Career Opening: Seafood Logistics & Production Coordinator

Position Summary

Local Ocean Seafoods seeks a Fish Logistics & Production Lead to oversee seafood inventory management, wholesale logistics, and production-floor coordination. This is a 30–40-hour-per-week role depending on seasonality. Workload follows a steady weekly operational rhythm with episodic surge periods during peak fishing seasons and batch production runs.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate seafood purchasing logistics and manage inventory flow across multiple storage locations.

• Coordinate large seasonal offloads and ensure efficient, safe processing.

• Oversee wholesale order fulfillment, shipping, and cold-chain compliance.

• Serve as on-the-floor production lead for seafood processing and value-added products.

• Supervise and mentor apprentices within grant-funded workforce training programs.

• Maintain rigorous food safety, quality assurance, and operational standards.

This position requires strong organizational skills, seafood handling expertise, leadership presence on the production floor, and the ability to balance efficiency with uncompromised quality standards. Experience in seafood processing, logistics coordination, and food safety compliance preferred.

Core Responsibilities

1. Procurement & Inventory Stewardship
Coordinate seafood purchasing logistics from the Newport fishing fleet and trusted regional vendors, aligning volumes with restaurant and finished product demand. Manage inventory across multiple storage locations of varying capacities, tracking product movement, production yield, and waste recovery rates to maintain accuracy and financial control. Coordinate closely across operations and sales teams to balance availability, seasonality, and margin.

2. Offload & Processing Coordination
Coordinate and lead seafood offloads from local vessels during peak seasons, organizing fillets and packing teams to ensure efficient, safe, and well-documented processing. Oversee workflow, sanitation, labor efficiency, and recordkeeping, including fish tickets, production logs, and time sheets. Continuously refine offload procedures to improve speed, consistency, and recovery.

3. Wholesale Fulfillment & Distribution Logistics
Receive and confirm wholesale and online retail store orders, coordinating picking, packing, labeling, staging, and shipping. Manage van routes, freight coordination, and drop shipments while maintaining cold-chain integrity and regulatory compliance. Troubleshoot shortages, substitutions, and timing conflicts in real time to ensure reliable product movement to satisfy our customers.

4. Production Floor Leadership

Serve as the on-the-floor lead for seafood processing and value-added production, setting daily priorities, workflow, quality expectations, and recordkeeping. Coordinate schedules between the facility and production team; direct workflow and ensure output goals are met. Supervise and mentor 4–6 apprentices during the 2026 summer training program, overseeing structured skill- building modules in fillet technique, knife handling, sanitation, seafood identification, cold-chain management, and value-added production.

5. Quality Assurance, Food Safety & Operational Reliability

Ensure compliance with food safety, sanitation, allergen controls, labeling, and traceability standards. Monitor critical control points, equipment condition, and workplace safety to protect product quality and team wellbeing. Balance speed and labor efficiency with uncompromised standards.

Who we’re looking for:

You’re a people-person who builds strong relationships by setting clear expectations, building trust, following-up, and coming through on time consistently.

• You are reliable and consistently uphold standards of excellence, setting an example for those around you.

• You have strong situational awareness to effectively assess and proactively ameliorate potential risk(s) to personnel and food safety.

• You have an eye for detail and connecting the dots, identifying opportunities for efficiency or value-creation.

• You can manage ambiguity with a positive, can-do attitude when circumstances suddenly change, need to pivot, or do not go as planned.

• You’ve previously worked in a fast-paced environment, handling multiple tasks simultaneously, while maintaining clear lines of communication, and remaining calm under pressure

• You have exceptional document organization skills, data collection, and have maintained records in application of compliance standards.

Position Requirements:

• Current Food Handler’s card (within 30 days of employment) with strong knowledge of food safety and sanitation standards

• Valid driver’s license with the ability to go to and from Local Ocean Seafoods, Newport Bayfront, and Central Coast Food Web throughout the day

• Physically able to lift and move heavy objects up to 50 lb. Shifts will frequently include prolonged standing, walking, bending, and lifting objects at a variety of levels.

• Availability to occasionally work early mornings, evenings, and/or weekends

• Comfortable working in often cold, wet, and/or fish-y environments

• Demonstrated experience in a production and/or buying capacity, ideally in a food facility.

Though not required, exceptionally valuable candidates will have one or more of the following:

• Effective communication with English- and Spanish-speaking coworkers, vendor/supplier partners, and customers

• Recreational/Commercial/Restaurant/Foodservice seafood processing, filleting, and/or butchery skills

• Inventory management, warehousing, order fulfillment, and/or logistics experience. Ability to maintain records in Excel or inventory management software.

• Valid Forklift operator certification (attainable within 1 year of employment - training provided)

• FDA-recognized food safety certifications such as Food Safety Manager, HACCP, PCQI, or Better Process

• Control (attainable within 1 year of employment - training provided)

• Operational excellence certifications such as Project Management, Lean operations, or similar.

Compensation & Benefits

• Pay Range: Hourly, $23 - $25

• Access to health benefits, including health insurance, vision, dental, and life insurance for full-time year-round employees

• Ability to convert sick leave time to flexible paid time off after full-time employment eligibility

• Flexible employee meal credit, for use restaurant-wide.

• Discounts on fish market, DockBox, shift meals, and retail merchandise

• Profit sharing (when applicable)

• Opportunities for growth, personal & professional development

Application Timeline

Application Deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with priority consideration given to candidates who apply by March 15th.

Interviews: Initial interviews will begin in late March, with second-round conversations scheduled shortly thereafter.

Start Date: The anticipated start date for this position is April 2026, allowing time for onboarding and preparation ahead of the primary fishing season.

How to Apply

Submit your resume to hiring@localocean.net by March 15, 2026. Screening interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis.

We encourage interested candidates to apply early, as the position may be filled prior to the deadline