Vice President of Operations | Multi-Site Waste & Environmental Services in Columbia, South Carolina at Capital Waste Services LLC

About Capital Waste Services

At Capital Waste Services (CWS), we are committed to delivering reliable, customer-focused waste collection services across our communities. Our team members are the foundation of our success, and we pride ourselves on fostering a supportive, high-integrity work environment where people can grow and thrive.

About the Opportunity

Capital Waste Services is seeking an experienced and results-driven Vice President of Operations to provide strategic leadership across our growing operations.

This executive leadership position will play a critical role in driving operational excellence, strengthening safety and service performance, developing high-performing leaders, and ensuring our operations are positioned to support continued growth.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on, strategic operations leader who understands how to lead complex, multi-location operations while balancing safety, customer service, employee engagement, productivity, and financial performance.

If you are an accomplished operations executive who thrives in a fast-paced, service-driven environment and enjoys building strong teams and scalable operations, we want to hear from you.

What You'll Do

Lead Operational Performance

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight across multiple operating locations and markets.
• Establish clear performance expectations and hold operational leaders accountable for results.
• Drive improvements in productivity, efficiency, service reliability, and overall operating performance.
• Identify operational challenges, develop solutions, and ensure effective execution of corrective action plans.
• Promote consistency and operational discipline across locations.
• Support the development and implementation of scalable processes as the organization grows.

Champion Safety

• Lead with a safety-first mindset and promote a culture where safety is a shared responsibility.
• Partner with Safety, Human Resources, and operational leadership to strengthen safety performance and regulatory compliance.
• Monitor trends and identify opportunities to reduce operational risk.
• Ensure operational leaders maintain accountability for training, safe work practices, incident prevention, and corrective actions.

Drive Financial Results

• Partner with executive leadership and Finance to establish operational budgets, forecasts, and performance objectives.
• Monitor operating expenses and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and profitability.
• Evaluate labor, overtime, fleet, maintenance, fuel, disposal, productivity, and other significant operating costs.
• Use financial and operational data to identify trends and make informed business decisions.
• Balance cost management with safety, customer service, employee needs, and long-term business objectives.

Build High-Performing Teams

• Lead, coach, and develop operational leaders across the organization.
• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Develop succession plans and strengthen the organization's leadership pipeline.
• Partner with Human Resources and Recruiting to support workforce planning, hiring, development, and retention.
• Identify and develop high-potential employees for expanded leadership responsibilities.
• Establish clear expectations and regularly evaluate leadership and operational performance.

Optimize Fleet & Assets

• Partner with fleet and maintenance leadership to improve equipment availability, reliability, and utilization.
• Monitor fleet performance and ensure operational and maintenance teams are effectively aligned.
• Support capital planning and investment decisions involving vehicles, equipment, and operational infrastructure.

Deliver an Exceptional Customer Experience

• Ensure operations consistently meet established service expectations.
• Monitor service performance and lead improvement initiatives when expectations are not being met.
• Partner with Sales and Customer Service leadership to address significant customer and service challenges.
• Ensure operational capacity and resources support customer retention and business growth.

Support Strategic Growth

• Partner with executive leadership on long-term operational strategy and organizational growth.
• Support operational planning for new locations, markets, service offerings, and acquisitions.
• Help integrate new operations into the organization's processes, performance expectations, and culture.
• Identify opportunities to standardize best practices and improve scalability.
• Lead major operational initiatives and organizational change efforts.

What We're Looking For

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Significant progressive experience leading complex operations.
• Demonstrated success leading teams across multiple locations, markets, or business units.
• Strong experience managing operational budgets and financial performance.
• Proven ability to lead and develop managers and senior operational leaders.
• Demonstrated success improving operational performance, productivity, service quality, and accountability.
• Strong business and financial acumen.
• Experience working within a safety-sensitive and highly regulated operating environment.
• Ability to travel regularly to operating locations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations Management, Logistics, Environmental Services, or a related discipline.
• Leadership experience within the waste and environmental services industry is strongly preferred.
• Experience in transportation, logistics, fleet-intensive services, construction, heavy equipment, or another operationally complex industry will also be considered.
• Experience supporting organizational growth, acquisitions, integrations, or geographic expansion.

What Will Make You Successful

We're looking for a leader who brings:

• Safety Leadership: You set the expectation that safe operations come first.
• Operational Discipline: You establish standards, monitor results, and create accountability.
• Financial Acumen: You understand how everyday operating decisions affect overall business performance.
• People Leadership: You coach leaders, develop talent, and build strong teams.
• Customer Focus: You understand that consistent operational execution drives the customer experience.
• Strategic Thinking: You can see the bigger picture while remaining connected to day-to-day operations.
• Continuous Improvement: You are always looking for a better, safer, and more efficient way to operate.
• Executive Presence: You communicate effectively across all levels of the organization and can turn strategy into action.
• Change Leadership: You can successfully lead teams through growth, evolving business needs, and organizational change.

Why Join Capital Waste Services?

This is an opportunity to take on a highly visible leadership role within a growing organization and directly influence operational performance and future expansion.

As Vice President of Operations, you'll have the opportunity to build teams, strengthen operations, develop leaders, drive performance, and help shape the next phase of the company's growth.

Additional Requirements

This position requires regular travel to company locations and operating facilities. The Vice President of Operations will work in both professional office and field environments and may visit maintenance facilities, operating yards, disposal facilities, and other operational locations.

The position may require availability outside normal business hours based on operational needs.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Business, Logistics, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience may be considered.
• At least ten years of progressive waste, transportation, logistics, or field-service leadership experience, including multi-site P&L responsibility.
• Demonstrated success improving safety, service, productivity, labor performance, and operating margins.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Solid-waste collection experience across multiple lines of business.
• Experience with acquisitions, route optimization, fleet-intensive operations, and rapid market growth.

Working Conditions & Physical Requirements:

This position operates primarily in a professional office environment and is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions. The role is classified as sedentary work and requires prolonged sitting, occasional standing and walking, and frequent use of standard office equipment.