Winery Operations Manager

Job Description:

Split Rail Winery is a small urban winery making serious wine without taking ourselves too seriously. We’re looking for an experienced hospitality leader to run the day-to-day operation, lead our team, and become the person who keeps the many moving pieces of a small winery pointed in the same direction.

This is not simply a tasting room manager position. The right person will oversee staff, scheduling, customer experience, private events, wine club operations, vendors, inventory, and the endless assortment of small operational details that keep a winery humming.

We care more about leadership, judgment, organization, and ownership mentality than whether you can recite every sub-AVA in Burgundy.

What you’ll own:
Lead, coach, and support a small tasting room and hospitality team
Build schedules and manage staffing, coverage, time-off requests, and call-outs
Set expectations and hold staff accountable while maintaining a positive team culture
Oversee daily tasting room operations and customer experience
Manage private event inquiries, bookings, staffing, logistics, and execution
Help grow private events and group experiences
Oversee wine club service, member issues, releases, pickups, and customer communication
Coordinate inventory, purchasing, vendors, supplies, and routine operational needs
Resolve customer issues and make day-to-day decisions without everything needing to land on the owner
Help manage POS/customer systems and recurring administrative tasks
Coordinate newsletters, promotions, website/calendar updates, and other basic marketing execution
Maintain simple systems and checklists so important tasks and deadlines don’t live entirely inside someone’s head

What we’re looking for:
Meaningful experience directly managing people
Hospitality, winery, restaurant, events, retail, or similarly customer-driven management experience
Comfortable giving feedback, handling conflict, and having difficult conversations when necessary
Strong organizational skills and ability to juggle competing priorities
Good judgment and confidence making decisions independently
Warm, natural hospitality instincts
Comfortable working in a small business where job descriptions occasionally develop tentacles
Able to thrive in a culture that is creative, informal, irreverent, and occasionally chaotic while still maintaining high standards
Wine experience is strongly preferred, but genuine management ability matters more than encyclopedic wine knowledge
Schedule flexibility, including regular weekend availability
Ability and willingness to work weekends, private events, and occasional evenings as needed
Comfortable with a hospitality schedule that does not follow a traditional Monday–Friday workweek

The person we’re hoping to find:
You don’t need someone standing over your shoulder telling you what to do next.
You enjoy leading people and creating structure, but you’re not interested in turning a small creative business into a beige corporate wasteland.
When something goes sideways, your instinct is generally “I’ll handle it.”
You can laugh, adapt, make a decision, and still hold people accountable.

Compensation:
Starting salary approximately $60,000–$65,000, depending on experience.

Benefits and paid time off included.

This is a full-time management position. Compensation will be discussed based on experience and the scope of responsibility the candidate is prepared to take on.

To apply:
Send us your résumé along with a short note telling us:
What makes you good at managing people?

We don’t need a formal cover letter. We’d much rather hear a real answer.

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