Grove Estate Wines is seeking a warm, capable and highly organised person to lead the day-to-day operation of our cellar door and wider customer-facing business in Young, NSW.
This is a broad operational leadership role covering people, customer experience, events, wine club, e-commerce, fulfilment and administration. You will report to the General Managers and provide clear day-to-day leadership to employees working across cellar door and customer operations.
The word “Senior” reflects the authority and responsibility of the role, not your age or the number of years you have worked in the wine industry. We are open to an experienced manager or an emerging leader with the maturity, initiative and transferable skills to take genuine ownership of the position. Previous winery or cellar door experience is not required. Training in wine, products and internal systems will be provided.
About the role
You will be responsible for ensuring Grove Estate’s customer-facing operation runs smoothly, professionally and consistently without routine intervention from the General Managers or owners.
The role is both practical and managerial. You will sometimes work alongside the team during busy service, event or fulfilment periods, but your main responsibility is to maintain oversight of the whole operation, set priorities, make sound day-to-day decisions and ensure work is completed properly.
Key responsibilities
People and operational leadership
- Lead employees across cellar door and customer operations, including managers, supervisors and casual employees.
- Establish clear reporting lines, responsibilities and standards.
- Allocate work, confirm deadlines and follow up on completion.
- Support onboarding, training, coaching and regular performance conversations.
- Address incomplete work, poor communication and performance concerns professionally and consistently.
- Build a dependable team capable of operating confidently without constant senior intervention.
Rostering and workforce planning
- Own the consolidated front-of-house and customer operations roster.
- Plan staffing for regular trade, administration, fulfilment, weddings, functions and events.
- Monitor labour costs and adjust future rosters where required.
- Manage routine shift changes and staffing gaps.
- Coordinate closely with the Catering Manager on integrated staffing and service requirements.
Cellar door and customer experience
- Lead the preparation and delivery of regular cellar door and front-of-house trade.
- Maintain strong standards across tastings, table service, customer communication, bookings and payments.
- Ensure customer-facing areas are clean, organised, safe and ready for trade.
- Monitor service flow and allocate staff according to customer demand.
- Resolve routine complaints and customer-service issues within approved authority.
- Protect Grove Estate’s warm, personal style while improving consistency and accountability.
Events, weddings and group bookings
- Manage weddings, private functions, group bookings and larger reservations from enquiry through to post-event follow-up.
- Act as the primary customer contact and conduct venue tours and planning meetings.
- Maintain event files, payment records, run sheets, floor plans and supplier details.
- Coordinate staffing, catering, setup, service, pack-down and recovery.
- Ensure every event has clear responsibilities, timing and leadership.
Wine club, e-commerce and fulfilment
- Oversee Grove Estate’s wine club across online and in-person activity.
- Manage member records, renewals, payments, allocations, communications and releases.
- Oversee online-store workflows, product information, stock availability and shipping settings.
- Ensure orders progress accurately through picking, packing, consignment creation, dispatch, tracking and delivery follow-up.
- Assist with packing and postal or freight consignments when reasonably required.
- Manage routine returns, replacements, refunds, failed payments and delivery issues.
- Monitor online sales, fulfilment accuracy, freight costs and recurring customer issues.
Administration and systems
- Oversee shared inboxes, phones, enquiry channels, bookings and internal workflows.
- Maintain accurate customer, event, wine club, e-commerce and operational records.
- Create and maintain practical templates, checklists, procedures and handover systems.
- Track customer commitments, deposits, payment milestones and outstanding decisions.
- Manage reasonable ad hoc operational and administrative projects.
- Help implement approved changes to customer, booking, wine club, e-commerce and fulfilment systems.
- Maintain overall oversight of stock requirements, ordering and storage, whether by allocating responsibilities to suitable employees or managing them directly where required.
Who we are looking for
We are not searching for one narrow background or a perfect industry résumé. The right person may have worked in hospitality, retail, events, accommodation, tourism, e-commerce, logistics, administration, customer service, community organisations, creative businesses or another people-focused small business.
You may already be an experienced manager, or you may be a strong emerging leader ready to take on greater responsibility.
You will likely be:
- Warm, grounded and professional with customers and colleagues.
- Confident giving clear direction and holding respectful boundaries.
- Calm and practical when things become busy or unpredictable.
- Reliable, organised and attentive to detail.
- Comfortable balancing leadership, administration, customers and practical problem-solving.
- Able to prioritise and keep several connected workflows moving.
- Commercially aware and conscious of staffing, time, accuracy and business sustainability.
- A strong written and verbal communicator.
- Comfortable learning digital systems and new processes.
- Open to feedback and able to develop without constant supervision.
- Respectful of an existing team while being prepared to introduce clearer structure and higher standards.
Minimum requirements
- Evidence that you have taken meaningful responsibility for people, customers, workflows, projects or a business function.
- Legal right to work in Australia.
- Current NSW Responsible Service of Alcohol competency, or willingness to obtain it before undertaking alcohol-service duties.
- Ability to work full-time at Grove Estate in Young, NSW.
- Availability to work regular Saturdays and Sundays, as well as rostered evenings, public holidays and events.
- Willingness to complete training in Grove Estate’s products, systems, safety, liquor, privacy and operations.
Employment details
This is a permanent full-time position based at Grove Estate Wines in Young, NSW.
Ordinary hours are 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours where required. Regular weekend work and rostered evening, public-holiday and event work are inherent requirements of the position.
A six-month probation period applies, with structured reviews and support as you progressively take ownership of the operation.
Remuneration will be negotiated privately, taking into account the successful candidate’s experience, capability and suitability for the position, as well as Grove Estate’s reasonable commercial capacity.
To apply, please submit your résumé and a short cover letter introducing yourself and explaining why your background, personality and transferable skills would suit the role. Previous wine-industry experience is not required. We are particularly interested in examples of where you have taken ownership, organised people or workflows, solved practical problems, improved a system or delivered a strong customer experience.
Pay: $60,000.00 – $80,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
