Lead Roaster — Fleet Coffee Roasters
Location: Austin, TX (on-site)
Type: Full-time
Compensation: $65,000–$75,000/year, DOE
About Fleet Coffee
Fleet Coffee is an Austin-built coffee company with a hospitality-first point of view. We run several cafés across the city and roast the coffee that fills every cup we serve, plus a growing list of wholesale and café partners. We care about the details that customers feel but rarely see — and the person who roasts our coffee is at the center of that.
The Role
We're hiring an experienced Lead Roaster to captain of our roasting program. This is a senior, hands-on role for someone who has logged real time behind a production roaster and is ready to run it all: dialing in profiles, sourcing green, holding the quality bar, and getting finished coffee out the door.
You won't be out here alone — you'll have a leadership team behind you that invests in the coffee, the equipment, and the people who make it matter. But the roasting program is yours to run. You set the profiles, you hold the measure for excellence, you decide what Fleet tastes like.
This is the right role for a roaster ready to lead, not just execute.
What You'll Do
- Production roasting — Plan and execute the weekly roast schedule to meet café and wholesale demand, maintaining consistency batch to batch and roaster log discipline (Cropster/Artisan or similar).
- Quality control & profile development — Lead cupping and QC, develop and refine roast profiles for new and seasonal coffees, and troubleshoot when something tastes off.
- Green sourcing & inventory — Manage green coffee buying, vendor and importer relationships, contracts, and inventory so we're never short and never sitting on stale stock.
- Packaging & fulfillment — Oversee packaging, labeling, and order fulfillment for retail bags and wholesale accounts, keeping freshness and accuracy tight.
- Wholesale & café support — Partner with our cafés and wholesale customers on dial-ins, feedback, and the occasional training or account visit.
- Equipment & safety — Keep the roaster and supporting equipment maintained, clean, and running safely, and keep the roastery organized.
What We're Looking For
- Several years of hands-on production roasting experience, ideally including profile development from scratch.
- Strong sensory skills and a structured approach to cupping and QC.
- Working knowledge of green coffee — grades, origins, contracts, and how to manage inventory and freshness.
- Comfort owning a process: someone organized, self-directed, and accountable for output and quality.
- Experience on a Loring (or comparable air-roaster) a strong plus — we roast on a Loring S15 Falcon.
- Familiarity with roast-logging software (Cropster, Artisan, or similar).
- Q-Grader certification a plus.
- Ability to lift 60+ lbs repeatedly and work on your feet in a warehouse/roastery environment.
Why Fleet
- Your craft, your call. You'll build the entire roasting program — profiles, green selection, quality standards — from the inside out. The coffee Austin drinks at Fleet is the coffee you shape.
- Quality-first culture. You'll work with a team that sweats the details and a leadership group that backs investment in good green, good equipment, and doing it right.
- Modern equipment. You're roasting on a Loring S15 Falcon — efficient, consistent, and a genuine pleasure to dial in on.
- Room to grow. Fleet is expanding across cafés and wholesale, and the roasting program is growing with it. Your work directly shapes that trajectory.
- The everyday perks. Paid time off, free coffee and bags to take home, café discounts, and support for continued education — SCA coursework, cupping, origin exposure.
In addition to your resume, if you have profiles, cupping notes, or coffees you're proud of, tell us about them!
Pay: $65,000.00 - $75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Employee discount
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
Application Question(s):
- Do you have hands-on experience operating a commercial coffee roaster? If yes, briefly describe the roaster(s) you've used and how long you've been roasting.
- Describe a roast profile you've developed or refined from start to finish. What was your goal, what adjustments did you make, and how did you evaluate the result?
Experience:
- Roasting: 1 year (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
