Manager Retail Operations - Application (Salinas, CA)

Role Overview:

The Manager Retail Operations - Application leads the safe, timely, and efficient application of fertilizers and crop protection products across agricultural field operations. This role is accountable for building and sustaining a culture of safety, operational discipline, and continuous improvement while ensuring customer commitments are met in a highly regulated, peak-season environment. The Manager sets the tone for how work gets done safely, efficiently, and with accountability every day and every season.

A Sample of What You’ll Do in this Role:

• Lead day and night field application operations in a 24/7, on-call environment.
• Foster a safety-first culture, ensuring compliance with all regulatory and company standards for agricultural chemical application.
• Manage and develop 4–6 direct reports, overseeing a total team of approximately 70 employees.
• Act as a player-coach, providing hands-on leadership during peak season, incidents, and operational disruptions.
• Ensure effective use of systems that support field execution, including scheduling and dispatch, spray controller software, fleet/GPS tracking, mobile field tools, and ERP systems.
• Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Safety, Compliance, Finance, Retail Store Managers, and external vendors.
• Lead incident response, investigations, and continuous improvement efforts to reduce accidents, errors, and inefficiencies.
• Align operational capacity with customer timing, seasonal demand, and environmental conditions.
• Manage the operational P&L, expenses, capital expenditures, budget, and gain approval for any large purchases needed for operations

What You Bring to this Role:

• Extensive experience in agricultural chemical application operations.
• Deep understanding of safety, risk, and regulatory requirements related to fertilizer and pesticide application.
• Proven experience managing people leaders and overseeing large, distributed teams.
• Working knowledge of spray controller systems, dispatch and scheduling tools, fleet tracking, mobile field applications, and ERP systems.
• Ability to serve as a strategic, forward‑thinking leader who proactively champions employee well‑being and crop safety standards.
• Ability to lead calmly and decisively in high-risk, time-sensitive environments.

What Makes You a Great Fit:

• You demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills
• You maintain a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
• You have strong interpersonal and team‑building skills with a positive, collaborative attitude
• You build and sustain productive relationships with branch personnel, peers, and customers
• You understand and consistently uphold confidentiality standards

Compensation and Benefits: 

• In compliance with all states and cities requiring transparency of pay, the base compensation for this position ranges from $104,900 - $146,920. Note that salary may vary based on location, skills, and experience.   
• This position is eligible for an annual discretionary bonus and vacation, holidays, health, dental, vision, mental health, and retirement plan participation, including an employer contribution of up to 7% into your 401(k). Follow this link for more information regarding Wilbur-Ellis employee benefits: https://mywebenefits.com/