How To Become A Dairy Department Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dairy department manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average dairy department manager salary is $35,178. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes 4-6 years of experience to become a dairy department manager. Dairy department managers with a Forklift Safety and Inspector certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 32,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDairy Department ManagerUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $35,178

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.4

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.66%

Asian 6.43%

Black or African American 9.76%

Hispanic or Latino 16.40%

Unknown 4.73%

White 62.00%

Gender

female 22.14%

male 77.86%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

9.4

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dairy department manager

Explore dairy department manager education requirements

Most common dairy department manager degrees

Bachelor's

32.7 %

High School Diploma

31.9 %

Associate

24.1 %

Start to develop specific dairy department manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Sales Floor	23.39%
Customer Service	18.99%
Dairy Products	11.19%
Food Safety	8.85%
Stock Merchandise	6.91%

Complete relevant dairy department manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dairy department managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dairy department manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dairy department manager resumes.

Research dairy department manager duties and responsibilities

Implement inventory management system to effectively manage on-hands, assist with correct replenishment and maintain an acceptable level of over-stock.
Aggregate, analyze and organize information from QC reports into a department-wide WIKI to facilitate information sharing and best practice utilization.
Drive the achievement of financial goals by managing customer inventory flow process and SWAS planning.

Apply for dairy department manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a dairy department manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do dairy department managers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

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Dairy department manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Pros

Improving the sales and providing high quality customer service

Cons

Not enough support from manager

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019