Job Description

Company: Rocket Farms, Inc.

Job Title: Head Grower (Floral and Edible Herbs)

Job Classification: Regular, Full-time

Job Status: Exempt

Department: Horticulture

Location: Half Moon Bay, CA

About Rocket Farms

Certified by the Western Minority Supplier Council, Rocket Farms is the largest grower of indoor floral products, fresh-cut herbs, and potted edibles in the country. With over 7.5 million square feet of greenhouse space, Rocket Farms prides itself on sustainability and delivering fresh and beautiful products around the country. Rocket Farms is a USDA certified organic producer by CCOF and has dedicated 60% of growing space in its Half Moon Bay facility to organic production of all edible products. It is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) certified grower under PrimusGFS ensuring the production of the safest food worldwide.

With a diverse portfolio of products and a global footprint; consumers can enjoy Rocket Farms products year-round. All these Rocket Farms products can be found in any of the over 20,000 retail stores across the nation they distribute to, including Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and countless others.

Job Summary

The Head Grower provides leadership and management of the company’s horticultural performance and strategy. This position will oversee the on-time execution of key growing activities such as spacing, pruning, moving, and dumping, and labor management for the Half Moon Bay greenhouse operations. This position requires a boots-on-the-ground, day-to-day operations leader of greenhouses and the greenhouse management team. Passionately embraces and facilitates a culture of innovation and speed-to-market.

Essential Responsibilities

• Ensure outstanding results and a high level of quality in our Horticultural Programs.
• Very close coordination and communication with growers.
• Define and coordinate training programs that enable staff to achieve their potential and support company horticultural objectives.
• Hire, develop, and lead high-achieving inspired staff.
• Responsibility to budget and forecast labor weekly to ensure proper and effective execution of all growing activities.
• Work closely with Sales, Operations, and Customer Relations departments regarding product quality issues, identifying root causes, and proposing timely, accurate solutions.
• Responsible for the planning and execution of crop activities such as laying down, moving, spacing, pinching, staking, tying, housekeeping, consolidating, and dumping.
• Validation of inventories after transactions such as moving, spacing, and dumping have been completed in the field. Perform spot checks to validate if data in the system is consistent with physical crop locations in the greenhouses.
• Ensure labor is deployed most efficiently and effectively.
• Oversee that crops scrapped are recorded accurately and on time in the system.
• Ensure all crop batches have their “Growing Label” at all times, from laydown to shipping.
• Facilitate daily meetings with growers to ensure proper execution of activities.
• Assist with the implementation of an automated task management system.
• Help on any other activities designated, including but not limited to biological control, trials, and flagging crops.
• Promote a culture of safety; if needed, initiate corrective actions with employees.
• Prepare reports for growers regarding farm conditions, crop yields, machinery breakdowns, or labor problems.
• Perform any other ad-hoc-related duties as required or assigned.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomy, Horticulture, Plant Science, or related field required
• Significant experience and proven track record of developing and executing horticultural initiatives in a competitive context
• Able to communicate with all levels of management
• A strong sense of teamwork, and great customer service with our customers, our breeders, and grower partners, are essential
• Excellent leadership and management skills are necessary
• Strong organizational and planning skills
• A reliable, self-driven, responsible, and dependable individual with a high level of integrity, who is unafraid of tackling challenges as they present themselves is needed in this position, to fulfill these important obligations
• The ability to work in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment requiring quick analysis, decision-making, and deliberate execution is vital
• Proficient Microsoft Office knowledge (i.e., Outlook, Excel, Word, etc.) required.
• Valid Driver's License. Must be eligible and maintain eligibility for company-sponsored vehicle insurance.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred

Physical Activities

While performing the functions of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; frequently required to talk or hear; and occasionally required to stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close, distance, and color vision.