NOLS supports a largely plant-based, protein-rich diet designed to promote healthy, active people. Every year at NOLS Patagonia we support approximately 285 students. Each course is divided into cook groups of two to four individuals, each group is given a wide variety of bulk food and spices. The Ration Manager would be responsible for organizing this in what we call the NOLS bulk rationing.

The NOLS Patagonia Rations Manager is responsible for all aspects of expedition rations for the NOLS Patagonia location. You will need to plan, buy and organize food for all courses going into the field and provide students with a clear understanding of food planning and management for expeditions. You will manage inventory, distribution, annual budget and maintain a clean, safe, organized storage and rations department. The person is also responsible for receiving feedback on the processes and subsequently converting this into new strategies.

This is an in-person position that requires the ability to lead the rations department from the office on the NOLS Patagonia campus. The program requires a commitment to work 40 hours per week, which may include Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. This commitment is geared toward providing our students with a personal, transformative educational experience consistent with our curriculum. You will need excellent planning skills and high levels of competency, good command of networking and cloud documentation is required. Excel, Word and Outlook skills in order to maintain efficient internal processes. 

Key Information

• Please upload your cover letter and resume as one PDF document when you are prompted to upload your CV/resume.

• Target Start Date: 18 August 2025

• Location: NOLS Patagonia, Coyhaique, Chile

• Position Type: 8.5 months

• You will need to communicate with suppliers, students, instructors and colleagues in both written and oral English and Spanish.  

Questions: please contact peopleteam@nols.edu

What does a  NOLS Patagonia Rations Manager do?

• Create ration plans according to the needs of each expedition group. The ration plans must consider individual dietary needs, allergies and intolerances when necessary. 

• Construct budget and track monthly financial reports, maintain purchasing and pricing records, requisition all invoices, and plan all rations equipment purchases and maintenance.

• Construct budget for the next coming year.

• Order and purchase all ingredients (both locally and nationally) and coordinate delivery.

• Support the development of ration plans for remote off-campus courses by providing instructors with a list of products to be purchased in remote locations.

• Keep foods and products with clear expiration dates and prevent these foods from expiring without being used. 

• Maintain relationships with food suppliers, prioritizing local, bulk, and sustainable food sources when possible.

• Brief instructor teams on rations procedures and expectations for every course. These briefings provide instructors with parameters for what is possible and what is not within the current budget. They also provide NOLS Patagonia's guidelines and operating methods for field rations. This is a time to begin developing, together with the instructors, the NOLS curriculum associated with field nutrition and ration planning.

• Directly involve students in the processes of food mix production, refunding tasks, warehouse order, and cleaning and sanitizing the ration room.

• Educate and supervise students and instructors in the planning and management of rations for expeditions as well as the higiene and issues and clean up necessary. 

• Train and supervise one or more rations assistants in sanitation and organization. direction on a day to day in person management of the assistant.

• Prepare special mix’s of expedition food. This may involve some cooking.

• Dehydrate food using equipment available on our campus.

• Perform other tasks as assigned by the Operations Manager.

• Manage your own and your team's work time according to the course schedule and operations, taking into account the workload and the 40-hour workweek.

• Actively contribute to a positive and healthy community living environment.

• Responsible for maintaining high hygiene standards and avoiding cross contamination.

• Support other departments in their tasks and management according to the specific needs or requirements of the operations manager or program manager.

• Coordinate with the operations manager the request for support for specific tasks that require more effort and hands to complete on time.

• Coordinate the sale of food that will not be used during the season so that it can be sold at a NOLS fair at the end of the season in the months of March and April.

In your first 6 months, you will: 

• Work collaboratively with the Operations Manager and finance manager to implement food purchasing to begin our operations at NOLS Patagonia for the 2025-2026 season.

• Coordinate all tasks related to food purchasing, inventory, cleaning, organization, and care of food, as well as its subsequent preparation for expeditions.

• Teach in-depth ration planning classes and involve students in the learning processes associated with organizing expeditions so that students can use it in their own expedition planning.

• Develop a plan and coordinate with the program manager and operations manager the timing to directly involve our course students in the processes of food mix production, refunding tasks, warehouse order, cleaning and sanitizing the ration room.

What qualities make an excellent NOLS Patagonia Rations Manager?

We are looking for people who share our values and are keen to learn and develop their expertise. While our ideal candidate comes with the skills listed above, we expect to provide training and development support in some of the areas.

We are looking for a detail-oriented, organized, and systematic individual who can plan, organize, and implement the elements of the NOLS curriculum in food planning, successfully creating educational experiences in nature. Students will be able to carry these nutrition and planning lessons into their future experiences.

Experience working with bulk food planning is helpful; excellent communication skills; experience organizing and managing others; desire to work, teach, and interact with NOLS students and instructors; desire to live and work in a small community. Experience with Excel is very necessary. Must have an exceptional level of attention to detail and be able to work flexible and sometimes irregular hours.

Leadership or Supervisory Duties: Brief instructors on course rations and other food-related issues. Supervise students during preparation of field rations on issue days and cleaning and restocking on deissue days. Directly supervise and support the rations and finance assistant. Supervise a team of up to 2 assistants and volunteers. Supervise and include the instructors and students in the course rations process.

Funds and/or Property: Manage rations budget (approximately $70k) including sales revenues; maintain proper quantity of foods in inventory for rationing the courses; properly store and/or sell food leftover at end of season.

How to Apply

It’s super easy! Just enter your email and click the “start your application” button at the top of the screen and upload your cover letter and resume as one PDF document when you are prompted to upload your CV/resume.

At NOLS we use the Applied platform for our recruitment. The Applied platform will ask you some demographic questions before you start your application. We at NOLS never see the responses to these demographic questions with your application. We only see summary statistics to help us check if our candidate pool is balanced and if everyone has an equal chance to get hired irrespective of their background. If you prefer, you can easily opt out of answering these questions.

Who is NOLS?

NOLS is a nonprofit global wilderness school that strives to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment. Our community—staff, students, trustees, and alumni—shares a commitment to wilderness, education, leadership, safety, community, and excellence. 

We believe that anyone can be a leader; it is our role to provide the environment and training to help people discover their full potential. We do that in classrooms close to home and in remote wilderness areas around the world. We are an organization with heart, expertise, and wildness, and these qualities help us support powerful, authentic experiences.

Why is NOLS a great place to work?

• We have locations in seven U.S. states, and six countries; and courses in all 50 U.S. states and over 10 countries.

• We have fantastic employee discounts on top outdoor gear brands

• We offer discounts on NOLS Courses for you and your family

• All employees can benefit of free outdoor equipment rental" at our various locations

• Insurance Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision benefits are available at a special NOLS rate to seasonal employees. Full-time employees are eligible for benefits package. 

• Wellness Time: Accrued leave that may be used for many HR-approved reasons throughout the season.

• Employee Assistance Program: Access to counselors that are available 24/7 to assist employees with work-life balance concerns.

Additional Information

Please note in order to ensure pay transparency and pay equity the range posted is non-negotiable. If you are unwilling to accept an offer within the posted range, please review our other opportunities to see if one better aligns with your salary expectations.

NOLS currently can support remote employees with legal working rights in the following locations: Canada; Chile; India; Mexico; New Zealand; the US, states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

• A criminal background check is required from all NOLS employees.

• NOLS participates in e-verify for U.S. employees, Certificado de Antecedentes for Chilean or Mexican employees, and other relevant employment verification systems based on location.

• Current NOLS employees please note it is NOLS policy to conduct an internal reference check with People Team and/or your current supervisor as part of the reference check process. If you have any questions or concerns about this process please contact peopleteam@nols.edu.

NOLS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, genetics information, disability unrelated to job or admission requirements, or status as a protected veteran. The school’s nondiscrimination policy applies to all phases of its employment process.

Reasonable accommodations may be requested for disability; limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition; religion; and domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or harassment by emailing peopleteam@nols.edu with your request.