Product Associate - Dandelion Chocolate

About Us
Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment our beans. Now we’re seeking a Product Associate to bring those chocolate experiences and relationships to life through beautifully crafted products and experiences. 

About the Role
It’s all in the details. Designing and creating products and experiences with chocolate is a joy – almost everyone loves chocolate! And while many people are accustomed to seeing chocolate in gift baskets and tasting bundles, we hope to create new, meaningful experiences that connect the world with chocolate’s science, origin, and flavor potential. Nearly every product we create starts with a point of view and an emotional experience we hope to deliver. We have a concept (“s’mores kit”, “chocolate advent calendar”) and during the product development process we hope to reinforce that core idea through paper choices, graphic styles, photography, and words.

Based in San Francisco and reporting to our off-site Director of Product, you’ll work on-site five days a week at our Mission location to assist teams (Creative, Print Shop, Fulfillment, Web, Warehouse, Guest Care, Chocolate Makers, Confections, and Kitchen) and ensure that all of the many steps needed in day-to-day product development such as logistics, roll-out, SKU numbers, tracking metrics, sample tracking, ship tests, weights, and photography happen according to schedule and without surprises. We hope that each product looks simple and effortless when it’s in the recipient’s hands. However, we know that to bring a product to our shelves and online store, there are typically hundreds of tiny issues to consider and address. 

About You
Our ideal candidate has a passion for artisanal products (especially chocolate), works well across teams, drives through inertia, can manage their own schedule and checklist, and loves product experience details. You’ll be working with a remote manager so we are looking for someone with maturity who can proactively make calls without direct supervision and who can minimize drama when a deadline is looming and we discover that the ports are backed up and a stakeholder exec wants to try a different email tack. You work between teams to build team harmony, deliver exceptional products, and reinforce the systems so we can track important metrics such as margin, labor hours, and COGs. We don’t expect you to be a product development expert, there’s a lot to learn and we’re happy to help.  Our ideal Product Associate brings an already-developed product skill to the team whether that’s a few classes in Adobe, industrial design modeling, spreadsheet formulas, photography, or previous departmental organizational experience, and is willing and ready to pick up any other skills too.

Responsibilities:

• Product Development: Work with other Product Managers, Marketing/PR, Inventory, Chex, and Retail teams to help develop products, web pages, signs, and labels that are consistent with and advance Dandelion Chocolate’s identity while meeting the goals and timelines of the project. 
• Day-to-day Driving: Product development will naturally stop unless we keep driving forward. You are always asking – “What’s the next step?” – or – “What decision is holding us back?” Proactively meet with key stakeholders and team members to help drive product development forward.
• Product Research: Conduct online research for new vendors, perform market research, and read regulatory issues to make data-informed proposals to the team (e.g. should we work with a local or a remote printing vendor for our retail signs).
• Organization: You’ll be working with existing templates and guidelines to produce materials. Keep Google Drive organized with photography, working files, and creative specs.
• Vendor Care: We have a network of vendors that we depend upon. Some of our relationships extend back almost ten years and because of those special relationships, we can sometimes ask for special favors and prioritization -- especially during emergencies. You’ll be responsible for maintaining and investing in these relationships. You’ll place orders and follow up proactively to ensure that our schedule runs smoothly.
• Spreadsheets: Develop spreadsheets in Google Spreadsheets and Airtable to help make decisions and drive product development such as product development costs, timelines, or a list of all hangtags needed for each active product. While you can make a spreadsheet with timelines, you also don’t shy away from data entry work if that’s what is necessary to keep the product rolling forward.
• Photoshoots: Coordinate an ongoing photoshoot timeline and plan across product, digital, web, and creative teams for product launches and digital campaigns. This includes ensuring all necessary materials (physical products, collateral, chocolates, etc.) are on hand in advance of the shoot. You will organize review meetings ahead of the shoot to ensure alignment between teams.
• Merchandising: You will be a point person for ensuring the final new product rollout to stores as planned. This includes coordinating with our inventory teams, ordering of display materials, sharing planograms with store managers, and visiting stores occasionally to make sure displays are presented as planned. For the holidays, you will work with stores on designing a feature table. 
• Proofreading: Look over materials from the Creative and Web team to ensure key product information is correct (e.g. ingredients, facility statements, and origin).
• Figma: Comment upon concepts from Web and Creative teams and make adjustments as necessary. Keep files in appropriate Figma team folders. Our ideal candidate can also help storyboard POVs in Figma to help share a story for what a product will look like so teams know how they can help within the development process.
• Time Management: Develop timelines for product launches and ask for team feedback far enough in advance so that if adjustments or edits are required, there’s still time to make corrections. Though we have a rough timeline for product development, you’ll be the boots-on-the-ground voice that is most likely to know how to best maximize task time — for instance, prioritizing any vendor tasks over print and photography knowing that we can always Photoshop missing collateral or a blank hangtag in a pinch.
• Deliveries and Routing: Deliver and route items between locations so that Fulfillment can conduct a ship test, we open a sample from a vendor and provide timely feedback, and the Creative team has everything they need before a product photoshoot. The two locations where most of our product development takes place are about six blocks apart and it is not unusual to walk back and forth two or three times a day. There will be days when you will definitely get your steps in!
• Adhere to Best Safety Practices: You will be working in many team spaces. Please be aware of your surroundings and enter a factory area with your hair pulled back, closed-toe shoes, and without any allergens (e.g. a peanut butter and jelly sandwich you’re having for lunch). If you need to be on a step ladder to look for materials, safely use a stepladder (not a chair), and ask for assistance when necessary. In your first year, enroll in Professional Development and Safety Officer training. 
• Other tasks as necessary

Requirements

• Availability: This is an onsite role five days a week based in San Francisco’s Mission District reporting to an offsite Director of Product.
• Detail-Oriented: If you don’t like details, this isn’t the role for you. You’ll be responsible for the accuracy of your work and for thinking through second-order effects for your decisions (e.g. if we decide to do this product photoshoot today, will we still have time to photograph all of the other products. If we launch ice cream this summer, what teams should be involved and how do we prepare for that launch?).
• Proactive: Beyond your own task list, look out for the team and proactively look for ways you can help with the overall product development.
• Team Player: Maturity is very appreciated. You view all feedback as a gift, ask for help when necessary, and even under a deadline, remain positive and adaptable.
• Organizational ambassador: We wouldn’t be where we are today without our network of vendors and collaborators; they are valuable virtual members of our team. We can depend upon your unflappable professionalism when working outside the organization or penning an email to an important collaborator. Even when they make a mistake or fall behind schedule, you offer feedback with tact and goodwill, never burning bridges. Because of you, our partner relationships grow stronger each year.
• Technical Skills: We use Figma, Airtable, Trello, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Opening those files and performing simple operations (export, save as, turning on and off layers, packaging files, resizing and copying images, etc) is part of this role.
• Technical Adaptability: You don’t need to be a technical guru, though you should feel comfortable using new tools, trying new techniques, and asking questions.
• Strength: Lift 30-45 pounds regularly. We operate across multiple locations in San Francisco. In a given day, you might walk between locations 2-3 times which is a 6-7 block walk. We enjoy the sunshine and the opportunity to get a fresh breath of air.
• Bonus: previous experience working with cross-discipline teams: You’ll be working with multiple teams and personalities in a professional environment where you will prioritize projects on the fly and let teams know when their projects aren’t the highest priority, “Well, I’m going to get to this but it’s going to be next week? Is that okay?” Previous experience in a friendly professional environment or in another team-oriented setting will serve you well.
• Authorized to work in the U.S. for any employer

Benefits
The benefits and perks continue beyond a robust chocolate education. Dandelion Chocolate constantly invests in our people and culture. All team members receive heavily subsidized medical, vision, and dental benefits as well as the option to enroll in our 401k program. All team members receive paid vacation time, holiday pay, and paid sick time. In addition, our team members enjoy commuter benefits, FSAs, chocolate-tasting opportunities, and a range of opportunities to grow and develop within the company. This role is a salaried position with a target range of $75,000-$85,000 annually.

How to Apply
Dandelion Chocolate is growing and we are invested in employees who take ownership over their role in order to contribute in a bigger way with us. To stand out from the crowd, send us your resume and a cover letter that details your favorite food experience or influence. Keep in mind that we value passion, attitude, and hard work, so tell us what inspires you to join our team.

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