TO APPLY: Please send a cover letter, resume and three professional references as a PDF FILE & NAME THE FILE: YOUR LAST NAME - FIRST NAME. Please email resumes to: samantha.harpst@southerndistilling.com.

NO PHONE CALLS ACCEPTED. Thank you!

Job Description

Position Title: Operations Laboratory Assistant

Reports to: Operations Analyst

Classification: Exempt

Category: Regular, Full-time (40 hours per week), on-site

Position Overview:

The Operations Laboratory Assistant is an integral member of the Southern Distilling Company organization. Under the direction of the Operations Analyst, the Operations Laboratory Assistant will be managing the Operations & Quality Lab, specifically the analytical equipment.

Principal Activities:

 Barrel Maturation

• Prepare sample sheets and lab sample labels for all outgoing requests
• Organize and manage the sample library - both historical and new

Processing

• Create table top samples of any new or modified recipes that have a potential of being produced by or for Southern Distilling Company.
• Oversight of the blending & batching of any specialty product, including but not limited to: colored products, flavored products, and pH adjustments.
• Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for blending & batching as new products are developed. The SOPs will include taste approval by the CEO, comparing a Tank sample to a Previous batch sample.

Operations

•  General data management and handling; proper presentation of data for team members to digest & interpret. This includes, but is not limited to: graphs, tables, statistics, etc.
• Assist in the support and development of strategy for yield improvements. Review data bi-weekly with the Distillery Team.
• Assist in the support and development of strategy for grain milling consistency. Review data and correlate to changes in yield.
• Identify ways to improve communication between Quality, Lab, and Distillery Teams.
•  Extract all data from previous years for aggregation of historical trends.

Laboratory Work

Equipment

• Prepare samples for High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and any other future lab equipment.
• Prepare solutions for HPLC and any other future lab equipment.
• Test and record all water samples from the facility for the Distillery Operations Manager.
• Maintain & troubleshoot equipment issues.
• Build and maintain relationships with instrument vendors for continued education.
• Run batch samples to maximize efficiency and result turnaround time.
• Review all HPLC data and integrate unidentified peaks.
• Input all HPLC results into an excel spreadsheet to track efficiency of fermentation & fermentation health.
• Work with vendors & support team to generate new HPLC Methods (aged spirits, cream products, etc.)
• Identify unknowns or any abnormalities on stills or cooks and report to the Operations Analyst
• Learn and utilize any other laboratory equipment that is not listed in the description, but may be purchased in the future.

Grains

• Report and communicate the Near Infrared Refractometer (NIR) grain data quality to the Production Management team.
• Develop a grain trending report /weekly through the use of sieve analysis data review.

General Laboratory Management

• Calibrate all instruments used to gauge spirits, both in processing and laboratory settings.
• Perform a regular inventory count of all laboratory materials.
• Continue personal education on laboratory equipment and recommend laboratory equipment that is not listed in this description that could be purchased in the future to further the laboratory’s capabilities.
• Maintain a high standard of cleanliness, organization, and overall quality in both the Distillery Operations Laboratory and the Processing Room.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry, biochemistry, or a related field from an accredited institution
• Advanced knowledge of MS Office and Google Suite
• Desire to continue education via industry professionals and peer reviewed literature
• Initiative to identify and anticipate problems as well as provide and implement solutions
• Outstanding organizational, management, and leadership abilities
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Flexibility and the ability to multitask
• Ability to communicate clearly and professionally through speech, writing, and body language. Also exhibits strong active listening skills
• Resilience
• Demonstrate integrity, is forthright, accepts responsibility, is personally accountable, straightforward, truthful, and of good character

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with IOS operating system including Apple computers
• Strong data analytics skills
• A background or experience in a manufacturing facility

Physical and Mental Requirements:

Southern Distilling Company is committed to providing a means for applicants who have a disability to identify areas in which they may request a reasonable accommodation. The following is a description of the physical and mental abilities which are customarily required to perform the essential job functions of this position:

• Vision sufficient to read standard text, read a computer monitor, and to drive safely.
• Ability to count and perform basic math functions.
• Speak and hear sufficiently to communicate clearly and understandably in person and over the telephone.
• Stand, sit, walk, stoop, and bend.
• Manual dexterity to use hands, arms, shoulders, repetitively to operate keyboard, write, lift items, etc.
• Ability to take multiple sets of stairs on a daily basis.
• Interact professionally with persons from a variety of backgrounds in a high stress environment.

Southern Distilling Company is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment. It is the policy of Southern Distilling Company to provide full and equal employment opportunities to all employees and potential employees without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical, or mental disability or any other legally protected status.