Lead Chocolate Maker

Dandelion Chocolate; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 63,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Vision, and Dental benefits

401k program

Paid vacation time

Holiday pay

Paid sick time

Commuter benefits

FSAs

Local gym discounts

Chocolate tasting opportunities

Travel to origin and Japan locations

Growth opportunities

Job summary

Dandelion Chocolate on San Francisco's Mission District is hiring a Lead Chocolate Maker to guide daily production from roasting to tempering. This full‑time role starts at $70,000/year, requires weekend work, and a 7:30am start, with a strong emphasis on safety and quality.

You will lead by example, mentor the team, and own key areas of the chocolate‑making process. A practiced palate, quick problem‑solving, and clear communication are essential as you help us craft chocolate from just two

Qualifications

• Leadership experience in a fast‑paced production environment.
• Strong communication within teams and with management.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop staff while maintaining safety and quality standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead Chocolate Makers and oversee all steps of production: roasting, cracking, winnowing, tempering, and bar preparation.
• Drive daily line performance and troubleshoot issues with the Production Manager.
• Own specific areas of the process and ensure consistent quality across batches.
• Coordinate with the flavor manager to develop profiles for origins.
• Participate in weekly Production Task Force meetings to improve processes.
• Promote safety and professional conduct across the production team.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Communication

Job description

Job Title: Lead Chocolate Maker

Hours: 40 hours/ week, 7:30am-4pm, weekends required

Department: Chocolate Production - 16th Street

Reports to: Production Manager

Pay rate: Starts at $70,000/year, non‑exempt

About Us

Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment the beans we buy. We’re always searching for good cocoa beans, and now we’re looking for a Lead Chocolate Maker to help our production team craft small batches of chocolate.

A Day in the Life

Lead Chocolate Makers are core to the success of the Chocolate Production day. Your day starts at 7:30am where you refine a few bins of chocolate so we have enough material to meet our Ball Mill goals for the day. At 8am huddle, we review the daily plans, taste test a new origin roasting profile, and ensure the team is set up for success to meet our highest quality standards. Today you lead the Ball Mill operations, confidently loading the correct materials in each machine, using a grindometer to confirm our quality standards, and tasting each batch to ensure it meets our target taste profile. You step away for a few minutes to troubleshoot the bean sorting machine with an Apprentice Chocolate Maker, noting a new setting that is a little bit slower but gives better, cleaner yields for a new origin. At the end of the day, you gather the team to review what goals were met, what hiccups happened along the way, and what steps can be improved as we continuously seek to perfect the chocolate making process. Candidates must have stellar leadership skills and a great attitude. This full time role starts at $70,000/year.

About You

You are fascinated by all things chocolate, and feel great satisfaction helping your team work hard and fast towards measurable goals. You can prioritize tasks and effectively organize your team to achieve daily goals. As the day evolves, you are able to quickly pivot and shift priorities as a machine breaks or a team member gets pulled into a meeting. You have honed your palate to be able to confidently judge when a batch is ready and can identify 8/9 origins correctly in a blind taste test. You complete each part of the chocolate making process quickly, safely, and to spec for the lead level. You lead by example to promote safely working with machines and ensuring our batches are made to the highest food safety standards. The team knows they can always rely on you to be professional, timely, considerate, and aware of others and your own surroundings. You have great written and verbal communication skills in team and one‑on‑one settings. Acute listening skills are equally important to understanding problems and finding solutions. We are looking for someone to proactively problem‑solve to make our process and team better each day.

Responsibilities

• Chocolate Making: Perform all steps of chocolate production: inspecting beans, roasting, cracking, winnowing, starting batches, tempering, and foiling bars to lead chocolate maker metrics. Have at least one area of the process that you own and are the go‑to person for any questions/issues. Taking on production projects such as working with the flavor manager to develop profiles for origins.
• Leadership & Professionalism: Lead Chocolate Makers must go above and beyond to illustrate that they are professional, timely, considerate, aware of others and their own surroundings, all while being confident in the process. You are a Lead because you are a role model. Lead the team to meet or exceed all daily goals, troubleshooting any immediate issues and appropriately raising issues to the Production Manager (often with a proposed solution). You can delegate tasks to other team members efficiently, and your teammates want to work with you over and over again because of your positive attitude.
• Areas of Ownership: Each lead chocolate maker has an area of ownership. These areas are parts of the process that are fundamental to the success of production. Areas of ownership should always be something that leads are not only excited about pursuing but also feel a general drive to exceed expectations in. Each lead will have multiple areas of ownership ranging from tangible parts of the process (ground chocolate production, tempering, and cracking and winnowing) to more fundamental parts of production such as training and quality. Most leads will be able to lead the day and all leads will be capable of being a point person.
• Production Task Force: PTF is a mandatory meeting for all lead chocolate makers. It is an opportunity for leads and Managers to meet once a week or as necessary to discuss any process questions or difficulties that we are running into.
• Professional Development: Above all, we want to know that the chocolate we make this year is better than the chocolate we made last year. To realize this, your skills and expertise are constantly evolving as well. Your professional development might include researching a new tool, a “passion project”, collaborating with other departments (i.e. events or education), traveling to conferences, or other professional development opportunities. We encourage our leads to seek out opportunities to grow within their roles and engage within the areas of ownership that they work within.
• Quality: Tasting and evaluating chocolate bars for flavor and quality. Holding high quality standards, monitoring each batch of beans and every bar that is produced to make sure it holds up to those standards. You have a keen attention to detail while also seeing the big picture. You adhere to quality standards even when it’s not convenient.
• Safety: Adhere to all safety standards and uphold proper machinery, food safety, and quality procedures for yourself and your team members.
• Guest Engagement: While this role does not require leading tours, we frequently have tour groups coming through to visit the factory, crews filming, and many curious guests around the factory. Be a welcoming presence at the factory while being mindful of safety and daily production goals.
• Other Tasks as Necessary: You stay curious and ask lots of questions, you are always willing to help and see projects through.

Requirements

• Schedule: 7:30am to 4pm. Weekend availability.
• Prior Chocolate Experience: Previous experience and a developed chocolate palate as a chocolate maker in a commercial chocolate production environment including roasting, tempering, melanging, and refining artisan chocolate.
• Leadership Qualities: The ability to absorb and communicate new information in a fast‑paced environment and to complete tasks quickly, accurately, and efficiently which includes completing the Lead plan within 30 days.
• Physical requirements: Ability to perform tasks requiring bending, stooping, and walking throughout the shift and work under pressure, navigate crowded spaces and respond to guest and team needs efficiently and courteously. This position requires that you be moving on your feet for most of the day and to occasionally lift up to 50‑pound objects.

Benefits

Dandelion Chocolate constantly invests in our people and culture. All team members receive medical, vision, and dental benefits as well as the option to enroll in our 401k program. All employees receive paid vacation time, holiday pay, and paid sick time. In addition, our team members enjoy commuter benefits, FSAs, local gym discounts, chocolate tasting opportunities, the chance to travel to origin and our Japan locations, and a range of opportunities to grow and develop within the company.