Coffee Specialist (Seattle Coffee Gear)

As a Coffee Specialist at Seattle Coffee Gear, you are a customer-facing product expert responsible for delivering exceptional, consultative experiences on the sales floor.

You bring Seattle Coffee Gear's passion for great coffee to life through one-on-one customer interactions and live product demonstrations, helping customers understand brewing methods, espresso fundamentals, and coffee equipment in a practical, approachable way.

In this role, you focus on engaging customers in real time, listening to their needs, demonstrating products, and translating technical features into clear benefits.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Experience & Brand Representation

• Represent Seattle Coffee Gear's brand and culture by creating memorable, educational experiences that inspire repeat visits and customer loyalty.
• Lead engaging and informative coffee brewing demonstrations that showcase Seattle Coffee Gear's expertise and unique competitive edge offerings.
• Educate customers on a variety of brewing techniques, including pour-over, French Press, AeroPress, espresso, cold brew, and coffee art.
• Guide customers in selecting coffee beans based on flavor profiles, roast levels, and origin.
• Maintain a 'coffee-ready' environment by ensuring quality and consistency across in-store brewing and demonstrations.

Sales & Business Performance

• Recommend appropriate coffee equipment and maintenance practices based on customer needs.
• Promote and sell coffee products, equipment, and accessories through product demonstrations.
• Assist the store in achieving revenue goals by driving customer engagement and conversion through education.
• Consistently meet or exceed store goals by delivering exceptional customer engagement and sales.

Team Engagement & Store Support

• Partner with store leaders to ensure alignment with store priorities.
• Collaborate on merchandising strategies that highlight key tools and products featured in classes.

Operations & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with food safety standards, local health codes, and sanitation regulations.
• Maintain accurate inventory levels, minimize shrink, and control supply and culinary expenses.
• Ensure store safety and cleanliness, addressing any maintenance needs promptly.
• Adhere to applicable wage and hour laws.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to communicate verbally and work cooperatively with associates and customers.
• Ability to remain standing for up to 4 hours at a time.
• Ability to move about the store directing class participants while selling to customers and retrieving merchandise from stockroom or sales floor.
• The capability to accurately perceive and differentiate variations in intensity or quality of flavors or odors, or to identify specific tastes or scents using the tongue or nose.
• Ability to grab, reach, push, pull, bend, stoop, kneel, and crouch to retrieve and replenish merchandise from stockroom or sales floor.
• Ability to use hands to seize, hold, grasp, turn, or otherwise to grind, tamp, steam, pour, froth, and/or demonstrate other coffee brewing techniques.
• Ability to lift and/or move merchandise weighing up to 50 lbs.
• Ability to ascend/descend ladders to retrieve and/or move merchandise.
• Ability to operate a computer, POS system, keyboards, merchandise scanners and mouse to accomplish work.
• Available to work between 12 and 16 hours per week, with a flexible schedule, including nights, weekends, and holidays.

Qualifications & Experience

• Must be 18 years of age or older at time of employment.
• Passion for coffee and in-depth knowledge of brewing methods, coffee origins and equipment.
• Ability to create engaging, hands-on experiences for customers.
• Strong enthusiasm for coffee and a genuine eagerness to share knowledge with others.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
• Passion for community engagement and delivering exceptional customer experiences.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and retail management systems preferred.

$19 - $19.75 an hour