Director of Coffee

Small Planes Coffee is seeking a well-qualified, enthusiastic candidate to fill the role of Director of Coffee at our coffee roasting facility in Washington DC. Small Planes is a seven-year-old coffee company that is defined by three core values: the relentless pursuit of coffee quality, an authentic commitment to fair and sustainable business practices, and a friendly, accessible approach to customer service.

Job Overview
The Director of Coffee's role is to oversee green coffee purchasing, quality control and roasting operations as primary responsibilities. Secondary responsibilities include internal and external education, support in meetings with current or prospective customers, marketing initiatives and general operations.

Job Responsibilities

Green Coffee Sourcing

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with import partners and other partners along supply chain
• Evaluate menu needs and contract new offerings
• Maintain projections and produce weekly inventory report
• Manage periodic green coffee releases and oversee shipping and warehouse logistics
• Sample roasting, profile development and test batch oversight

Roasting Operations and Quality Control

• Oversee training and schedule for roasting team
• Quality control for production batches and feedback to roasting team and profile edits
• Facilitate cuppings for roasting team members as well as other staff members
• Serve as additional roasting support as needed
• Email correspondence including guest recovery and troubleshooting
• Special client correspondence and meetings
• Delegate customer needs to other staff members as needed

Education and Other Responsibilities

• Lead monthly public cuppings
• Serve as in-house expert on green coffee sourcing and roasting
• Produce monthly newsletter for email marketing subscribers
• Create new product profiles for website and update legacy materials
• Assist in other marketing initiatives as needed
• Be available for meetings and tastings with existing or prospective wholesale partners as needed

Qualifications

• Extensive experience roasting and tasting coffee professionally (minimum 2 years)
• Knowledge of coffee supply chain, quality control and tasting, roasting expertise (Loring experience greatly preferred), roastery operations
• Aptitude utilizing tools such as email, Shopify, Cropster, Excel, Google Suite
• Experience in management, delegation and collaboration
• Interest in using logical problem-solving to implement and refine production systems.
• Self-motivated when working independently.
• Effective team player when assisting co-workers.
• Professional commitment to maintaining Small Planes’ quality and customer service standards.
• Able to lift up to 50 pounds repeatedly
• Able to lift up to 70 pounds with assistance

Please provide a resume as well as the following- (IMPORTANT)
1. Please tell us why you think you would be a good fit for this position and our company in particular. Please provide an example of management, delegation and/or collaboration in a team environment.
2. Tell us a significant experience you've had while making, serving or drinking coffee.

All applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, gender identity, or any other discriminating factors.