[Posted 8/27/2025]

Be part of our multi-passionate crew at Harder Mushrooms & Tea Beast Kombucha, our small but mighty farm project in Christiansburg, VA. We’re looking for a Farm Operations & Personnel Manager who’s excited to lead and inspire a team, oversee day-to-day production, and optimize farm operations, while also sharing in our love of fungi and fermentation with the community!

Hourly Wage: Competitive and negotiable - based on experience and skills

Part-Time to Full-Time (around 30 hours/week)

About Us

We’re a small, creative farm with two brands under one roof:

• Harder Mushrooms: Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms for local markets, restaurants, and online.
  
  
• Tea Beast Kombucha: Brewing kombucha featuring our own grown herbs and locally sourced fruits.

Together, these brands reflect our passion for fungi, fermentation, and community. You’ll find us at local Farmer’s Markets, and we’re expanding our online presence to share products, knowledge, and a behind-the-scenes farm experience with a wider audience.

The Role

As Farm Operations & Personnel Manager, you will lead our small but growing farm team. This role combines supervisory and team management responsibilities — including scheduling, mentoring, overseeing Farm Crew Members, fostering team culture through events and team-building, and assessing and improving farm operations — with hands-on participation in mushroom cultivation, kombucha brewing, and engaging with our community both locally and online.

What You’ll Do

Team Leadership & Personnel Management

• Supervise and support the Farm Crew in daily production tasks
• Develop consistent hiring, onboarding and training procedures 
• Assist with team scheduling, task delegation, organizing team meetings, and workflow coordination
• Monitor team performance, provide feedback, and support professional growth
• Foster a positive team culture through events, mentorship, and team-building activities
  
  

Operations Management & Efficiency

• Ensure safety, quality standards, and adherence to best practices.
• Assess farm and production workflows to identify opportunities for efficiency and improvement
• Implement process improvements to optimize productivity while maintaining quality and safety standards
  
  

Production, Farm & Kombucha Work

• Oversee and support mushroom cultivation tasks: grow, maintain, harvest, clean, and package products
• Support kombucha brewing, flavoring, and preparation for sale
• Maintain organized, clean, and efficient workspaces
  
  

Community & Sales

• Occasionally represent the farm at Farmers Markets and with restaurants
• Assist with social media content and community engagement online

Who You Are

• Experienced in managing small teams or supervising operations
• Able to assess workflows, identify opportunities for operations efficiency, and implement improvements
• Reliable, hardworking, and attentive to detail
• Able to self-manage and work efficiently when given a schedule and tasks up front
• A self-motivated problem solver who can work independently as well as part of a team
• Comfortable with routine and repetitive tasks when needed, and ready to jump into spontaneous or ad hoc projects as they arise
• Friendly and comfortable engaging with people at markets and online
• Creative and interested in sharing behind-the-scenes of our operation
• Physically able to lift 50lb bags, move mushroom grow bags (~10lbs each), and set up market gear
• Curious about mushrooms, fermentation, and local food (experience in farming or brewing is a plus, but we’ll train you for this if need be!)
  
  

What We Offer

• Competitive pay with leadership responsibilities
• Experience managing production, coordinating schedules, and improving farm processes
• Opportunities to lead and develop a team, including mentoring and team-building activities
• A supportive, small-team environment that encourages autonomy, collaboration, and creative problem-solving
• Training in mushroom cultivation, kombucha brewing, online content creation, and direct to customer sales
• Hands-on, social, and creative work that combines farm production, sales, and community engagement
• Opportunities to contribute to strategic growth initiatives and process improvements
• Exposure to farm operations management, logistics, and production planning, valuable for professional development in agriculture and small business operations
• Free mushrooms and kombucha to take home, plus trading at the Market

Schedule

• Weekdays: Production and brewing are busiest on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, though some flexibility is possible.
• Weekends: Occasional Saturday availability is necessary. The Market Team currently covers 7 AM–3 PM at the Blacksburg Farmers Market, with back up and subbing as needed from the Farm Crew.

How to Apply

We’d love to hear from you! Please send a short note introducing yourself — tell us what excites you about mushrooms, kombucha, or community food, and why you’d be a great fit as a Farm Operations & Personnel Manager. Include your resume and any relevant experience, and email everything to ben@denhillfarmandfungi.com.

We value self-motivation, curiosity, enthusiasm, and a willingness to lead and learn as much as prior experience. Feel free to share creative projects, farm experience, or hobbies that demonstrate your passion and leadership potential!