Salary Range $115,000.00 - $165,000.00
Category Operational/ERD
Description
Job Title: Operations Manager
Location: Project Dependent - U.S.
Reports to: Director Emergency Response Division
Compensation Range: $115,000 - $165,000 annually
Benefits: Comprehensive package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company match, paid time off, and travel opportunities.
About Ceres Environmental Operations
Ceres Environmental Operations (CEO) is a leader in crisis management, rapid response, and disaster recovery, committed to rebuilding stronger, safer communities. We specialize in emergency response, environmental services, planning, and consulting, including debris removal, blue roofs, logistics, debris management, demolition, recycling, forest management, and coastal and marine restoration. As a licensed general contractor, we offer unparalleled expertise to restore stability where it's needed most.
Driven by Purpose, Powered by People
At CEO, we believe you're more than just an employee; you're part of a team with a purpose and a meaningful mission. Every team member plays a vital role in restoring hope, helping communities recover and rebuild.
We value initiative, respect diversity, and give our people the freedom to lead. We offer competitive pay, travel opportunities, and a culture built on resilience and teamwork. If you show up with compassion, share the commitment, react with urgency, and deliver solutions, you'll fit right in. We don't just respond to challenges; we rise to them.
What We Are Looking For
The Operations Manager (OM) serves as the senior operational leader responsible for planning, directing, and overseeing all debris management and field operational activities for the organization. This role ensures mission readiness, efficient mobilization, coordinated field execution, and effective management of personnel, subcontractors, equipment, and resources across multiple projects or activation areas.
The OM is accountable for operational quality, safety, compliance, productivity, and performance outcomes while ensuring all work is executed in alignment with organizational standards, regulatory requirements, and project-specific scopes of work.
Success in the first 12 months includes consistently meeting production and compliance targets, strengthening operational efficiency, maintaining strong relationships with government clients, and ensuring safe, coordinated, and compliant execution across multi-region mission scopes.
What You Will Do
Operational Leadership & Execution
Direct all debris removal, reduction, hauling, PPDR, waterway debris removal, stump removal, hazardous tree operations, and TDSR operations.
Lead mobilization and demobilization activities and ensure timely activation following Notice to Proceed (NTP).
Manage operations during concurrent or multi-region activations, ensuring effective resource deconfliction.
Coordinate operational workflow, staffing, equipment allocation, and subcontractor activities.
Government Coordination & Compliance
Serve as primary operational liaison to the client and contracting officer representative.
Ensure operational compliance with safety, environmental, cultural, and quality requirements.
Ensure accurate daily reporting, ticketing and volumes, job scaling, and all required contract documentation.
Operational Risk Management
Identify and mitigate mission risks, including labor, equipment, disposal site availability, and surge requirements.
Adjust operational plans to evolving debris volumes, terrain, weather, and infrastructure conditions.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Emergency Management, Engineering, Construction Management, Logistics, or equivalent practical experience serving in similar FEMA-directed disaster roles.
Minimum 7 years of operational leadership experience in debris management, emergency response requiring rapid mobilization, or comparable large-scale field operations.
Experience leading field teams, subcontractors, equipment fleets, and multi-scope operational activities.
Strong knowledge of safety, environmental, and quality compliance requirements.
Proven ability to make high-pressure decisions and adapt operational strategies in dynamically changing environments.
Ability to deploy and work extended field assignments in demanding conditions.
Preferred Qualifications
Use and familiarity with ADMS and LOADM reporting and data validation systems.
OSHA 30-Hour Construction Safety.
FEMA ICS-100, ICS-200, ICS-300, ICS-700.
Professional certifications such as CEM or PMP.
What to Expect
This role operates in fast-paced, high-pressure emergency response environments and requires long hours, field-based work, and rapid decision-making under changing conditions.
You will be accountable for end-to-end execution of debris management operations across multiple activation areas, balancing safety, compliance, productivity, and cost in real time. Work is highly visible to internal leadership, government clients, and regulators, with frequent audits, reporting requirements, and shifting priorities.
Success requires adaptability, strong leadership, clear communication, and the ability to guide multidisciplinary teams through complex operational challenges.
Physical Requirements and Environment
Ceres provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and to applicants with sincerely held religious beliefs, as required by law.
Essential physical requirements include:
Ability to work extended hours, including nights and weekends, during emergency activations.
Ability to travel and deploy for extended durations in disaster-impacted regions.
Ability to work in adverse weather, field conditions, and active operational environments.
Willingness to wear PPE including hard hat, protective eyewear, steel-toed boots, and other required equipment.
Ability to walk, stand, climb, and navigate uneven terrain while following safety protocols.
Why Join CEO?
At CEO, you won't just have a job-you'll have a mission. Your work will directly impact the speed and strength of community recovery after disasters.
We offer:
A collaborative, mission-driven culture
Opportunities for professional growth and advancement
The chance to make a lasting difference for communities across the U.S.
Ceres Environmental Operations is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, religion, disability, pregnancy, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.
Work Authorization
Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire. Ceres does not sponsor employment-based visas for this position unless stated otherwise.
E-Verify: We comply with Federal law by verifying employment eligibility.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
Education: High School Diploma
Experience: 3-5 years of experience in Utility line clearance and Right-of-Way (ROW) vegetation management operations
Valid Driver License
Preferred Qualifications/Education:
Commercial Driver License: Class A or B
ISA Certified Arborist or ISA Certified Utility Arborist (ISA) or Certified Tree Safety Professional (CTSP)
Qualified Applicator License (QAL)
Qualified Applicator Certificate (QAC)
TRAQ Certification
