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Salary: USD 93,000 - 110,000 / annual
Lab37 Robotics is a technology company developing and deploying robots for direct-to-customer food production. As an Associate Operations Manager, you will oversee day-to-day performance of Los Angeles kitchen operations, working closely with the Head of Operations to ensure kitchens run safely, efficiently, and consistently while developing frontline leaders.
This is a hands-on field operations role requiring significant time in kitchens. You will coach Shift Leads and Floating Managers, solve problems, ensure standards compliance, and drive accountability across locations. As the company grows, this role will expand in scope and responsibility.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own day-to-day operational performance across assigned LA kitchens and serve as first point of escalation for location-level issues
- Manage and coach kitchen leadership while building a high-performance culture
- Ensure SOPs are followed across cleaning, food safety, opening/closing, prep, equipment care, inventory, and order quality
- Own location-level labor management including staffing, scheduling, overtime, productivity, and labor costs
- Manage food cost, inventory, waste, purchasing, and other controllable operating costs
- Coordinate facilities, equipment issues, vendors, repairs, and preventive maintenance
- Spend regular time onsite observing execution, identifying gaps, coaching employees, and stepping in when needed
- Monitor location KPIs, identify underperformance, and implement corrective action plans
- Support hiring, onboarding, training, and development of kitchen leaders and hourly employees
- Support new kitchen launches and help stabilize locations after opening
- Identify recurring operational issues and recommend practical improvements
- Maintain clear communication and follow-through to ensure issue resolution
- Escalate issues requiring senior leadership judgment or broader strategic decisions
The role is based in the Los Angeles office with five-day-per-week onsite work required.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 5+ years of experience in restaurant, foodservice, QSR, fast-casual, commissary, or similar operations
- Experience managing multiple restaurant or foodservice locations strongly preferred
- Experience owning or supporting labor, food cost, staffing, manager development, facilities, inventory, health and safety, and location KPIs
- Strong understanding of labor scheduling, productivity, and labor-cost management
- Working knowledge of food cost, inventory, waste, purchasing, and basic restaurant/unit economics
- Experience maintaining food-safety, cleanliness, and operational standards
- Strong people-management skills including coaching, accountability, performance management, and leader development
- Comfortable using operational data and KPIs to identify problems and make decisions
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Comfortable learning scheduling, timekeeping, inventory, purchasing, POS/order-management, and SOP/task-management systems
- New-store or kitchen-opening experience is a strong plus
- Comfortable working onsite and being hands-on with frontline teams
