Vice President of Operational Excellence in Agriculture & Apiculture

Job Title: Vice President of Operational Excellence in Agriculture & Apiculture

Reports To: President, Nate's Hives

Employment Type: Full-Time

Industry: Agriculture / Apiculture

Position Summary

Sweet Harvest Foods, a dynamic and expanding vertically integrated food company, is on a mission to innovate and ensure sustainability across our value chain, from hive to shelf. We are looking for a Vice President of Operational Excellence for our Nate's Hives operations, a vital leadership role that will play a crucial part in executing our strategic plans to enhance our apiary operations in groundbreaking ways. This is an exceptional opportunity to shape and lead a high-impact operation that influences our honey production and pollination efforts, ultimately supporting our consumer product pipeline.

In this role, you will be instrumental in designing scalable systems, driving operational performance, and embedding a culture of data-driven decision making within the team.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
• Become a core member of the Nate's Hives executive team, crafting operational strategies that align with growth objectives.
• Spearhead the scaling of apiary operations, focusing on hive health, colony expansion, pollination strategy, and optimizing honey yields.
• Promote a data-driven culture by implementing systems to gather, analyze, and act on operational and environmental data.
• Collaborate with the President to define and execute the Nate's Hives Way of beekeeping.
• Lead the creation and implementation of the Nate's Hives CapEx multi-year plan to drive efficiencies and establish best practices.
• Partner with the R&D team to refine operational practices and introduce new efficiency systems.
• Crop and Land Operations
• Oversee full-cycle agricultural operations in collaboration with our R&D team, including crop planning, planting, irrigation, and soil health.
• Develop regenerative farming practices and precision agriculture methods to enhance honey yields and forage sustainability.
• Apiary Growth & Management
• Lead the professional expansion of beekeeping operations, covering site selection, hive logistics, queen rearing, disease management, and seasonal migration.
• Work with R&D and land management teams to optimize honeybee activity for crop pollination and high-quality honey production.
• Integrate innovative technologies into operations to enhance performance, improve efficiencies, and mitigate risks.
• Manage the integration of M&A targets into existing apiary operations.
• Honey Processing & Product Integration
• Supervise honey extraction, filtration, quality control, and processing activities.
• Ensure compliance with food safety standards (HACCP, FDA, state/local guidelines) and certification norms (e.g., organic, non-GMO).
• Align processing timelines and capacities with product innovation and market demand.
• Operational Excellence & Data Systems
• Design and implement integrated systems for data collection, analytical operations, and continuous improvement.
• Foster a high-performance team culture based on accountability, measurable outcomes, and innovation.
• Develop KPIs and dashboards to monitor hive health, crop yields, labor productivity, and processing efficiency.
• Team & Resource Development
• Recruit, mentor, and guide a multidisciplinary operations team (including farm managers, beekeepers, and entomologists).
• Create processes for scaling training, safety, and performance management.
• Oversee budget planning, vendor relationships, logistics, and capital investment.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Agronomy, Apiculture, AgTech, Engineering, or a related field; MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of operational leadership experience in agriculture or food production; experience in apiary operations preferred, but not essential.
• Proven success in scaling agricultural operations and building data infrastructure in dynamic environments.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with R&D organizations and operationalize their recommendations.
• Willingness to travel to various locations throughout the United States.

Preferred:

• Base level fluency in Spanish.
• Experience in communicating with senior executives and board members.

Key Attributes of a Successful Candidate

• A hands-on operational leader with experience in field operations and strategic planning.
• A strategic thinker with a strong focus on execution and systems thinking.
• Effective in bridging communication between field operations, technical teams, researchers, and executive leadership.
• Adept at leading through change and adapting to unpredictable factors, especially in agricultural settings.
• Passionate about data and using analysis to inform decision making.