Food Systems Director

POSITION SUMMARY

Open Cupboard is one of the largest food rescue and food access organizations in the Twin Cities, operating our innovative Today's Harvest free fresh market model across two locations and distributing more than seven million pounds of food a year. The Director of Food Systems is a new senior leadership role responsible for growing and strengthening the systems that get food into Open Cupboard and move it efficiently once it's here.

Food Rescue & Sourcing

• Lead strategy and execution to increase the total volume of food coming into Open Cupboard through food rescue, food sourcing, and donor development.
• Deepen relationships with existing retail, grocery, distributor, and wholesale donor partners to unlock additional available-but-uncollected pounds.
• Identify, cultivate, and onboard new food rescue and sourcing partners, including retailers, distributors, food service operators, and institutional sources.
• Grow and manage agricultural food rescue partnerships, including relationships with farmers markets, individual growers, and value-added processing/compensation partnerships.
• Steward all donor relationships through named relationship management, regular impact reporting, and consistent check-ins to retain and grow volume over time.

Mini-Hub / Hub-and-Spoke Program

• Own and grow and scale Open Cupboard's regional hub-and-spoke distribution network
• Build and maintain the communications, onboarding, and logistics infrastructure that allows partner agencies to request, receive, and (over time) contribute food efficiently and reliably.
• Identify and onboard new spoke/mini-hub agencies
• Oversee order management and food distribution to spoke/mini-hub partners, ensuring donated food reaches partner agencies before it spoils.
• Guide the network's evolution toward a bidirectional, mutually reinforcing exchange model in which high-capacity partners both receive and contribute food.

Inventory, Operations & Internal Food Flow

• Oversee inventory operations across Open Cupboard sites, including intake, sorting, storage, and cold-chain management of rescued and donated food.
• Oversee the food rescue fleet, including route planning, driver coordination, and a structured preventive maintenance program to ensure vehicle availability and routing efficiency.
• Oversee systems for tracking incoming food to support accurate reporting.
• Support decision-making on facility repairs and upgrades to ensure smooth operational flow

Staff & Program Management

• Hire, train, supervise, and develop food rescue drivers, inventory staff, and other food hub/operations staff.
• Build team capacity to support growing collection volume, an expanding donor base, and a scaling hub-and-spoke network.
• Set clear goals, provide regular feedback and coaching, and foster a culture of accountability, safety, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with the Executive Director and other program directors to align food systems work with organization-wide strategy and capacity.
• Alongside the Executive Director, create and monitor program budget and create optimization plans for equipment and staffing expenses.

Grant Management, Data & Reporting

• Serve as the operational lead for grant-funded food rescue and hub-and-spoke initiatives, ensuring work plans, timelines, and budgets stay on track.
• Track and report on pounds rescued, pounds distributed through the hub-and-spoke network, and other program metrics using Open Cupboard's data systems.
• Monitor progress against objectives and make mid-course adjustments to collections, staffing, or partnerships as needed to hit targets.

Required

• 8+ years of progressively responsible experience in food rescue, food recovery, food banking, or a related food systems/supply chain field.
• Strong working knowledge of food waste and food recovery systems, including donor relationship management, perishable food logistics, and cold-chain handling.
• Demonstrated experience managing programs and supervising staff, including hiring, coaching, and performance management.
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills, with the ability to represent the organization to donors, partner agencies, and funders.
• Comfor…