Our client is a leading berry producer, for an experienced, self-motivated, and target-driven Packhouse Manager. This senior role leads the full packhouse operation- people, process, and performance, to deliver world-class quality for both local and export markets.
Location: Hermanus (Please note that accommodation is NOT provided for this position and nor will a housing benefit be provided)
Salary offered: Market related and negotiable (dependent on experience and suitability of the ideal candidate)
About the opportunity
You’ll own the day-to-day running of a high-throughput, labour-intensive soft-fruit packhouse. Your mandate: build a safe, disciplined, and data-driven operation that consistently meets customer specifications while developing a strong team and a culture of continuous improvement.
Key responsibilities
- Operational leadership: Run end-to-end packhouse operations (intake, grading, packing, labelling, cold chain, dispatch) and lead all packhouse staff and supervisors.
- Quality & compliance: Ensure product integrity and traceability; maintain documentation and SOPs; uphold standards required for local and export customers; prepare for and host audits.
- Best-practice systems: Implement and refine policies, workflows, and KPIs to drive accuracy, yield, and consistency (e.g., changeovers, line balancing, downtime control, waste reduction).
- People management: Recruit, train, schedule, and coach teams; build multi-skilled capability and a strong leadership bench; manage performance and labour relations constructively.
- Health & safety: Champion a proactive safety culture and ensure compliance with legislative and site requirements.
- Planning & reporting: Convert harvest forecasts into executable pack plans; manage materials, inventory, and cold-store capacity; track throughput, giveaway, and cost KPIs with clear daily/weekly reporting.
- Customer focus: Ensure all customer and market specifications are met, on time and in full, for both local and export programs.
Success in this role looks like
- Consistent OTIF delivery against pack plans and customer specs.
- Audit-ready quality systems with robust traceability and documentation.
- Improved yields, reduced waste, and reliable daily KPI reporting.
- Engaged, well-trained teams and a stable leadership pipeline on shift.
Requirements
What you’ll bring
- Tertiary qualification (operations/engineering/food science/similar).
- 5+ years’ experience managing a soft-fruit (or similar high-care, labour-intensive) packhouse at senior level.
- Proven people leadership with excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Strong numerical, planning, and analytical ability; confident with production data and MS Office/Google Sheets.
- Self-disciplined, team-oriented, honest, and high integrity; comfortable working with minimal supervision to hit targets and deadlines.
- Willingness to work overtime and weekends to meet operational demand.
- Advantageous: working knowledge of HACCP, BRC/BRCGS, and other quality systems; experience meeting export program specifications.