Director of Producer Partnerships

Position
Director of Producer Partnerships

Job Description
The Director of Producer Partnerships is critical to Passenger's core purpose: seeking out and thoughtfully presenting the world's finest coffee and tea. The Director of Producer Partnerships is responsible for sourcing and green coffee quality, supply chain management from the farm to the freezer, and relevant information/content gathering for the coffee required by the Foundational Menu for Passenger and Necessary Coffee Roasters. While quality control, logistics, and data management are integral components of this role, the Director of Producer Partnerships’ most important responsibility is to manage, strengthen, and lead the evolution of the Foundational Sourcing Program.  

As a member of Passenger’s Leadership Team, this Director participates in top-level strategic planning and decision making conversations. They recognize the importance of their role to the pursuit of Passenger's vision: a world where coffees and teas of the highest quality are produced, purchased, and enjoyed within value chains that are genuinely sustainable-financially, socially, and environmentally.

Responsibilities

Partnerships and Education 

• Build relationships, maintain communications, and refine vision for the Foundational Partnerships - always looking for opportunities to add value for producer partners while honoring Passenger’s sourcing values and quality standards.
• Travel to visit Foundational Partners on a regular schedule and plan for possible off-cycle visits related to special projects, partnership needs, colleague, photographer, and wholesale partner support. 
• Develop and host modules, cuppings, and other educational content created to highlight and promote the Foundational sourcing program.
• Collect information, photos, and other content to aid in ongoing marketing and education.
• Record, organize, and share all relevant data for annual price transparency reporting. 
• Contribute ideas for the ways Passenger can engage in research and development projects that support its mission, vision, values.
• When appropriate, serve as the face of Passenger and foster positive engagement between the Passenger team and broader Specialty Coffee community.
  
  

Sourcing and Logistics 

• Ensure an adequate frozen green position for year-round Passenger Foundational and Necessary menu needs.
• Evaluate and record quality data for every lot under consideration for purchase to ensure that each contracted coffee meets Passenger’s quality standards.  
• Maintain green coffee quality data in an organized and accessible way and support the Director of Coffee and Head Roaster with timely QC reports for all incoming Foundation and Necessary lots.
• Serve as point person for the Kreider cold storage partnership. With the support of the Director of Coffee and roasting team, manage coffee arrivals, ongoing green coffee position, and billing.  
• Seek to build strong business relationships with our importing partners that are beneficial to everyone involved.
• Collaborate with the Director of Coffee to:
  • Seek out coffee from Foundational Partnerships that would meet the Reserve and Education Menu criteria.
  • Maintain up to date projections regarding green coffee needs.

Essential Requirements

• Passionate about the industry with a vision to maintain a long term career in coffee.
• Strategic thinker with proven leadership skills. 
• Success with building and maintaining positive, supportive professional relationships.
• Able to collaborate effectively on a day to day basis
• Ability to communicate in basic conversational Spanish and a willingness to use translation applications to communicate in additional producing partner languages.
• Organizational skills with the propensity to properly manage time and the ability to prioritize and delegate tasks and projects.
• Strong problem solving and decision-making abilities with an attentiveness to detail.
• Proficiency with email, Google Suite and industry focused applications including Shopify, Cropster, and Sanity.
• Outstanding communicator. Proven ability to communicate effectively whether drafting written content, creating educational resources, or sharing information in an in-person presentation setting. 
• Ability to work independently and with a team in a positive and constructive manner.
• Maintain a valid US Passport with the ability to travel locally, regionally and internationally as needed.
• Intentional about decreasing waste and any negative environmental impacts.

Physical Requirements / Working Conditions

• Daily exposure to high amounts of caffeine.
• Must be able to occasionally lift up to 50 pounds independently and 100 pounds in a team lift.
• At times, the work requires the following motions: bending, twisting, squatting and reaching.
• Requires the regular use of hands for simple grasping and fine manipulations.
• Rare exposure to FDA approved cleaning chemicals.
• Occasional Exposure to temperatures: <32 degrees Fahrenheit (freezing).
• Work is performed while sitting/standing and interfacing with a personal computer
• Requires the ability to communicate effectively using speech, vision, and hearing
• Ability to work a flexible schedule including nights, weekends, and holidays when traveling or responding to emergencies that arise in supply chain management.
• Travel solo for up to 10 days at a time via several traditional and not-so-traditional methods, within multiple time zones, and be subjected to a wide variety of accommodations and meals.

Desired Work Experience

• 8+ years in a Specialty Coffee leadership role
• Skilled coffee taster
• Experience with green coffee contracting

Salary Range 

$80 - 95K annually

Benefits include: 

• Paid time off
• Volunteer time off 
• Retirement Plan
• Complementary meals, coffee, and tea
• Health, vision, and dental insurance
  
  

Reports To

For Partnership Vision and Overall Accountability- CEO: Crystal Weaver
For Coffee Quality and Menu Structure - Director of Coffee: Russel Durfee 

Note:
Passenger is an Equal Opportunity employer seeking to build an inclusive
workforce that reflects the diversity of our city.  We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community. The purpose of this document is to provide a general summary of essential responsibilities for the position and is not meant as an exhaustive list. This document does not reflect all job duties or requirements for every position. Requirements build as one progresses through the job levels, so any job duties required at a lower level may be required at the higher level in addition to the duties listed for that higher level. Duties, assignments, and other responsibilities may differ for similar positions based on business conditions, departmental or geographic location, and/or needs for the particular position.