AVF is a startup studio dedicated to building technology-forward ventures from the ground up. We move fast, embrace new tools, and put a premium on work that actually gets used.
The Role
We're building a prepared food venture from scratch — and we need someone to build the operating system that runs the kitchen.
That means designing the dashboards, processes, forecasting tools, and SOPs that let the kitchen team run efficiently without leaning on a central office. You'll spend real time on the floor, earn the trust of chefs and operators, and then build systems that reflect how work actually gets done — not how it looks from a whiteboard.
This is a rare early-career opportunity: you'll own meaningful, complex systems from day one, work alongside operators and leadership, and see your work used every single day. The measure of success isn't what you build — it's whether the team can't imagine working without it.
This is an on-site position based at our headquarters in Billerica, MA, with regular travel to our Kitchen Operations center in Concord, NH.
What Makes This Role Unique?
- You will build from scratch – no legacy tools or inherited systems to work around
- Your impact is measured by adoption, not activity
- You will work directly with operators, chefs, engineers, and leadership- not in a siloed function
- You will own the forecasting tool that sits at the intersection of kitchen knowledge, sales data, and financial planning
- Strong performance opens a path to broader ownership of operations systems as the business scales
What You’ll Do:
Embed with the kitchen team
- Spend meaningful time on the floor before designing anything — observe, ask questions, understand how work actually gets done
- Co-design tools and processes with the team rather than presenting finished solutions
- Build enough trust that operators bring you problems proactively, not just react to what you've already built
Build Live Dashboards & Reporting Tools
- Design and build dashboards that surface labor, cost, throughput, and waste in real time
- Implement low-friction data collection methods that operators can maintain independently
- Define KPIs, calculation logic, and reporting cadences – then hand them off with confidence
Design & Standardize Processes
- Map current workflows, identify bottlenecks and variability, and design repeatable, scalable replacements
- Create handoff-ready standard operating procedures (SOPs) in partnership with kitchen leadership- documented, trained out, and validated as adopted
Build Capacity & Planning Models
- Conduct time studies and capacity analysis to establish throughput standards
- Develop staffing models that leadership can use for scaling decisions
- Optimize batching, picking, and packing workflows for accuracy and speed
Own the Demand Forecasting Tool
- Build and maintain a forecasting tool that draws on sales data, order history, and promotional data to produce forward-looking volume and ingredient requirements
- Collaborate with Finance to validate growth rates, seasonal factors, and promotional assumptions
- Produce clear, actionable outputs that the Purchasing & Inventory Coordinator can use to make buying decisions with confidence
What We’re Looking For:
- Degree in Industrial Engineering, Operations, or a related field - internship or co-op experience in a physical operations environment strongly preferred
- Proven ability to build things that other people actually use - academic projects, internship work, or side projects all count
- Strong analytical skills; Excel proficiency required; SQL or Python a plus
- Experience building or working with dashboards or reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker, or similar)
- Genuinely curious about how people work - this role lives or dies on the relationships you build on the floor
- High ownership mindset: you see things through, document them thoroughly, and hand them off cleanly
AVF is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If you're energized by the idea of building something from scratch and handing it to a team that relies on it every day, we'd love to hear from you.
