Director, Supplement & Beverage Production

Lazarus Naturals; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 130,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Lazarus Naturals, headquartered in Portland, OR, seeks an experienced Senior Operations leader to drive production, packaging, and formulation initiatives. This role reports to the CEO and leads a multi-disciplinary team across planning, manufacturing, and quality functions.

You will develop strategic operations plans, manage capex and cost targets, and collaborate with finance to improve real-time performance metrics while ensuring regulatory compliance in cannabis operations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a senior production/packaging leadership role.
• 15+ years in food/beverage production.
• Experience with startups and mid-size companies.
• Strong analytical/problem-solving skills with data-driven decisions.
• Excellent communication and collaboration with stakeholders.
• Detail-oriented with organizational skills.
• Experience in METRC-regulated cannabis operations preferred.
• Proven ability to recruit, train, and coach team members.
• Self-starter with prioritization in fast-paced environments.
• Experience with Google Sheets/Excel and ERP systems; willingness to learn new software.

Responsibilities

• Plan and report to develop strategic operations for growth, efficiency, and future readiness.
• Lead Capex and improvement plans for production; manage ROI analysis, risk, and execution.
• Oversee annual production and staffing plans.
• Set product cost targets and long-term profitability via cost drivers and investments.
• Collaborate with Finance & BI to deliver real-time performance insights.
• Implement workstation time-card tracking and automate production costing reporting.
• Define goals and responsibilities for production teams, ensuring accountability.
• Manage production schedule, inventory risk, and cross-functional solutions for shortages.
• Lead production and formulation teams; improve quality, reduce stockouts, and raise efficiency.
• Drive lean principles across production; secure executive buy-in for changes.
• Oversee ERP deployment and integration of systems and reporting.
• Partner with Quality & Sanitation to uphold organoleptic and customer-facing standards.
• Develop capacity planning tools aligned to forecast and demand.

Skills

Senior leadership

Production management

Budgeting

Cross-functional collaboration

Lean manufacturing

Recruiting & coaching

Data-driven decision making

Forecasting

Communication skills

Regulatory compliance (cannabis)

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in operations/business

Tools

Google Sheets/Excel

ERP systems

Job description

About the Company: Etz Hayim owns and operates the brands Cycling Frog and Lazarus Naturals, as well as a sprawling operation that spans from farming over 300 acres of hemp, extraction, chemical processing, packaging, supply chain and warehousing to support both brands and private label customers. Lazarus Naturals was founded in 2016 to make quality hemp-based CBD accessible to everybody. It's why we own our manufacturing process from start to finish - beginning at our hemp farms in Central Oregon to our extraction, formulation, and packaging - all to deliver safe, effective CBD at an affordable price. We provide a 60% Assistance Program to veterans, individuals with disabilities, or those experiencing income challenges, because we believe everybody should be able to experience the benefits of CBD and natural medicine regardless of their financial situation. Cycling Frog is normalizing the consumption of casual use THC products. We are on a mission to make THC convenient, affordable, and fun by making a sessionable THC beverage the same price as a beer or soda. We want to change the way THC is consumed and viewed by our society by focusing on lower potency, ready to drink beverages that can easily fit into anyone’s lifestyle. This role will be based in Portland, Oregon. Reports to CEO.

Job Responsibilities:

Planning and reporting

• Partner with the rest of the Operational leadership team to develop the strategic operations plan to support the growth of the business, drive efficiency and prepare the organization for the future.
• Develop, present, and lead Capex and improvement plans for production to support our growth strategy and forecasts. Manage the planning, ROI analysis, risk analysis and execution for production projects.
• Manage the annual production and staffing plan.
• Develop and execute upon product cost targets and long term goals to drive current and future profitability. Determine the key the cost drivers and where our business can create cost savings via operational changes and capital investment.
• Partner with the Finance & BI teams to develop better visibility and reporting for targets, goals, and KPIs allowing for floor level teams to understand their performance in real time. Educate and mentor the team to understand the importance of their goals and deliverables.
• Manage the implementation of workstation time-card tracking for employees from our payroll systems to live track actual production costing by work order, build out automated reporting, and build out tracking to ensure employees are properly logging their hours/work time.

Operations

• Clearly define the goals and lines of responsibilities for the production teams, and build ownership and accountability on a manager and floor level.
• Manage the production schedule and proactively mitigate inventory out of stocks. Proactively work cross functionally to alleviate any operational challenges that create out of stock risks.
• Manage the production & formulation teams. Responsible for ensuring that all quality standards are maintained and that all other processes are adhered to on the production floor.
• Lead the production and formulation teams to work efficiently by building capability and better practices from the floor. Take the time to understand how each of our production and formulation processes work and prioritize where we can make the improvements that drive product quality, out of stock risks and efficiency.
• Lead the implementation of lean principles across all aspects of production. Lead the teams to determine root causes and create lasting solutions to ongoing issues.
• Drive operational excellence and efficiency. Develop plans and create Executive and floor level buy in for personnel, facility and Capex changes to improve our operations.
• Lead the determination, implementation and onboarding the proper systems for the Portland production teams. Lead the implementation of operations modules for our ERP system and how to build out the proper ecosystem of tools, training, third-party systems and reporting to support it.
• Develop and implement proactive measures in partnership with the Quality & Sanitation team to better manage product quality and hold the production team accountable to organoleptic and customer facing standards.
• Build Capacity Planning tools that integrate into our forecast and demand planning to review our equipment and personnel capacity to determine if we are over or understaffed.

Leadership

• Manage, train, and inspire your team. Develop an environment that promotes and rewards initiative, open communication, accountability and excellence. Be a hands on leader who isn't afraid to jump into the weeds to understand our systems, enjoys working on the production floor, and is able to prioritize strategic leadership.
• Wade neck deep into the operational practices, processes, systems and on-the-floor operation to understand how the organization works.
• Provide coaching and development of staff to create clear career pathing across the operations teams, and provide training to support staff members in being successful at their jobs and support their career paths.
• Responsible for building and managing the labor and departmental budgets. Build and proactively manage against demand and labor capacity planning tools.
• Take a long term view of the organization. Focus on building a company that services our customers into the future and provides concrete value and solutions.

Requirements and Skills:

• 5+ years of senior level role managing a production/packaging team.
• 15+ years of experience in food and/or beverage production.
• Experience at multiple sizes and maturities of companies, specifically at start ups and mid-stage companies.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyze data and make informed decisions.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with internal and external stakeholders.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills.
• Experience working in METRC regulated cannabis operations is preferred.
• Passionate and skilled at recruiting, training, and coaching team members.
• Selfstarter with excellent prioritization skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced, results focused environment.
• Software experience: experienced at Google Sheets/Excel, ERP experience, and the ability and interest to learn new software