Head Stocker

Position Summary
The Head Overnight Stocker serves as the primary support to the Night Supervisor or Night Crew Manager and helps lead the overnight stocking team. While not the department manager, this position acts as a key point of contact for the night crew, assists with assigning and coordinating work, monitors stocking progress, and helps ensure freight is completed accurately and efficiently. The position combines hands-on stocking with additional leadership responsibilities and may help oversee overnight operations when the manager or supervisor is temporarily unavailable.

Key Responsibilities

• Work alongside the overnight crew while providing day-to-day direction and support.
• Assist the Night Supervisor or Night Crew Manager with organizing and prioritizing the overnight workload.
• Help assign associates to aisles, departments, freight, conditioning, and other nightly responsibilities.
• Monitor stocking progress throughout the shift and communicate concerns or incomplete work to night leadership.
• Help ensure freight is worked efficiently and completed within established timeframes.
• Stock merchandise accurately and efficiently in assigned areas.
• Ensure products are placed in the correct locations and properly faced and organized.
• Coordinate replenishment of merchandise from back-stock and incoming freight.
• Help maintain full, organized, and customer-ready shelves, displays, and promotional areas.
• Assist with the breakdown, sorting, and distribution of incoming freight.
• Ensure merchandise is properly rotated and applicable date-control procedures are followed.
• Identify low-stock, out-of-stock, overstock, and excessive back-stock conditions.
• Help maintain organized backroom and storage areas.
• Ensure cardboard, pallets, plastic, carts, and stocking materials are removed or properly stored.
• Assist with store recovery and conditioning before the end of the overnight shift.
• Identify damaged, expired, or unsellable merchandise and follow proper procedures.
• Help ensure promotional and seasonal merchandise is stocked and displayed as directed.
• Maintain accurate shelf tags and report missing or incorrect pricing or product locations.
• Assist customers and provide courteous service when customers are present.
• Communicate inventory, equipment, staffing, safety, or operational concerns to night leadership.
• Perform additional responsibilities as assigned based on business needs.

Lead Responsibilities

• Serve as a key support person for the Night Supervisor or Night Crew Manager.
• Help communicate nightly priorities, assignments, and expectations to overnight associates.
• Provide associates with direction when questions or operational issues arise.
• Monitor the progress of assigned aisles and departments throughout the shift.
• Help redistribute workload when one area falls behind or requires additional support.
• Assist newer associates with learning stocking procedures, store layout, product locations, rotation, and overnight expectations.
• Help coach associates on stocking efficiency, accuracy, organization, and proper work methods.
• Encourage teamwork and help keep the crew focused on completing nightly priorities.
• Lead by example by maintaining strong productivity, urgency, dependability, and attention to detail.
• Help ensure associates follow established stocking, safety, and merchandising procedures.
• Communicate outstanding work and significant overnight issues to the Night Supervisor, Night Crew Manager, or store leadership.
• Provide additional operational leadership when the Night Supervisor or Night Crew Manager is temporarily unavailable, within the responsibilities assigned to the position.
• Support management without assuming the full administrative or management responsibilities of the Night Supervisor or Night Crew Manager.

Stocking & Merchandising Responsibilities

• Stock merchandise quickly and accurately while maintaining product organization.
• Verify merchandise is stocked in the correct aisle, section, and shelf location.
• Properly rotate merchandise while stocking to support product freshness.
• Face and condition shelves to maintain a neat and customer-ready appearance.
• Monitor stocking progress and help ensure priority aisles are completed on schedule.
• Replenish merchandise from back-stock when needed.
• Assist with endcaps, promotional displays, resets, and seasonal merchandise.
• Identify incorrect shelf placement, damaged merchandise, missing tags, and other merchandising issues.
• Maintain organized top stock, back-stock, and storage areas where applicable.
• Help ensure the sales floor is recovered and ready for customers before completion of the overnight shift.

Freight & Backroom Responsibilities

• Assist with receiving, breaking down, sorting, and organizing overnight freight.
• Help distribute freight to the appropriate aisles and departments.
• Monitor freight flow to reduce unnecessary congestion on the sales floor.
• Ensure excess merchandise is properly organized and returned to designated back-stock areas.
• Help maintain an organized and accessible backroom.
• Ensure pallets, carts, cardboard, plastic, and other materials are handled and removed appropriately.
• Communicate freight discrepancies, damaged merchandise, or receiving concerns to appropriate leadership.
• Help ensure remaining freight and unfinished work are clearly communicated at the end of the shift.

Inventory & Shrink Control

• Follow proper product rotation and date-control procedures.
• Identify damaged, expired, or unsellable products and handle them according to established procedures.
• Maintain organized back-stock to improve inventory accuracy and replenishment efficiency.
• Report unusual inventory discrepancies or product conditions to night leadership.
• Help reduce shrink through proper merchandise handling, storage, rotation, and stocking practices.
• Follow established procedures for handling high-value or sensitive merchandise.
• Support inventory counts and other product-control activities when assigned.

Safety & Store Readiness

• Maintain safe and organized working conditions throughout the overnight shift.
• Keep aisles, emergency exits, backrooms, and work areas clear of unnecessary hazards.
• Follow safe lifting, stocking, ladder, and material-handling procedures.
• Use pallet jacks, carts, ladders, step stools, and other approved equipment safely after proper training.
• Address spills, unstable merchandise, damaged products, and other hazards promptly.
• Help ensure stocking equipment and materials are removed from customer areas before the store opens or as business conditions require.
• Follow company safety, security, food safety, and loss prevention procedures.
• Report significant safety, equipment, facility, or security concerns to leadership immediately.

Qualifications

• Strong stocking, organization, and merchandising skills.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative and provide direction to other associates.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills.
• Ability to lead by example while remaining actively involved in stocking and freight responsibilities.
• Ability to prioritize tasks and help coordinate workloads in a fast-paced overnight environment.
• Strong attention to product location, rotation, inventory, and store conditions.
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision.
• Ability to assist and coach newer or less experienced associates.
• Ability to safely operate approved stocking and material-handling equipment after proper training.
• Ability to work an overnight schedule and maintain dependable attendance and punctuality.
• Previous grocery, stocking, merchandising, or overnight retail experience is preferred.
• Previous formal management experience is not required, as this position primarily serves as a lead and assistant to overnight management.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to stand and walk for extended periods.
• Ability to bend, stoop, kneel, reach, lift, carry, push, pull, and perform repetitive movements throughout the shift.
• Ability to safely lift and move merchandise, cases, boxes, pallets, displays, and supplies as required.
• Ability to perform repetitive stocking, facing, recovery, and freight-handling activities.
• Ability to safely use carts, pallet jacks, ladders, step stools, and other approved equipment after proper training.
• Ability to work in sales areas, backrooms, receiving areas, coolers, freezers, and varying temperatures when necessary.

Work Environment

The Head Overnight Stocker works primarily during overnight hours throughout the sales floor, backroom, receiving areas, and storage areas. The position is more of a working lead or assistant than a manager, requiring the associate to remain heavily involved in stocking while helping the Night Supervisor or Night Crew Manager coordinate the team, monitor progress, solve routine issues, and prepare the store for the next business day.

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