Position Type: Full-time hourly – 32 hours per week over 4 days
Compensation: $25–$28 per hour (DOE), equivalent to approximately $42k–$47k annually based on a 32-hour workweek
Location: Queens, NYC (in-person production and fulfillment facility)
At Senbird Tea, our products are made and shipped from our Queens facility. This role is on the floor every day, operating machinery, packing and shipping orders, and keeping production and fulfillment running on time and on spec. You'll also be the voice our customers hear, handling both DTC and B2B inquiries so the people who buy our tea get the same care we put into making it. You'll help build the systems and train the people that let us scale. If you've done this kind of work before, take pride in doing it well, and communicate clearly with both a team and customers, we want to hear from you.
Senbird Tea is an Asian American family-owned Japanese tea company dedicated to bringing you the finest teas from family farms in Japan. Rooted in wellness, sustainability, and quality, our curated collection of teas, premium gift sets, and handcrafted teaware has been recognized by Forbes, Food & Wine, BuzzFeed, and Sustainable Jungle. With over 15,000+ five-star reviews on Amazon, we take pride in delivering an exceptional tea experience that nurtures a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Join us in celebrating the rich traditions of Japanese tea—one cup at a time.
You'll know you're the right person if:
You lead by doing, staying hands-on while providing guidance and oversight to help the team achieve shared goals.
You are relentlessly proactive—you don’t wait to be told what to do and are always thinking one step ahead to keep operations running smoothly.
You thrive on bringing order to chaos and love turning manual tasks into streamlined, repeatable systems through both execution and monitoring.
You communicate with clarity and purpose, keeping the team and leadership aligned and handling every customer inquiry or issue with the patience and care that reflects well on the brand.
You view challenges as opportunities for growth and find genuine fulfillment in seeing a tangible, high-quality product in a customer's hands because of your direct effort and team oversight.
As an Operations Specialist, you will:
Production
Provide hands-on oversight of daily production tasks while actively participating in operating machinery for tea blending, filling tins, labeling, and packaging with high accuracy and consistency, jumping in as needed to ensure daily quotas are met. (Full training on all processes and equipment will be provided as needed.)
Follow, maintain, and contribute to documenting/updating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to support consistency and effective training.
Maintain organization, cleanliness, and safety of the production and fulfillment space to ensure efficiency and compliance with quality standards.
Fulfillment
Oversee and participate in fulfillment operations, including packing and shipping D2C and B2B orders on time, ensuring team efficiency and stepping in to maintain flow.
Coordinate with the team to align production and fulfillment activities with demand and receive incoming shipments.
Monitor inventory levels for raw materials, packaging supplies, and finished products to help prevent shortages, overstock, and out-of-stock situations on key items.
Serve as the first point of contact for DTC and B2B customer inquiries across email, tickets, and other channels, responding promptly and in Senbird's voice: helpful, accurate, and thoughtful.
Resolve customer issues end-to-end, including order problems, shipping and delivery questions, product questions, returns, and replacements, escalating only when necessary.
Set up and process orders, including wholesale and DTC orders, ensuring accuracy from order entry through fulfillment.
Spot recurring questions and complaints and feed those insights back into production, fulfillment, and inventory so issues get fixed at the source.
Leadership
Train, mentor, and support seasonal interns and junior team members on production machinery, fulfillment processes, and best practices, while monitoring performance to help meet quotas.
Collaborate cross-functionally and contribute updates during weekly team meetings.
3+ years of hands-on experience in production, manufacturing, e-commerce fulfillment, or warehouse operations
Direct experience operating production or packaging machinery in a food, beverage, or CPG environment
Experience training or mentoring team members in a production or fulfillment setting
Customer service experience, ideally in e-commerce, retail, or B2B/wholesale, with the ability to handle inquiries and resolve issues independently
Familiarity with ShipStation, Shopify, or similar platforms is a plus
Comfort with help desk or ticketing tools such as Gorgias or Zendesk is a plus
Physically capable of hands-on work, including lifting up to 50 lbs
Passion for Japanese tea and an appreciation for Japanese culture are a plus
Schedule: 4 days per week, Monday–Thursday, 9:00am–5:00pm (32 hours total); occasional schedule adjustments during peak seasons and our summer internship program may apply.
Our interview process typically includes 2-3 steps, including a brief assessment, all designed to ensure we're the right fit for you and you're the right fit for us. We look forward to connecting with you!
4-Day Work Week (32 hours, Mon–Thu): Real work-life balance
Paid Time Off & Sick Leave
Health Insurance (available upon eligibility)
Monthly Tea Allowance + Generous Employee Discount: Become a genuine product expert
Direct Mentorship from Founders: Real access, real input, real visibility
Career Growth: A clear path to grow as Senbird scales
Team Events & Culture: A small, tight-knit crew that celebrates wins and supports each other
Senbird has been rooted in Queens, NYC since 2018. We're a small, hands-on team of self-starters who care deeply about the quality of what we make and the experience we deliver. We value people who are dependable, proactive, and collaborative — who take ownership without being asked and communicate clearly when something's off. We work hard, but sustainably, because we're building something meant to last.
Senbird Tea is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.