Senior Workshop Manager

Sotobosque Design | Goodlettsville / Nashville, Tennessee
Full-Time | $38–$45 per hour, based on experience

Build Exceptional Work, and Help Build the Company Behind It.

Sotobosque Design is seeking an experienced Senior Workshop Manager to lead the day-to-day production of our furniture-grade custom cabinetry.

We are building a design-led company known for exceptional craftsmanship, thoughtful details, natural materials, and cabinetry that belongs in architecturally significant homes.

This will be our first key shop hire. The person who joins us will have the opportunity to do more than fill a position: you will help establish the standards, workflow, culture, and production systems of a growing company.

Our cabinet shop is only phase one.

Sotobosque is also developing a three-acre mid-century modern property that will include our workshop, design studio, material showroom, and a renovated residence showcasing our work. Beyond custom cabinetry, we are expanding into residential design/build projects and the distribution of distinctive natural building materials, like Japanese yakisugi siding.

We are looking for someone who wants to build beautiful cabinetry today and help shape something much larger over time.

The Role

The Senior Workshop Manager will oversee daily cabinet production and work directly with company ownership to turn designs into beautifully executed finished products.

This is a hands-on leadership position. You should be equally comfortable building at the bench, solving technical problems, organizing production, and holding a high standard for the people working around you.

Initially, you will be closely involved in fabrication. As the shop grows, the role will expand into managing and training additional cabinetmakers, coordinating workflow, and taking greater ownership of shop operations.

What You Will Own

• Lead the daily production of custom, furniture-grade cabinetry and architectural millwork

• Translate drawings, dimensions, specifications, and design intent into accurate finished work

• Plan job sequencing and organize materials, labor, tools, and shop workflow

• Build cabinets, doors, drawers, face frames, panels, and specialty components

• Establish repeatable production methods without sacrificing craftsmanship

• Inspect work throughout production and correct problems before they reach installation

• Maintain exacting standards for fit, joinery, reveals, grain selection, sanding, finishing preparation, and final presentation

• Coordinate with ownership regarding schedules, material needs, design questions, and production challenges

• Track job progress and communicate clearly when timelines or specifications need attention

• Maintain an organized, efficient, clean, and safe workshop

• Care for machinery and identify maintenance or equipment needs

• Help train, supervise, and develop future cabinetmakers and shop employees

• Occasionally assist with field measurements, installations, punch work, or other project needs

• Contribute ideas that improve quality, efficiency, organization, and profitability

Who We Are Looking For

You are an accomplished cabinetmaker who takes personal pride in the details most people never notice.

You understand that high-end cabinetry is not simply a collection of boxes. Proportion, grain direction, material selection, reveals, joinery, hardware alignment, door movement, and finish preparation all matter.

You also understand that being a Senior Workshop Manager requires more than craftsmanship. It requires planning ahead, communicating directly, maintaining order, solving problems calmly, and making the people around you better.

The right candidate will be dependable, thoughtful, highly organized, and confident enough to take ownership without bringing unnecessary ego into the shop.

Required Experience and Abilities

• Significant professional experience building custom cabinetry, furniture, or architectural millwork

• Strong knowledge of cabinet construction, joinery, hardware, materials, and woodworking machinery

• Ability to read and interpret shop drawings, plans, elevations, dimensions, and specifications

• Ability to independently take a cabinet project from design - to shop drawings - and through fabrication

• Demonstrated ability to produce precise, high-quality work

• Experience safely operating cabinet saws, sliding saws, jointers, planers, routers, sanders, drills, and related equipment

• Strong measuring, layout, and woodworking math skills

• Ability to identify problems early and develop practical solutions

• Clear communication and strong personal accountability

• Ability to organize multiple projects and maintain production priorities

• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation

• Ability to lift and maneuver cabinetry, sheet goods, lumber, and shop materials safely

Particularly Valuable Experience

The following experience is valuable but not required in every candidate:

• Previous foreman, lead cabinetmaker, or shop management experience

• Furniture-grade or luxury residential cabinetry

• Frameless and face-frame cabinet construction

• Inset cabinetry

• Solid wood door and drawer-front construction

• Veneer work, sequence matching, and intentional grain layout

• Dovetailed drawer-box construction

• Specialty hardware and concealed mechanisms

• Curved, radius, or one-of-a-kind architectural components

• Cabinet installation and field problem-solving

• CNC machinery or cabinet-production software

• Creating cut lists, material takeoffs, and production schedules

• Training and supervising developing craftspeople

• Lean manufacturing, workflow planning, or shop-system development

What Makes This Opportunity Different

Most foreman positions ask you to inherit someone else’s system.

This position offers the chance to help create one.

You will work directly with the owners, have meaningful input into how the shop operates, and play an important role in developing the team that follows you. Good ideas will not have to travel through layers of management before they are heard.

You will also have exposure to more than repetitive cabinet production. Our work and long-term vision include:

• Custom kitchens, built-ins, vanities, furniture, and architectural millwork

• High-design residential renovations

• Mid-century modern and Japanese-influenced architecture

• Natural woods and character-rich materials

• A growing design/build operation

• A destination workshop and showroom on a three-acre property

• Distinctive natural building products such as yakisugi

• Opportunities for increasing leadership as the company expands

We are building a company where craftsmanship is respected, design matters, promises are kept, and excellent people have room to grow.

Compensation

• $38–$45 per hour, based on experience and demonstrated capability

• Full-time position

• Consistent weekday schedule

• Opportunity for overtime when project schedules require it

• Long-term leadership and advancement potential as the shop and design/build operation grow

The highest end of the compensation range is reserved for a candidate who can independently lead production, maintain furniture-grade quality, organize the shop, solve technical problems, and eventually train and manage additional team members.

How to Apply

Please send:

• A brief introduction and summary of your cabinetmaking experience

• Your employment history or résumé

• Photographs of cabinetry, furniture, millwork, or installations you personally helped produce

• A description of your specific role on the projects shown

• Any experience you have leading employees, organizing production, or managing a cabinet shop

• Professional references

Portfolios do not need to be formally designed. Clear photographs and an honest explanation of what you personally built are more important than presentation.

Sotobosque Design is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on experience, capability, reliability, craftsmanship, and the requirements of the position.