Executive Director Dining

Job Posting Title:

Executive Director Dining

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Hiring Department:

University Housing and Dining

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

UT MAIN CAMPUS

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Job Details:

General Notes

BENEFITS: UT Austin offers a competitive benefits package that includes:  
•     100% employer-paid basic medical coverage 
•     Retirement contributions  
•     Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays 
•     Career growth & professional development

Please visit our Human Resources (HR) website at https://hr.utexas.edu/  to learn more about the total benefits offered when you join our team!

Purpose

This position oversees residential dining, retail, culinary, and catering in University Housing and Dining (UHD). They work closely with other departments across campus to align dining services with the university’s broader goals and priorities. They demonstrate decisive action, intentional leadership, and champion the organization by incorporating strategic, systems thinking in decision making.

Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership: Provide oversight to all food and beverage operations for University Housing and Dining, including residential dining, retail, culinary and catering. Accountable for operational excellence, guest experience, problem-solving, implementation of new programs and services, staff experience, assessment, nutrition and well-being, and sustainability. Work collaboratively with cross-functional teams across the department to achieve departmental goals and enhance operational efficiency. Interact with student, staff, and faculty customers in a meaningful and productive way; make recommendations on the comprehensive dining options offered at the University of Texas at Austin. Collaborate with academic departments, develop and oversee strategic partnerships with on and off-campus partners. Provide direct supervision of senior team. Provide leadership to over 50 management staff and indirectly supervise 700 full time, part time, and student staff. Conduct weekly meetings with senior dining team to maintain communication and collaboration across the department.

• Financial Leadership / Purchasing: Manage a budget of approximately $50 million dollars; revenue and expense budgets. Recommend rates for services; develop and expand revenue sources; monitor and approve expenditures. Set and monitor key performance indicators for financial performance and create budgetary expectations for Dining departmental leaders/managers. Review and evaluate operational reports and use as assessment tools with Food Service Management teams. Provide positive excess income to the department.

• Leadership, Engagement, and Staff Development: Act as a liaison with the campus community with an emphasis on seeking student input and listening to student concerns. Ensure a constant learning environment for student, faculty, and staff. Foster a collaborative team environment by providing direction and constructive feedback to the leadership team. Attend conferences and workshops that offer food service networking and benchmarking opportunities. Visit other University campuses and commercial food service operations to evaluate service concepts. Manage all aspects of staff development in the workforce. Approve staff performance evaluations and merit pay recommendations. Serve as a management resource for staff discipline issues and support leadership staff to follow the University’s corrective action process. Develop, implement, and periodically review and update operational policies and procedures, seeking input from management and others involved. Evaluate policy compliance in performance appraisals as appropriate.

• Planning: Provide oversight and guidance in long-range strategic and capital planning, facilities renovations, security, renewal of program concepts, and product offerings to meet current trends and generational expectations. Evaluates facilities and services relative to dining plan and contributions to a high-quality student life.  Consults widely with student governments, department heads, deans, and other university staff. Develops ongoing planning and development of service levels through the enhancement of facilities, concepts, product delivery, and staff training, including a continuous planning cycle to maintain services that will meet the needs of current and future customers. Explore innovative dining options. Drive and monitor strategic planning initiatives by communicating clear and concise expectations and guidance. Provide leadership to enhance sales and strengthen marketing strategies.

• Department Representation: Participate on University committees. Serve as a liaison representing University Housing and Dining interests. Involve other campus units in committees, project work teams, and food service focus groups as appropriate. Consult with University Departments on the management of outside food vendors as subject matter expert. Other related functions as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Service Management, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or related field.

• 15 years of experience in the food service or hospitality industry, with 10 years of executive/senior level management experience in a large food service/dining operation.

• Ten or more years of financial analysis and budgeting experience in a large food service/dining operation.

• Ten or more years of experience developing, implementing, and analyzing operational plans, policies, and procedures.

• Extensive knowledge of federal, state, and local regulations regarding the safety of food preparation, handling, and compliance.

• Proven ability to incorporate long-term strategic goals into a business model, and delegate responsibility for overseeing functional tasks to direct reports.

• Extensive verbal and written communication skills including active listening and critical thinking.

• Excellent interpersonal, leadership, and collaboration skills.

• Demonstrated experience with a successful, comprehensive catering operation.

• Extensive understanding and application of systems thinking principles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education, training, or credentialing post bachelor’s degree including anything in progress.

• More than 15 years of experience in the food service or hospitality industry.

• More than 10 years of executive/senior level management experience in a large food service/dining operation.

• More than 10 years of experience in food service management at a large university.

• Extensive understanding of a self-operated food service environment.

• Experience in catering, residential, and retail operations.

• Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Salary Range

$170,000+ depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

• May work around standard office conditions.

• Repetitive use of keyboard at a workstation.

• Lifting and moving.

Work Shift

• Monday - Friday 8:00AM -5:00PM, hours and days may vary depending on business needs.

• Ability to work non-traditional hours to support business operations. Including occasional nights, weekends, and holidays.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor

• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded.  Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer , complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English) [PDF]
• E-Verify Poster (Spanish) [PDF]
• Right To Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right To Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031 .

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.