{"id":705918,"url":"https://alion.io/job/ornata-technical-manager","title":"Technical Manager","company":{"id":685317,"name":"Ornata","domain":"ornata.ag","url":"https://alion.io/company/ornata","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workable","truth_index":null},"role":"Management","role_family":"Management","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Richmond, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":130000,"max":160000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":160000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-10","last_verified_at":"2026-09-30T21:25:35Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":21,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":21},"description":"About Ornata\nOrnata is building the remote operations platform for agriculture.\nWe help farms operate machinery without a human in the cab, using the equipment they already own. Our service combines retrofit autonomy hardware, remote operators, AI, and operational systems to unlock the benefits of autonomy for every farm.\nWe are working with some of Australia's leading broadacre farming businesses and are now building the commercial and operational foundations required to scale safely, reliably, and repeatably.\nAbout the role\nWe are looking for a Technical Manager to own the quality, safety, compliance and technical integrity of the food products produced across Ornata's grower network.\nThis role oversees quality systems, food safety standards and technical processes spanning production, harvest, storage and distribution, so that everything leaving our grower network is safe, high-quality, and meets customer, regulatory and business requirements.\nIt is a genuinely hands-on role. You will split your time between maintaining a rigorous compliance framework and being out in the paddock, supporting growers to adopt best-practice processes, improving crop and soil outcomes, and championing regenerative and sustainable agriculture across the sector.\nThis role suits someone who is equally comfortable auditing a documentation trail and walking a paddock with a grower, and who thrives in a high-pace, rapidly changing environment.\nWhat you'll do\nIn this role, you will:\nSafety & compliance\nManage all internal documentation and compliance records.\nEnsure full compliance with relevant legislation, standards, codes and internal policies.\nLead incident and crisis management, including implementing corrective action plans (CAPs) and resolving non-conformances.\nOversee grower onboarding, keeping documentation and records up to date and delivering the associated training.\nConduct internal audits of safety systems, procedures and processes.\nDrive continuous improvement by regularly reviewing processes and procedures, updating documentation and retraining people as needed.\nCarry out risk analysis and management across operations.\nGrower liaison\nBuild and develop collaborative relationships with growers to achieve shared work goals.\nConduct regular grower visits to ensure on-farm processes are followed consistently.\nSupport growers with crop planning and seasonality.\nIntegrate Ornata's processes and procedures for safety, efficiency and compliance into growers' existing operations.\nAgronomy & sustainability consulting\nAdvise on agricultural, sustainability and environmental practices.\nReview crop performance and soil health.\nWork alongside growers to build and implement improvement plans.\nGather customer feedback and develop action plans to resolve complaints.\nExternal engagement\nInitiate and deliver field days, workshops and demonstration events in collaboration with growers, educators and innovators.\nPromote the principles and practices of regeneration, agroecology and food security to strengthen sector resilience and sustainability.\nEngage with industry champions and governing and accreditation bodies, keeping a focus on innovation and emerging trends in sustainability, agriculture, automation in food production and food safety.\nWhat success looks like\nIn the first 90 days, success will look like:\nGetting across Ornata's grower network, current compliance framework, and existing documentation and quality systems.\nBuilding strong working relationships with growers, the operations team and key internal stakeholders.\nCompleting a first pass of internal audits across safety systems, procedures and processes to identify priority gaps.\nReviewing grower onboarding documentation and training materials, and identifying where they need updating.\nVisiting priority grower sites to understand on-farm practices, crop performance and soil health first-hand.\nOver the first 12 months, success means:\nA well-maintained, audit-ready compliance framework with no outstanding non-conformances.\nStrong, trusted relationships across the grower network, reflected in consistent adoption of Ornata's processes.\nDemonstrable improvements in crop and soil outcomes at priority grower sites through agronomy and sustainability advice.\nA track record of resolving incidents and customer complaints quickly and thoroughly, with corrective actions embedded.\nAt least one successful field day, workshop or demonstration event delivered in collaboration with growers and industry partners.\nRequirements\nWhat we're looking for\nWe are looking for someone who combines documentation and audit discipline with genuine on-farm credibility.\nYou will need a tertiary qualification in Agriculture, Horticulture or Food Science, along with demonstrated compliance, crisis and risk management experience in a similar role. You should bring an excellent understanding of on-farm operations, ground preparation, soil health, crop management (pre- and post-harvest) and seasonality, and be comfortable managing incidents and non-conformances end to end.\nExtensive experience managing relationships with growers is essential - this role only works if growers trust you enough to change how they do things. You will also need proven expertise delivering significant projects and initiatives within agri-food and innovation systems.\nYou will thrive in this role if you set high standards for yourself and others, adapt easily to a fast-changing environment, and enjoy the mix of structured compliance work and unstructured, in-the-field problem solving.\nWhat you'll bring\nEssential:\nTertiary qualification(s) in Agriculture, Horticulture or Food Science.\nDemonstrated compliance, crisis and risk management experience in a similar role.\nExtensive experience managing relationships with growers.\nExcellent understanding of on-farm operations, ground preparation, soil health, crop management (pre- and post-harvest) and seasonality.\nProven expertise in delivering significant projects and initiatives within agri-food and innovation systems.\nHighly desirable:\nFormal auditing qualifications (ISO 22000 and ISO 19011).\nChemical Users qualification.\nBenefits\nWhy join Ornata\nBe part of an early-stage team where your work will directly shape the quality, safety and sustainability foundations of a fast-growing, purpose-driven business, at a stage where your work will visibly shape how the grower network operates.\nYou'll get genuine variety - from compliance and audit discipline through to on-farm agronomy advice and sector-wide sustainability initiatives - and the autonomy to build and improve systems as you go.\nBe part of an inner city Melbourne-based team building technology for one of Australia’s most important industries.\nCompensation\nA salary of $130,000-$160,000 inclusive of superannuation, plus eligibility for employee share option plan (ESOP).","description_format":"text","description_chars":6865,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Farm Machinery"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-11T03:56:48Z"}],"liveness":{"score":52,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.698,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":20,"expected_fill_days":23,"reasons":["conf:1","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-09-30T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":160000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/ornata-technical-manager","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/ornata-technical-manager.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-01T01:50:12Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","usage":{"tier":"crawler","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":1348,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":3652,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z"}}}