Operations Coordinator

Planet Protein; Canberra; On-site; AUD 52,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hourly rate $45 + super

Flexible start/end times

Direct work with founder

Autonomy to shape operations

Job summary

Planet Protein is seeking an Operations Coordinator in Canberra to own the engine room of production, stock accuracy, supplier liaison, and order fulfillment, while maintaining great customer service.

This role suits someone who enjoys autonomy, variety, and growth with a fast-growing plant-based startup; potential to move to full-time from December as the company scales.

Qualifications

• Hands-on operations or warehouse/fulfilment experience essential.
• Able to stand, lift boxes and move stock.
• Clear written English for customer emails.
• Willing to learn Shopify, Australia Post and spreadsheet basics.
• Australian work rights and a current driver’s licence.
• Accessible packing facility in Lyneham, ACT during training.

Responsibilities

• Oversee production along with packing staff, ensuring quality and accurate records.
• Maintain stock counts across ingredients, packaging, and finished goods; sync Shopify with shelf reality.

Skills

Production operations

Warehouse experience

Inventory management

Customer communication

Tools

Shopify

Australia Post

Job description

Our plant-based meat replacements, protein powders, and other ingredients reduce animal cruelty and emissions, come packaged in compostable and recyclable packaging, and help provide job opportunities to refugees and migrants.

From our launch in May ’26, we’ve sold over 1.2 tonnes of protein products to over 1,000 customers.

This growth means we need our first ongoing hire to work directly with the founder, suppliers and customers to continue scaling.

The Role: Operations Coordinator

Someone to own the engine room: overseeing production, keeping stock accurate, dealing with suppliers, getting orders out the door, and looking after customers when something goes wrong.

This role will suite someone who likes autonomy, variety in their tasks, and opportunities to grow. We’re on track to 2x our revenue by Christmas, and this role has plenty of opportunity to grow with the business.

If you’re interested in start-ups, sustainability, and social impact, this is for you.

This role will likely have more hours available from November, with the potential to go full-time (at a higher pay) from December (pending growth assumptions).

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

Production

• Oversee our bag packing staff to monitor quality, identify efficiency improvements, and monitor record keeping, production, and packing days end to end: batch, weigh, seal, label, date code
• This process is semi-automated at the moment, and I am currently looking to increase automation of this further.
• Follow and improve the batch records and food safety paperwork
• Keep the workspace clean, compliant, and audit ready
• Maintain accurate stock counts across raw ingredients, packaging, and finished goods
• Keep Shopify inventory in sync with what is actually on the shelf

Suppliers and purchasing

• Place and track purchase orders for ingredients, bags, labels, satchels, and boxes
• Chase late deliveries, check quantities and quality on arrival, and resolve short shipments
• Keep a live view of lead times and landed costs

Shipping and logistics

• Pick, pack, and despatch daily online orders (we’ll be looking to outsource this once we hit sufficient volume)
• Book and manifest Australia Post consignments, print labels, and track and resolve lost parcels
• Pack and coordinate wholesale orders and local deliveries
• Answer customer emails and DMs within one business day, in our voice
• Resolve damaged, missing, and late orders without needing to elevate
• Feed recurring complaints back so we can fix the cause

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Highly desired

• Experience in a hands-on operations, warehouse, production, or fulfilment role
• Comfortable with physical work: standing, lifting boxes of product, moving stock around
• Organised with a passion for improving processes
• Clear, warm written English for customer emails
• Confident with basic software and willing to learn Shopify, Australia Post and a spreadsheet
• Australian work rights and a current driver's licence
• Able to get to our packing facility in Lyneham, ACT between 9am and 5pm (some evenings between 5pm and 8pm required during the training period)

Nice to have

• Food handling or food safety certification
• Shopify or another e-commerce platform
• Experience with small businesses
• Interest in plant-based food, nutrition or sustainability

The trait that matters most

You can solve problems on your own. A supplier is late, a customer is upset, a batch is off, the label printer dies. You make a sensible call, act, and tell us after. If you need a manager standing next to you (after the training period), this likely isn’t the role for you.

WHAT WE OFFER

• $45 per hour, including superannuation, paid weekly
• Flexible work arrangements. Upon completing training, we can offer flexibility in start and finish times and some work-from-home arrangements.
• Genuine autonomy and no corporate layers. You work directly with the founder
• Real influence over how the operation is built, because it is being built now