At Blue Bottle, our mission is to connect the world to delicious coffee. From seed to cup, we elevate the craft of coffee in everything we do. We strive to build a better tomorrow by investing in what matters: a sustainable future for our people, the company, and our planet.
About the role:
You will be the leader of our coffee team’s manufacturing, packaging, and fulfillment processes at our West Sacramento facility. You and your team will ensure our products meet our quality standards, are ready for shipment on time, and model our strongly held company values of deliciousness, hospitality, and sustainability.
You will ensure that all coffee team safety, personnel, quality, efficiency, and operational production responsibilities are sustained and continuously improving to meet our operational goals. You will lead our West Sacramento coffee team through seasons of manufacturing and fulfillment improvements to accommodate anticipated growth in U.S. and global coffee markets.
Your long-term goal is to continue to develop our team members to enable Blue Bottle’s continued growth and purpose, and build a world-class coffee production facility.
You will:
Planning and Production Management:
- Oversee all coffee team activities at the West Sacramento facility. Leading a talented and dedicated production team, your systemic improvements will ease the workload of your team and bring clarity to increasingly complex scenarios.
- Define and lead the development of coffee team strategies, processes, and systems to accommodate anticipated growth in our U.S. and global coffee markets.
- Partner with our SH&E and Food Safety teams to ensure that our coffee manufacturing facilities and teams are operating in compliance with all necessary local and governmental programs and regulations.
- Work with many of our regional teams including Supply Chain, Retail, Finance, CPG, and Information Technology to continually build and maintain strong partnerships between the departments, and support the continued success of all of our teams.
- Define, create, and help sustain production plans, engaging with cross-company stakeholders to ensure that we are achieving the correct product output levels on time.
- Help update or create standard operating procedures, policies, and training materials as needed to achieve consistency and clarity in all of our production processes.
Team Leadership and Development:
- Build cross-functional redundancies within the coffee production team to ensure expertise is always available at the facility, and that will allow your team members the ability to move into other Blue Bottle opportunities as they become available.
- Calculate staffing needs and hire, schedule, train, manage, and individually develop an incredible team dedicated to production excellence.
- Drive efforts on our production team to always ensure a welcoming and inclusive workplace environment for all of our employees, suppliers, and guests.
- Partner with your leaders to ensure that our production teams are being provided with the necessary feedback and performance reviews.
Continuous Improvement (Kaizen):
- Help our team identify and establish key performance indicators, supporting the development of tools that will aid our team in finding and understanding opportunities to improve our manufacturing processes.
- Continue to develop and oversee our equipment calibration and maintenance schedules, ensuring our equipment is always in top performance to meet our production output needs.
- Support our manufacturing teams in root cause analysis as needed, systematically assessing operational production problems and understanding the best steps to achieve improvements or problem resolution.
- Support organizational sustainability projects, helping ensure that sustainability informs our coffee manufacturing strategies and processes.
You are:
- An experienced leader of people who empowers and trusts your team, delegates responsibility, and finds teaching moments to continuously grow and improve your team’s skills.
- Empathetic and hospitable, always eager to listen, understand, learn, and field questions for your team and coworkers. You are a quick reader of people and situations, who can accurately troubleshoot issues, gauge the capabilities of your team, and deploy the right people to the right problem.
- An excellent communicator (clear, articulate, and hospitable) who is the nexus from which production, retail, e-commerce, quality, and logistics teams can gain valuable insight and confidence related to all collaborations between departments. You are a collaborator at your core and a team player who is flexible to changes as our production demands shift.
- A strategic thinker who is never fully satisfied with the status quo and always looking for ways to improve your team’s efforts, but who is also excited to roll up your sleeves and lead with integrity when required.
- Detail-oriented and a maniacal creator of lists, schedules, process diagrams, etc. yet flexible and ‘can do’ when the inevitable surprise pops up that requires urgency and creativity to resolve.
- Always ahead of schedule: You anticipate problems beforehand and take preventive measures, actively communicate, and ask for assistance, to resolve potential problems before they become an actual issue for our teams, team members, or guests.
- Highly observant of data and metrics and intent on using both to develop new ideas and opportunities for process improvement.
You have:
- 3+ years leading people in a complex production environment is preferred.
- Confidence with coffee production systems, equipment, mechanics, and software.
- Understanding of the many facets of production quality assurance.
- Broad knowledge of a range of leadership strategies and production processes.
- Zero tolerance for inhospitable behaviors, providing feedback, and working toward a resolution with any team members needing a course correction.
- Clear, articulate, and hospitable communication skills.
- Comfort using online tools including Microsoft Suite, Google Suite, Lucidchart, and NetSuite.
- Last but not least, a deep love for great coffee, food, and exceptional customer experiences.
Physical Requirements:
- The ability to stand, walk, and sit for long periods (at least 8 hours per day and 5 days per week).
- The use of hands to handle or feel and the ability to reach with hands and arms.
- The ability to stoop, kneel, or crouch.
- The ability to squat, bend, twist, and reach for items below waist level or above shoulders.
- The ability to lift, push/pull, carry, and/or move up to 50 pounds.
- The ability to speak loudly and clearly. This role is subject to loud noise for extended periods of time, to cause the worker to shout in order to be heard above ambient noise level.
- The ability to climb ladders, stairs, ramps, and uneven floor and/or surfaces as needed.
- The ability to have close visual acuity to perform repetitive visual checking, counting, spotting small defects, and determining the accuracy of numbers.
A few benefits we offer:
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for eligible employees starting on your first day
- Best-in-class coffee training and continuing education
- Free membership into the Specialty Coffee Association of America and discounts on events (including Expos and Championships)
- 401(k) plan
- Paid time off & paid volunteer hours
- 50% discount on all products, both online and in-cafe; this includes food, beverages, whole-bean coffee, and merchandise
- Flexible spending account & commuter benefits
- Employee Assistance Program
- Additional benefits information
Blue Bottle is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value an open mind, dedication to work, and a collaborative spirit. We hire based on these qualities, a job’s requirements, our business’s needs, and an applicant’s qualifications. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind—in the hiring process or in the workplace.
We comply with the ADA and consider reasonable accommodation measures that may be necessary for eligible applicants/employees to perform essential functions.
We may refuse to hire relatives of present employees if doing so could result in actual or potential problems in supervision, security, safety, or morale, or if doing so could create conflicts of interest.
We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
We participate in E-Verify. We will provide the federal government with employees’ Form I-9 information to confirm authorization to work in the U.S. We will only use E-Verify once an employee has accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.
