Farmers Market Operations Assistant
- Date Posted September 13, 2024
- Location Ossining, NY
- Category Agriculture / Business
- Job type Full-Time
Company description
Down to Earth Markets is a mission-driven Certified B Corp, committed to using business as a power for good. We create and operate grower-producer farmers markets in New York City and Westchester with the goal of connecting cooks and eaters directly to local small scale farmers and food makers. Our mission is to grow the local food system and help ensure a future for small scale farming in the New York area, while taking our impact on the community, the environment and our staff into consideration with every business decision.Job description
Down to Earth Markets is hiring an Operations Assistant Manager who will report to the Senior Operations Manager. You will be responsible for helping to ensure that Down to Earth’s farmers markets run smoothly. This entails supporting the Senior Operations Manager in preparing staff, sites, supplies and equipment ahead of market days, helping to oversee market day operations, and coordinating and collaborating with the Vendor Relations and Marketing teams to plan, execute and improve on our farmers markets. Tasks include participating in season planning, managing the warehousing, maintenance, deployment, and recovery of market equipment and supplies, helping ensure Site Managers are fully briefed ahead of their market days, being in markets on market days to support and coach the Site Managers, providing on-call support by phone/Teams to our vendors, Site Managers and shoppers on market days, assisting with the training of new Site Managers, some community outreach projects, overseeing the execution of in-market initiatives and programming, reviewing and following-up on reports from the markets, and generally working to solve problems and improve operations at our market sites. This role is also responsible for filling in as a site manager as needed when a market is unstaffed or a team member needs to take time off.
Your success will be measured by how smoothly our supply and equipment logistics system operates, the confidence our Site Managers have in understanding what to expect on their market day and what is expected of them, and the satisfaction of our vendors, shoppers, community allies, and site hosts in the quality and professionalism of our markets. You will learn the ins and outs of how a farmers market network operates, how to train and manage people, and about the people behind local food production.
We are a small but mighty team and execute successful farmers markets year-round due in part to our collaborative nature as a team and a business. You're a good fit for our team if you're ready to learn everything about how to run farmers markets, think on your feet, lead by example, love working out in the field but are focused and skilled in handling office tasks too, thrive on connecting to colleagues and community, believe in the importance of communication and follow-through, and are completely comfortable with telling people what to do in order to get everyone working together to achieve the best possible results.
We will train the right person but you must bring:
- Interest in local food and agriculture
- Willingness to step out in front of situations to make sure things are done well and goals are met
- Love of checklists, plans, schedules and on-time execution
- The ability to work independently yet stay connected to your team
- A good instinct for collaboration that ensures you are regularly exchanging information and ideas with your fellow team members and not waiting for other people to reach out to you
- Exceptional customer service skills; a polished and friendly demeanor
- Excellent coaching and training skills
- A drive to keep things organized and well-documented
- Comfort with Microsoft business suite (Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams) where we do our business work and internal communications; basic office skills; basic social media posting skills; confidence in your ability to learn new software for inventory management and customer relationship management
- The ability to perform cleaning and maintenance, making minor repairs to market equipment
- The ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds, to walk and stand for several hours at a time, and to work outdoors in all weather conditions
- A valid driver’s license, willingness to drive as needed on a weekly basis to get to work sites, and a vehicle that you are willing to use to move supply bins and small equipment (e.g., a folding table); the ability to drive a van or small box truck when needed
***
This is a full-time, non-overtime-exempt position with a regular work schedule of Thursday through Monday (weekend work is required), with some market days starting at 6:30am and (very) occasional evening meetings. The compensation is $55,000 per year, plus employer-subsidized health insurance after 90 days, paid holidays, paid vacation, paid sick leave, and mileage and expense reimbursement. The work will take place at our Ossining office/storage site and in our nine market locations in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Westchester. A smaller percentage of your week may be spent on desk work in your home office. Running live events can be demanding, and the nature of this job requires flexibility, but we are very conscientious about work-life balance and respect our team’s time off and, under typical work conditions, our staff is able to set reasonable caps on work week hours.
---
All employment decisions that Down to Earth makes are based on organizational needs, job requirements and the employee's or applicant's qualifications. We are an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants are welcome regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Compensation
this position is: hourly, $20/hr +Application instructions
Deadline
no deadline