Role: Senior Manager, Manufacturing

Department: Operations

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer

Compensation Range: $135,000.00 - $185,000.00 annual salary

About Us

Headquartered in Berkeley, CA, Bellwether Coffee is working to positively transform the coffee industry by making coffee roasting more accessible and sustainable.

Our revolutionary electric, ventless commercial coffee roaster does not require gas lines or expensive ventilation. It’s the most consistent and controllable roaster available, has the lowest carbon footprint of any commercial roaster ever made, and was designed by coffee people who want a better future. Our roasting platform allows Bellwether customers to easily and responsibly source green coffee from incredible coffee farms around the world, expertly roast using artisan-crafted roast profiles, and share fresh, delicious coffee!

About this Role

We’re looking for a Senior Manufacturing Operations Manager who thrives at the intersection of supply chain, production, and partner management. You’ll own the day-to-day execution of our manufacturing program: making sure parts are where they need to be, coordinating builds with our assembly partners, and turning our sales forecasts into reliable production schedules.

This role is a fit if you’re equal parts planner and doer — someone who can forecast at the 10,000-foot level but also dig into the details when a shipment is stuck or a partner needs fast answers.

You will interface with all functions necessary to bring highly reliable, best-in-class, automated coffee roasting products to market. The primary focus of this position is to plan, facilitate and manage our manufacturing partner’s activities and priorities while coordinating with internal teams at Bellwether including engineering, technical support, supply chain and customer success. You will be responsible for managing and communicating progress against the established cost, schedule, and product experience goals to management and stakeholders. This position is more than tracking schedules and maintaining issue lists.

Job Location

The role requires on-site presence at Bellwether’s Berkeley HQ.

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage Manufacturing/Assembly Partners
  • Serve as the main point of contact for our manufacturing partners. Ability to manage up and across at the partner.
  • Keep daily/weekly build schedules on track, drive accountability, and solve issues before they escalate.
  • Monitor and report on partner performance (on-time delivery, throughput, quality).
  • Provide forecast requirements to the partners on monthly, quarterly, annual basis.
    
    
• Coordinate Parts Flow
  • Maintain an ongoing clear-to-build process by continuously verifying part availability, resolving shortages, and coordinating with partners to keep production on schedule.
  • Own ordering and replenishment of components, managing lead times and shortages.
  • Work closely with procurement and supply chain to improve cost, reliability, and flow.
    
    
• Own Manufacturing Forecasting
  • Translate sales pipeline and demand forecasts into actionable production schedules.
  • Maintain a rolling forecast and communicate changes proactively to partners and internal teams.
  • Ensure that management and stakeholders are notified of any potential schedule impacts.
  • Facilitate regular status meetings with both domestic and international engineering, manufacturing and service teams.
  • Balance demand, inventory, and capacity to ensure we deliver on time without excess cost.
  • Prepares and manages manufacturing forecasts based on real-time updates from Contract Manufacturer and Engineering teams.
    
    
• Drive Operational Activities
  • Highlights issues well in advance and leads efforts to develop and implement alternative actions to overcome the issues and maintain the schedule.
  • Works with engineering to manage Issues/Action Item list
  • Ensure seamless communication with other functional areas (SW, Leadership, Technical Services, Product Mgmt, etc.)
  • Improve processes that increase build efficiency, reduce cost, and ensure quality.
  • Develop dashboards and reporting for manufacturing health (output, forecast accuracy, inventory).
  • Help scale our ERP/MRP systems to support growth.

What Success Looks Like

• Manufacturing partners have zero surprises and always have the parts they need.
• Forecast accuracy and output reliability improve quarter after quarter.
• Leadership has clear visibility into manufacturing status, risks, and performance.
• Customers receive on-time deliveries, every time.
  
  

Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, manufacturing or engineering.
• Experienced user of financial systems such as Netsuite, Oracle, SAP
• Ability to quickly learn new PLM and ERP systems.
• 5+ years of project management experience in supply chain management for manufacturing.
• Candidate must understand the product development process, test cycles (EVT, DVT, NPI, Industry Certification).
• Strong communication skills, team-work and interpersonal skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to utilize various technologies and tools to effectively manage projects and provide clear and concise communications to teams and stakeholders.
• Adept at Microsoft Office, Google Suite, LucidChart, Jira, Arena.
• You are authorized to work in the U.S

Preferred experience

• Experience working on complex electromechanical systems requiring industry certifications
• Experience working on projects built for the food and beverage industry, especially the coffee industry

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, genetic information, medical condition, veteran status, or any other class protected by local, state or federal law.