Join EarthOptics as an Associate Production Manager!

Our mission is to be the leading soil information company, delivering maps that growers, farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders use to cost-effectively increase yields and improve soil health and the climate. We are creating a future where traditional sampling methods are obsolete.

At EarthOptics,, we are combining cutting-edge genomic analysis, data science, microbiology, and remote sensing to revolutionize agriculture. Our mission is to help farmers and ranchers sustainably increase their yields and feed the growing world through all things soil.

We are a growing company with a passion for soil health, innovative technologies, and supporting all within the food value chain. We currently have ~100 individuals spread across 20 states and 2 countries, and they come from all walks of life, industries, and experiences. We are deeply focused on building the future of AgTech and sustainability and helping the world see soil differently.

Our Associate Production Manager will join our Soil Science team to impact our mission through people management responsibilities, supervising individual contributors and seasonal staff within a single laboratory location. The Associate Production Manager of our Raleigh lab will lead the daily operations of a soil processing facility, ensuring efficiency, safety, and compliance. This role oversees facility improvements, equipment setup, production operations coordinating and reporting, inventory management, and vendor negotiations while implementing standardized protocols for smooth operations. This role requires strong organizational skills, adaptability in a fast-paced environment, and cross-departmental collaboration to support sustainable and data-driven agricultural practices. Excellent communication skills are essential to ensure proper synchronization between their lab, other labs, and upstream and downstream departments. If you resonate with our values and goals, we encourage you to apply—even if you don't meet every requirement. You could be the perfect fit for this role or future opportunities.

The digs:

• Job Type: Full-Time, Non-Exempt
• Work Location: This is an onsite position in our Raleigh, NC lab
• Travel: 10% of the time
• Compensation: $27-$30 per hour

*Your actual base pay will depend on your job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

What you’ll cultivate as an Associate Production Manager: (Your responsibilities)

People Leadership & Staffing

• Owns hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, and performance management for full-time and seasonal laboratory staff.
  
• Sets clear roles, responsibilities, and daily production expectations for the lab team.
• Provides ongoing coaching, feedback, and development support to ensure individual and team performance.
• Ensures team adherence to company policies, safety standards, and laboratory SOPs.

Production & Laboratory Operations

• Accountable for daily soil sample processing operations, including production scheduling, staffing coverage, and throughput planning.
• Develops and maintains sample processing schedules for instrument operators and preprocessing staff to meet quality and turnaround targets.
• Monitors production performance and resolves operational bottlenecks to ensure timely, accurate delivery of soil analysis outputs.
• Provides hands-on operational support as needed, including equipment setup, calibration, and troubleshooting.

Soil Library Management

• Accountable for the organization of our extensive soil library.
• Develops and maintains a rigorous soil library inventory management system.
• Ensures digital LIMS representation is in sync with the physical library.

Quality, Safety & Compliance

• Ensures laboratory operations comply with all safety, regulatory, and quality standards.
• Develops, implements, and updates laboratory SOPs and safety protocols.
• Conducts regular safety audits and addresses corrective actions promptly.
• Ensures proper handling, storage, and disposal of chemicals and laboratory materials.
• Continuously monitors and improves quality metrics.

Facilities, Inventory & Vendor Management

• Oversees laboratory facilities, including equipment functionality, maintenance schedules, and general lab environment.
• Manages consumables inventory systems to ensure uninterrupted lab operations.
• Coordinates with vendors for equipment, supplies, and services, including negotiating terms when appropriate.
• Oversees laboratory buildouts, expansions, or renovations as required.

Cross-Functional Communication & Reporting

• Communicates daily production status, risks, and capacity updates to the Lab Operations Manager and cross-functional partners.
• Collaborates with upstream and downstream teams to align processing timelines and manage turnaround expectations.
• Escalates production, equipment, or staffing issues promptly with proposed solutions.

Are you our soil-mate? You’ll bloom in this role if you have experience in: (Your qualifications)

• Bachelor's degree or higher in any scientific discipline
• 3-5 years of progressive lab experience with at least 1 year of experience managing the day-to-day operations of a production-scale wet lab, which includes inventory management, lab safety compliance and chemical handling
• Strong leadership and people management skills with ability to recruit, train, and develop both full-time and seasonal staff
• Excellent organizational and workflow management capabilities to coordinate production operations and meet quality/turnaround targets
• Strong communication skills for cross-departmental collaboration and daily status reporting
• Strong accountability mindset with commitment to immediately report production issues, equipment problems, or personnel concerns to supervisor
• Data-driven approach to monitoring lab performance metrics and ensuring on-time delivery
• Proficient in the effective use of modern AI tools to automate tasks and increase productivity
• Deep knowledge of soil chemistry analysis (incl. equipment maintenance/calibration), laboratory safety protocols, compliance regulations, and chemical handling procedures

**We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor or transfer visas at this time.

Although not required, we’d love to see roots in:

• Prior experience in a fast-paced, start-up environment

Aside from “the green”, we can offer you:

• Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance - 90% funded by EarthOptics for benefit-eligible employees and 55% for dependents
• Company-paid LTD, STD, and Life Insurance
• Meaningful equity option grants
• 401k Plan + Employer Match up to 4%
• Pet Insurance
• 17 days of paid time off, plus 10 additional company holidays
• Parental Leave
• Professional Development Stipend + access to learning platforms
• Candidate Referral Program
• Above and Beyond Bonus Program
• Regular opportunities to give feedback on our benefits offerings

How we stay grounded:

Although we have teammates working in the field, in-office, and at home, we aim to create a cohesive, diverse, and enriching environment for all of our employees. We embrace different tools to enhance our workflows and communicate intentionally, both live and asynchronously. A few quick facts you should know:

• We rely on Slack to communicate. Although there are a variety of team-specific systems to facilitate your work, this is our primary!
• We love both food and emojis at EarthOptics. If hired, you’ll come to love (and use many) taco and donut emojis. 🌮🍩
• Our core business hours are Monday through Friday 11am-4pm EST. We have teammates in every time zone, and have some teams that operate outside of that timeframe. As a remote employee, you are asked to honor those hours to ensure enough time to overlap with key cross-functional teams.
• In order to maximize our remote culture, we host company-wide opportunities to connect (virtually and in-person) and create space for focus work. For example, we have a weekly all-hands stand-up meeting on Monday and reserve Fridays as a regular “No Meeting” day.
• Instead of values, we believe in actionable “cultural concepts”. Collectively, we hold one another to act and give feedback with these concepts in mind. Ours are autonomy, accountability, collaboration, customer centricity, grit and grace.

Inclusion and Diversity at EarthOptics:

At EarthOptics, we embrace diversity and equality, and stand against any form of discrimination or harassment. We base all hiring and promotion decisions on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, parental status, veteran status, or disability.

We are deeply committed to welcoming and including every qualified individual. As a part of this commitment, we ensure that persons with disabilities have access to reasonable accommodations. If you require assistance during the job application or interview process, need support to perform essential job functions, or seek other benefits and privileges of employment, please reach out to us at accommodations@earthoptics.com.