Q Grader & Master Roaster — Director of Coffee

Village Roaster is built on one thing: sensory excellence in the cup. We are hiring a Q Grader and Master Roaster to be the quality authority, the roaster, and the public face of our coffee — the recognized expert whose palate and craft define everything we sell.

This is not a production-line job. Every coffee we buy is cupped and scored by this person. Every roast profile is theirs. Our customers, our wholesale partners, and our audience follow this person because they are at the top of the field — a nationally or internationally recognized talent whose name and reputation become part of the brand. The role exists because our entire model depends on having that caliber of expert in the seat.

We are a roaster-driven operation. The same expert who scores and roasts our coffee is the one in front of our customers: making outreach calls and site visits to wholesale accounts, educating partners, and following up in the field to make sure the quality built in the roastery is delivered all the way to the end customer's cup. Sales here is not a separate function handed to someone else — it is the roaster, as the authority on the coffee, representing and protecting their own work.

Because that expertise is genuinely rare, we are searching worldwide and will support relocation and visa sponsorship for the right person. The role is public-facing and involves leading partner conversations in English, so professional working proficiency in English is required.

The expertise this role demands

We are specifically seeking a leading expert in coffee sensory science and roasting — someone whose standing in the field is demonstrable through certification, competition results, judging appointments, and published recognition. The day-to-day work is the practice of that expertise: world-class cupping and grading, signature roast development, and serving as the authoritative public voice for our coffee. A generalist cannot do this job; it requires someone the specialty-coffee world already recognizes as exceptional.

What you'll own

1. Quality & sensory authority — the heart of the role (Q Grader function)

• Personally cup and score every coffee we evaluate and buy, using SCA / Coffee Value Assessment protocols; your score is the final word on what we purchase and ship.
• Set, document, and enforce the sensory and quality standard across the entire operation.
• Calibrate suppliers, importers, and our own team to your standard.

2. Roast development & roasting (Master Roaster function)

• Develop, document, and own every signature roast profile in our lineup.
• Roast our coffee yourself and guarantee batch-to-batch consistency to your specification.
• Apply the same sourcing and quality discipline to building our tea program.

3. Public face & brand voice

• Be the on-camera personality and expert voice of Village Roaster across social media, content, and education — the recognized authority customers trust.
• Represent the roastery at trade events, festivals, and competitions as our resident expert.
• Lead public cuppings, classes, and tastings that build our reputation.

4. Green sourcing & buying

• Direct coffee (and tea) procurement end to end — supplier relationships, sample evaluation, contracting, and inventory — with selection driven by your scores.

5. Customer-facing expertise: outreach, education & field quality (expert-led — this is the roaster, not a separate sales team)

• Own customer relationships as the expert: make outreach calls and on-site visits to current and prospective wholesale accounts (cafés, restaurants, grocers, offices), running guided cuppings and tastings that win and grow business.
• Educate and train partners' staff to store, grind, brew, and present our coffee to your exact specification — so the quality you built in the roastery reaches the end customer intact.
• Conduct follow-up site visits and quality audits at accounts: verify the coffee is being served to standard, troubleshoot dialing-in and equipment, and recalibrate so each partner is genuinely communicating and delivering our quality to their customers.
• Shape and grow the ecommerce channel — assortment, subscriptions, storytelling, and retention — anchored on your profiles and expertise.
• (Outreach, education, and partner conversations are conducted in English — professional English proficiency required.)

6. Production & packaging oversight

• Oversee production scheduling, packaging, lot tracking, and freshness/QA standards so the quality in your score sheet survives all the way to the customer's cup.

Required qualifications (must-have and documentable)

• A recognized sensory/grading credential — most importantly the Q Grader certification (now administered by the Specialty Coffee Association; previously the Coffee Quality Institute / CQI). Equivalent SCA Sensory + Roasting credentials at Professional level may be considered.
• 5+ years of professional specialty-coffee experience, including hands-on production roasting on commercial equipment (e.g., 12 kg+ drum roasters).
• A demonstrable record of recognition in the field — at minimum one of: a national/international competition placement, an official judging appointment, or published features about your work (see below).
• Proven ability to build and document roast profiles (profile logs, cupping scores, QC records).
• Professional working proficiency in English (spoken and written) for public-facing content and partner-facing conversations.
• Eligibility to work in the U.S. or an achievement profile strong enough to support an extraordinary-ability visa (we sponsor for exceptional candidates — see below).

Standout credentials we are actively seeking (and that we can verify)

The strongest candidates are recognized at the top of the field. We list these specifically because each is provable with documentation — certificates, official results, published articles, or verifiable references — which is also what an extraordinary-ability visa petition requires.

Certifications & training

• Q Grader (SCA, formerly CQI) — Arabica and/or Robusta.
• SCA Coffee Skills Program diplomas — Green Coffee, Roasting, Sensory, Brewing, Barista Skills (Foundation → Professional).
• SCA Authorized Trainer (AST) status.
• Membership in the SCA Roasters Guild or an equivalent national guild.

Competitions & awards (national or international placements)

• World Coffee Roasting Championship — or a national roasting championship — placement (champion, finalist, or top-tier).
• World Barista Championship / World Brewers Cup / World Cup Tasters Championship — or the national round of any of these.
• Roast Magazine "Roaster of the Year" (Macro or Micro) recognition for a roastery you led.
• Good Food Awards (coffee), Golden Bean medals, or comparable juried roasting awards.

Regional competitions & awards — origin regions (especially relevant for candidates sourced from coffee-growing countries)

Middle East / MENA

• Titles from World of Coffee Dubai — e.g., the UAE National Barista and Latte Art championships, and the World Cezve/Ibrik Championship (the 2026 World Coffee Championships season opened in Dubai).
• National championships (Barista, Brewers Cup, Cup Tasters, Roasting where held) in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and other MENA countries — the qualifying rounds for the World Coffee Championships.

Africa

• AFCA Africa Barista Championship (African Fine Coffees Association) placement.
• National Barista / Brewers Cup / Cup Tasters championships (e.g., Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) that feed into the World Coffee Championships.
• AVPA-Paris "Coffees Roasted at Origin" — gold/silver/bronze or Paris Gourmet medals for coffee roasted in its country of origin (open to African origin roasters).

Central America

• Golden Bean The Americas medals — the world's largest roasting competition; its 2025 World Series was held in Antigua, Guatemala — open to roasters in Mexico and Central/South America.
• AVPA-Paris "Coffees Roasted at Origin" medals (open to Central American origin roasters).
• National Barista / Brewers Cup / Cup Tasters championships in Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, feeding into the World Coffee Championships.

Important — producer awards are not roaster awards. Cup of Excellence (active in Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico), the AFCA Taste of Harvest, Best of Panama, and the Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award are won by farms and green-coffee lots, not by roasters. A roaster cannot "win" these. What does count for a roaster is (a) serving as a juror/cupper on one of these panels — a top-tier judging credential — and (b) sourcing award-winning lots, a strong quality signal. When a candidate cites one of these, confirm whether they won it (as a producer), judged it, or sourced from it.

Judging & industry roles

• Service as a certified sensory judge for national/international coffee competitions.
• Service as a Cup of Excellence national or international juror (note: Cup of Excellence is an award for producers — judging on its panel is the relevant credential for a roaster).
• Invited speaking, lecturing, or course instruction at industry events or schools.

Published material & media

• Features, profiles, or technical articles about you or your work in trade publications such as Barista Magazine, Roast Magazine, Standart, Fresh Cup, Global Coffee Report, or Perfect Daily Grind.

Critical roles at respected organizations

• A documented record of being the lead/essential coffee professional at a well-regarded specialty roaster, with a reference letter that speaks to your impact on quality and reputation.