Coffee Roasting Manager

About the Role

Nadir Ali Shah HR Consultants is seeking a Coffee Roasting Manager for a full-time position in Dammam, Eastern Region. This role involves managing the complete coffee roasting and roastery production operation, ensuring consistent coffee quality, efficient production, and adherence to proper roasting profiles and food safety standards. The manager will also be responsible for the effective leadership of the roasting team.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage daily roasting activities and production schedules, operating and overseeing commercial coffee roasting equipment.
• Develop, maintain, and optimize roasting profiles for various coffee origins and blends, ensuring consistency in cup quality.
• Conduct test roasting for new green coffee beans and adjust parameters based on bean characteristics.
• Evaluate incoming green coffee quality, monitor inventory, and ensure proper storage conditions.
• Establish and maintain roasting and quality control standards, conducting regular cupping and sensory evaluations.
• Plan daily and weekly roasting production, coordinating roasting, cooling, grinding, packaging, and dispatch activities.
• Lead, train, and supervise roasters and production staff, preparing work schedules and monitoring performance.
• Ensure proper operation and maintenance of roasting machines and related production equipment.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, hygiene, and sanitation standards, including Saudi food safety requirements.
• Develop new coffee blends and roasting profiles, conducting trials for new origins and seasonal coffees.
• Prepare daily/weekly production reports, monitor green coffee consumption, and track roasting yield and wastage.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Diploma or Bachelor's degree.
• 5-10 years of experience in coffee roasting operations.
• Strong hands-on experience operating commercial coffee roasters.
• Excellent understanding of roast profiling and coffee extraction principles.
• Strong knowledge of green coffee origins, processing methods, bean characteristics, and roasting behavior.
• Experience with cupping and sensory evaluation.
• Experience managing roasting or production teams.

Skills and Knowledge

The role requires strong practical knowledge of green coffee beans, roasting techniques, roast profiling, cupping, quality control, and production planning. Candidates should possess expertise in specialty and commercial coffee operations, along with the ability to identify defects and inconsistencies in coffee products.

Operational Focus

This position emphasizes achieving production targets while minimizing wastage and product loss. It involves implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for roasting and production processes, continuously improving productivity, and ensuring operational efficiency. The manager will also coordinate with maintenance/service providers for equipment upkeep and calibration.

Reporting and Cost Control

The Coffee Roasting Manager will be responsible for preparing comprehensive production reports, monitoring green coffee consumption and roasted coffee output, and tracking roasting yield. This includes identifying opportunities for cost reduction and maintaining detailed records of batches, profiles, inventory, quality results, and overall production performance. Production and quality issues will be reported directly to management.