Full Time, Remote

Limited Service through December 2028*

About the Chef Ann Foundation

Founded in 2009, the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) believes that all children should have equal access to fresh, healthy, delicious food providing them the foundation to thrive and meet their true potential. We ensure that school food professionals have the resources, funding and support they need to provide cook-from-scratch meals that support the health of children and our planet. To date, we’ve reached over 16,000 schools and over 4.4 million children in all 50 states with our school food programming.

CAF provides training and technical assistance to School Food Authorities (SFAs) in developing innovative procurement strategies, including but not limited to collective purchasing that allows school districts to pool resources and leverage their combined purchasing power. Our vision is to create a scalable national model that empowers districts to source values-aligned foods, benefiting students, farmers, producers, and communities while advancing meaningful transformation of the school food system.

About Values-Aligned Purchasing Collectives (VAPCs): VAPCs are a mechanism for K-12 school districts to work together to advance the shared values of both school districts and food suppliers by leveraging the collective buying power of school districts through cooperatives, buying groups, or other group purchasing mechanisms, and fostering supply chain collaboration to enhance access to and establish fair pricing for values-aligned foods.

About the Healthy School Food Pathway (HSFP) Program: HSFP is a work-based learning experience that aims to prepare individuals for job opportunities in healthy, scratch-cook school food programs. The HSFP program focuses on supporting workforce readiness and professional growth for new and incumbent school food operators.

Job Description

This position resides on our School Food Operations team and reports to the Senior Director of Procurement. As a seasoned supply chain practitioner, the Senior Specialist will propose and operationalize values-aligned supply chain innovations, strengthen regional food system infrastructure, and serve as a bridge among producers, distributors, food hubs, logistics coordinators, and school districts. Success in this role requires deep knowledge of food supply chains, regional market dynamics, food sourcing strategies, and K–12 procurement regulations and policies.

Key Responsibilities

The Senior Specialist will lead the development of scalable, sustainable supply chain strategies for Values-Aligned Purchasing Collectives (VAPCs), California Healthy School Food Pathway (HSFP), and other CAF programs in priority states. Core responsibilities include:

SFA Procurement Support

• Leverage the collective purchasing power of SFAs enrolled in CAF programs, including Healthy School Food Pathway, Values-Aligned Purchasing Collectives, and CAF’s key programs, to drive supply chain innovations that increase SFAs' purchases of values-aligned foods.
• Provide tailored technical assistance to SFAs navigating values-aligned sourcing challenges, limited supply, and logistics constraints.
• Offer strategic insights for how to improve CAF’s SFA procurement support to school districts, informed by CAF and SFA program priorities as well as supplier availability and capacity.

Supplier & Partner Development

• Develop, maintain, and nurture relationships with values-aligned suppliers, processors, aggregators, and manufacturers across priority states.
• Collaborate with CAF’s Programs team to improve upon the internal-facing preferred supplier program to ensure accurate documentation of producer and product attributes for CAF’s centralized values-aligned supplier database (described in section 4).
• Convene focus groups (e.g., farmers, hubs, distributors, SFAs) to identify bottlenecks and co-design operational solutions.

Distribution Strategy & Pathway Coordination

• Map and optimize distribution pathways through conventional distributors, food hubs, cooperatives, and direct-to-district models offering scalable logistics solutions that expand SFA access to values-aligned foods, such as:
• In key states, expand access to organic produce using USDA entitlement funds.
• Explore hybrid or shared distribution models that leverage both commercial distributors and mission-aligned aggregators to improve distribution access for SFAs.
• Identify and recommend additional innovative approaches that improve access, affordability, widespread distribution, and long-term supply chain resilience for values-aligned foods in K-12 school meal programs.

Data, Traceability, & Reporting

• Develop and manage an internal-facing preferred supplier program that catalogs values-aligned producers, their products, and associated product attributes—including, but not limited to, certifications, pack sizes, and distribution channels—across key CAF states, with the goal of enhancing and expanding the purchase of values-aligned foods.
• Use CAF program procurement data to develop reports on purchasing trends, supply gaps, and priority product categories.
• Lead the development of efficient tracking systems to capture values-aligned purchasing spend and volumes across CAF programs, ensuring consistent measurement of program impact.

Regional Collaboration & External Engagement

• Represent CAF in regional farm-to-school networks, state working groups, and values-aligned procurement coalitions.
• Collaborate with CAF’s Research & Evaluation and Policy & Advocacy teams to leverage data-backed insights to inform CAF’s advocacy, education, and strategic planning
• Contribute to supply chain-related programming at VAPC gatherings and HSFP regional events.

Other duties as assigned within the scope of this position

Position Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent;
• 5-7 years of professional experience in supply chain development, food systems, or procurement strategy;
• Proven track record working with regional food producers, distributors, or institutional buyers;
• Deep understanding of K-12 food distribution logistics, including last-mile delivery challenges;
• Working knowledge of K–12 school food procurement policies and regulations;
• Ability to work independently, virtually;
• Ability to travel 25% throughout the year to various US locations;
• Knowledge and high proficiency with Google Workspace and the ability to adopt new technologies as deemed necessary.

Preferred Education, Formal Training, and Experience

• Master’s Degree;
• Experience with cooperative or group purchasing models;
• Demonstrated work experience engaging external stakeholders and managing projects or events;
• Prior experience in a leadership capacity.

Essential Traits

• A passion for food systems and a strong interest in childhood health and wellness;
• Experience with nonprofit or mission-driven organizations;
• Ability to design scalable models that can be replicated across multiple states;
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment while juggling and coordinating multiple projects and deadlines;
• Strong facilitation and relationship-building skills with diverse stakeholders;
• Excellent strategic thinking and problem-solving skills;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Flexible mindset and an innovative thinker;
• Willingness to engage in continuous learning and training.

Compensation

Compensation ranges between $92,651 - $128,383 per year and will be commensurate with the candidate’s previous experience and credentials. The Chef Ann Foundation is a great place to work. It provides its staff with a competitive benefits package, including medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, short-term disability, long-term disability, group life insurance, accident insurance, critical illness insurance, hospital indemnity, 403(b) retirement plan with a match, holidays & paid time off. We are a fully remote national organization whose headquarters are located in Boulder, CO, with team members spread across the US. This position is remote and can be based anywhere in the U.S.

Posting will close on February 10th, 2026 at 12 pm MST

Anticipated position start date is March 2, 2026

At the Chef Ann Foundation, our work to ensure access to fresh, healthy school food for all is built on the idea of equity. We support and celebrate differences; our team and community are stronger with every new voice. CAF is proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.

*This position, and any continued employment thereafter, is expressly contingent upon the availability of funding for the position. CAF's obligation to employ and compensate is conditioned on:

(a) the organization’s receipt of sufficient budgeted funds for the position for the applicable fiscal period and

(b) Ongoing approval of such funding by the organization in its discretion, consistent with applicable law.

If, after employment begins, funding for the position is reduced, not renewed, or otherwise becomes unavailable, CAF may terminate employment effective on the later of (i) the date funding ceases or (ii) after providing at least 60 days' advance written notice, subject to any additional obligations under applicable law.