Vacation Relief Operator (Nights)

Tillamook County Creamery Association; Pendleton (OR); On-site; USD 25,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

Tillamook County Creamery Association is seeking a Vacation Relief Operator to support cheese production across multiple stages, including HTST pasteurization, milk handling, and starter preparation. This role emphasizes accuracy, reliability, and teamwork in a fast-paced dairy facility.

You will monitor steps, record lot numbers, maintain quality, and communicate with Team Leads and Shift Supervisor to uphold Tillamook's high standards of product quality and food safety.

Qualifications

• This position requires initiative, dependability, adaptability, a positive attitude and integrity, and the ability to work well with others.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and record system and ingredient data per recipe and batch, including milk, color, starter, rennet, salt and additives.
• Record cheese making steps and temperatures, including milk temperature during filling and cook temperature.
• Monitor acid production by starter bacteria and explain steps in cheese making process.
• Communicate with Post Process Operators, Team Leads and Shift Supervisor to ensure quality.
• Start and operate pasteurization steps (HTST) and provide milk to vats as scheduled.
• Perform quality checks on milk silos per lab procedures and log results.
• Standardize cheese milk and process whey per documents and procedures.
• Oversee equipment operation and control, and ensure proper gauge readings and machine function.

Job description

Vacation Relief Operator

We invite members of all diverse communities to join our workforce. At Tillamook, we believe that inclusion and diversity are central to our cultural strategy. In order to achieve our growth ambition and compete and win in the marketplace, we believe we make better decisions and build stronger teams when we invite and rely on diverse perspectives, thoughts, backgrounds and cultures into our work and to fuel our innovation and growth. To us this means creating a climate of inclusion where all employees feel valued and a sense of belonging. We believe this will make us a better consumer brand and employer.

About you

What does real food mean to you? Is your favorite dish a cheesy casserole? Perhaps a decadent and indulgent ice cream? Either way, your identification with food is important to us. People who fit well here at Tillamook have a commitment to quality in everything they do. Our team members understand our vision, contribute to our mission, thrive on innovative thinking, hard work and good, honest values

What you will do

This position requires one to take initiative, be dependable, adaptable, maintain a positive attitude and integrity, and work well with others. The Vacation Relief Operator is responsible for the production and testing of the different stages in the cheese-making process. This position is responsible for ensuring that the steps for producing a product that meets TCCA’s high standard of quality are taken and notifying the Team Lead and Supervisor when issues arise that would jeopardize that quality. They will record all necessary information used to track the manufacturing of product produces at this facility. This position requires knowledge of all areas in the plant: Utility, Operator (including Milk Receiving), Starter, Post Process and Cheese Vats.

Here is a day in the life

• Monitor and record the system and supplier lot numbers, amounts and addition times for all ingredients. This includes milk, color, starter, rennet, salt, and jalapenos/habaneros. The vat operator will also be responsible for recording the system lot number for the bags.
• Monitor and record the cheese making steps according to the recipe for the product being produced that day. This will include the temperature of the milk during filling, the firmness of the set and the temperature of the cook.
• Monitor and record acid production by the starter bacteria.
• Be able to explain each step in the cheese making process and what is occurring chemically and physically to the product at that step.
• Communicate with Post Process Operators, Team Leads and Shift Supervisor

Post Process

• Start and operate the milk HTST and to provide pasteurized or heat shocked milk to the vat operator as per the production schedule.
• Perform component testing of milk silos per procedure posted in the lab by the FT1 analyzer, communicate to vat operator, and post in log book.
• Standardize the cheese milk with sweet cream per standardization document
• Process whey received from the vats per raw whey processing document.
• Operation Monitoring & Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems. Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Pasteurize raw whey cream and sweet cream
• Operate the Separator and Clarifier as needed

Starter Maker

• Sample and test finished starter for activity