Bread Quality & Innovation Manager [Salaried]

Description

Position Overview

The Bread Quality and Innovation (BQI) Manager is a hands-on leader who uses their baking expertise to drive quality, innovation, and R&D at our Certified Organic production bakery. This dynamic role is essential to the production team, where you’ll lead the development and refinement of our baking practices and bread quality standards. As a passionate advocate for excellence, you'll spearhead bread innovation projects, with a special focus on perfecting 100% sourdough techniques. This is an exciting, newly created position at Bread Alone, offering a unique opportunity for an experienced baker who shares our dedication to crafting simple, honest, and outstanding sourdough breads that nourish the world.

This position reports to the Director of Production.

Hours: This is a full time position and schedule includes working holidays & weekends. We strive to make schedules as manageable as possible to encourage and allow work-life balance.

Bread Alone's Worldview: Bread Alone Began in 1983 with simple intention: To feed people organic bread baked from a wood-fire brick oven. We run the bakery today with the optimistic belief that good food, an equitable economy and a healthy planet can thrive together. At the heart of our endeavors lies the profound belief that individuals are integral to every positive impact we make. Join us as we collectively strive for excellence in aligning our aspirations with meaningful actions.

Requirements

Duties and Responsibilities

As the Bread Quality and Innovation Manager, you are the driving force behind our commitment to excellence. Your primary responsibility is to develop, implement, and maintain comprehensive bread quality programming across our production facility. To achieve this, your duties will include:

• Provide mentorship and training programs for the production team to develop strong baking fundamentals and enhance their operational equipment knowledge, fostering continuous skill growth and ensuring product quality excellence
• Actively support Production Managers and Supervisors, building trust and using effective communication to ensure engagement in quality programming
• Monitor key ingredient and dough characteristics (including incoming flour lots, sourdough pH and performance, and seasonal changes in dough performance) and make adjustments as needed to account for new ingredients, processes, or ongoing quality improvements
• Proactively pursue recipe, fermentation, and bread process opportunities that will further improve product quality, and reduce waste
• Manage innovation and research and development projects, developing and testing recipes from concept to full-scale production
• Grow and develop expertise of all equipment used in Bread Alone production (e.g. mixers, sourdough tanks, dough chunkers, dough dividers and molders, retarder/proofers, ovens)
• Identify equipment necessary to support bread quality programming, including laboratory equipment
• Partner with the Food Safety and Quality Department to develop and implement new quality initiatives to monitor daily quality standards, leveraging their support to ensure compliance with new practices
• Collaborate with the Commercial team (Marketing & Sales) to monitor market trends, staying ahead of consumer needs and preferences
• Test and assess potential new production equipment to support innovation and quality improvement
• Maintain current knowledge of bakery science and innovation through ongoing professional development and participation in industry events
• Represent Bread Alone at trade shows and baking conferences

Job Requirements

• 5+ years experience with sourdough baking fundamentals
• 5+ years experience working with bakery equipment such as spiral mixers, continuous dough dividers and proofers, and semi automatic or automatic oven systems
• Proven ability to train and mentor individuals with diverse backgrounds and skill levels, fostering a positive and collaborative learning environment
• Prior experience managing food quality programming 
• Possesses a strong attention to detail for process observation, report writing, and data analysis to continuously improve quality
• Proficient with Microsoft and Google product suites
• Able and willing to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and assigned uniform as required per company policy
• Willing to follow all safety guidelines set out by Bread Alone
• Willing to follow all Good Manufacturing Practices which includes but are not limited to: Removing any visible or exposed piercings and body jewelry, personal accessories, false nails & refraining fro