Liberty & Plenty Distillery of Durham, NC is expanding into larger, more efficient operating distillery in Wilson, North Carolina. Wilson is located 40 minutes east of Raleigh, NC & Greenville, NC. We are seeking an experienced, highly organized, and strategic Senior Liquor Distillery Production Manager to launch and lead operations at our brand-new, state-of-the-art production facility in Wilson, NC. Salary based position - $95,000-$110,000/year + PTO + Medical Benefits This advanced facility pairs a continuous column still and doubler setup for high-volume efficiency with a 750-gallon batch pot still for artisanal blending. In this senior leadership role, you will develop operating procedures for safety, quality and efficiency for whiskey, bourbon, vodka, gin, rum and liquers. You will translate commercial targets into an optimized master production plan, oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of our diverse portfolio (bourbon, whiskey, rum, vodka, gin, and liqueurs), and engineer scalable workflows. As a department head, you will architect, hire, and mentor a world-class production team from the ground up, ensuring absolute liquid quality, manufacturing safety, and cost efficiency.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Production Planning & Scale-Up
Master Scheduling: Engineer and manage the master production, fermentation, and distillation schedules to satisfy multi-category inventory demands. Dual-System Optimization: Maximize throughput and efficiency on the Continuous Column still & doubler system while balancing specialty batches on the 750-gallon pot still. Supply Chain & Cost Control: Oversee raw material procurement, yield metrics, barrel tracking, utility efficiencies, and vendor relations to maintain strict cost-of-goods (COGS) control. Team Leadership & Department Growth
Talent Architecture: Structure, recruit, and hire the full production team—including distillers, cellar hands, and packaging technicians—to support the new facility launch. Performance Management: Direct daily team activities, establish clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and conduct performance reviews to foster a culture of technical excellence. EHS Leadership: Enforce rigorous Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) protocols tailored to continuous manufacturing and hazardous environments (Class 1, Div 1). Process Quality, Automation & Compliance
Technical Oversight: Standardize recipe specifications, mashing protocols, proofing accuracy, and sensory analysis to guarantee consistency across all Liberty & Plenty brands. Regulatory Command: Maintain absolute oversight of audit-ready compliance reporting for the TTB, NCDOR, and local environmental agencies. System Modernization: Utilize automated control systems for grain handling, milling, mashing, fermentation, distillation and spirits collection and create SOP's for those systems. Boiler and Chiller: Perform daily and weekly maintenance on boiler and chiller systems and create SOP's on maintence. Grain Systems: Perform on-loading of grain utilzing a silo system, milling utilizing a Roller Mill and Hammer Mill and Perform off-loading of spent grain and waste managment. Perform Blending and Spirits Recipes: In addition to grain processing for whiskey/bourbon, manage rum, gin, vodka and liqueur production recipes.
Required Qualifications
Experience:
7+ years of commercial distilling experience Using both Column Distilling with Doubler and Pot Still Distillation with at least 3+ years in a senior supervisory or production management role. Technical Expertise: Deep technical mastery operating, troubleshooting, and balancing continuous column still systems, doublers, and industrial boiler configurations. Multi-Category Portfolio Mastery: Proven expertise in mashing, fermenting, and distilling across diverse profiles, including whiskey aging, neutral spirit rectification, and botanical compounding. Leadership Track Record: Proven ability to build production teams from scratch, design training matrices, and manage cross-functional staff. Systems Literacy: High proficiency with PLC-driven distillation equipment and industry-standard distillery management software (e.g., Whiskey Systems, Ekos).
Physical Demands:
Ability to lift up to 55 lbs repeatedly, navigate multi-level still platforms, and work comfortably in varied industrial climates.
Education:
Engineering and Hard Sciences degree + Commercial Experience in Liquor Distillation
