Farm Operations Manager (Fruit production)

SUMMARY:
Our client, an established agricultural business is seeking an experienced, hands on and highly organised Operations Manager to take responsibility for the day-to-day running of its farm and pack-house.

You will build and lead an operational structure (junior managers, supervisors, staff) so the business runs smoothly with less reliance on the owners for routine decisions.

Suitable candidates will have experience in commercial fruit farming, pack-house management, along with experience leading teams of 30+ staff. Familiarity with Global GAP, payroll or compliance is a plus.

POSITION INFO:
Key responsibilities:

• Overall coordination of daily farm and pack-house operations
• Management and accountability of junior managers, supervisors and operational staff
• Pack-house workflow - output, labour efficiency, quality and dispatch performance
• Coordination between harvest, pack-house capacity and customer orders
• Customer order coordination and routine operational customer communication
• Oversight of invoicing inputs, timekeeping and payroll inputs
• Maintenance coordination and follow-up
• Labour deployment, attendance and productivity monitoring
• Operational systems, reporting, documentation and process improvement
• Global GAP and other audit/compliance readiness
• Staff coordination and operational discipline
• Staff transport
• Providing concise operational reporting to the directors
• Identifying and resolving operational issues before they require owner intervention

You will generally work Monday to Friday, but will need to be available for planned weekend cover and additional hours during peak periods.

Salary: R40 to R55k per month, depending on experience and proven capability, with potential performance-related incentive.