Head of AI & Systems

We're not building software product. We're building a company that runs better because of AI — faster, smarter, with less manual effort at every layer. And we need someone to own that.

I'm Mike Bell, CEO of Manukora. I've been personally running our AI programme for the last year — supply chain automation, team capability uplift, workflow infrastructure. It's one of the most important things happening in our business right now, and it's time to hand it to the right person.

ABOUT MANUKORA

We produce the best honey on the planet. We take tremendous care at every step of the value chain to deliver our customers around the world the most pure and potent product. We're a fast-growing, vertically integrated consumer brand with a strong direct relationship with our customers — scaling across the US and other key global markets, founder-led, with a team that cares deeply about what we make and how we run.

We've already started. There's a real AI programme running across the business, a growing cohort of team members using AI tools daily, and a pipeline of high-priority builds ready for someone to own. You're not starting from zero.

THE ROLE

You'll own the AI & Systems function — tool stack, workflow automation, data integrations, and team capability. You'll build things that have real impact: supply chain intelligence and demand forecasting, growth marketing automation, CX systems, wider growth infrastructure. You'll inherit a small foundation and grow the team from there.

This is a hands‑on, builder role. You'll be expected to diagnose the problem, design the solution, and ship it — not produce a deck about it.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

You came up through growth or ops — not engineering. At some point in the last two years, you went deep on AI and realised you could build things that used to require a developer. Now you sit at the intersection of business problems and AI solutions.

You must have:

• Deep, hands‑on experience with workflow automation tools (n8n, Make, Zapier, or equivalent)
• Used Claude, ChatGPT, or similar as a builder — API calls, prompt engineering, agentic workflows
• Deep experience inside a D2C or e‑commerce brand — you understand the full DTC operation: Shopify on the front end, inventory and fulfilment on the back end, and the data layer that connects them
• The ability to run a team enablement session as comfortably as you can debug a pipeline

Strong to have

• Experience with data integrations and pipelines (Supabase, SQL, API‑level thinking)
• Hands‑on with the DTC stack end‑to‑end: Shopify, Klaviyo or similar, Cin7 or similar OMS/inventory system, and the data tools that sit across both
• Has led work across multiple functions in a scaling business

WHY THIS ONE

• You define what AI means for a real, physical, growing consumer brand — not a tech company
• Direct line to the CEO. Your work shapes the business, not a roadmap committee.
• The scope grows with you. This role becomes a function.
• You’ll work across the full DTC operation — supply chain and fulfilment on one side, growth and CX on the other — and build the systems that connect them.
• We make something genuinely extraordinary — the best honey on the planet, from the remote Mānuka forests of Te Aroha, New Zealand.

Location: Remote‑first. We prefer NZ, AU, US, or Canada — but we'll go wherever the best person is.

Salary: Benchmarked to your market and location.

Start: Q2 2026 — targeting as soon as possible.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Competitive salary benchmarked to your market
• Healthcare coverage (US‑based employees)
• Flexible time off — we care about output, not hours
• A free supply of the best honey on the planet
• Travel to New Zealand — meet the team, visit the hives, see where it all comes from

If this sounds like the role you've been looking for, apply below.