Adaptable: Adjusts to changing conditions while keeping rigor and follow-through. Helps others navigate change.
• Loving: Shows emotional intelligence in hard moments. Supports teammates' growth and well-being. Models resilience and a growth mindset.

Compensation and Benefits

This position has a salary range of $110,000 to $120,000 per year. This range is a good-faith estimate; the final offer depends on qualifications and experience. The package also includes equity options, medical, dental, and vision insurance, paid holidays, and paid time off. We can only hire US-based candidates at this time.

How to Apply

Send your resume and a cover letter to [email protected]. In your cover letter, describe a process you developed that measurably cut touches or cost, and an example of a time your operation's performance made or broke a customer's success.