Director of Programs

ROLE SUMMARY The Director of Program Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for programs that prioritize and support the needs of Older Adults and People with Disabilities. This highly collaborative role includes leading the organization’s home-delivery and online ordering programs, building an integrated end-to-end model that connects culinary production and groceries, logistics, distribution, technology, and partner ecosystems. The Director is accountable for the strategic direction, operational performance, resource planning, partner relationships, and continuous improvement of Neighbor Programs, exercising independent judgment in support of organizational goals and priorities. This role is accountable for developing and executing a multi-year growth strategy that scales meal production and delivery capacity sustainably while protecting food safety, service quality, compliance, and excellent client experience. In addition, this role provides direct leadership for our Neighbor Programs support team that assists in program onboarding, food ordering, and connecting neighbors to vital resources.

Strategic Outcomes & Scale Expectations In partnership with senior leadership, this role translates organizational goals into a measurable delivery strategy and operating plan (e.g., expanding daily meal volume, coverage area, and reliability targets). The Director designs the operating model, builds capacity plans, strengthens vendor and distribution partnerships, ensures compliance with regulations, and drives continuous improvement using data, KPIs, and rigorous performance management.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy, Program Design & Growth

· Develop and lead a multi-year meal delivery and healthy grocery box strategy that aligns mission impact, client needs (prioritizing older adults and people with disabilities), and sustainable growth.

· Lead the development of the Food Depository’s home delivery strategy, inclusive of programmatic considerations and cross-department collaborationto support advancing home delivery to more neighbors

· Design an end-to-end operating model (production-to-doorstep) including workflows, roles, governance, and service standards that meet regulatory and healthcare compliance requirements.

· Build scalable capacity plans in partnership with cross organizational leaders and partners that includes people and logistics (vehicles, routing, food safety) with clear milestones and investment cases.

· Evaluate and optimize the delivery model (in-house, hybrid, third-party, online ordering, partners) to improve reach, reliability, and cost-to-serve.

· Lead partnership strategy with external organizations, logistics providers, community partners, and government/funder stakeholders; negotiate and manage performance against metrics of success.

· Lead call center strategy to strengthen and scale program onboarding, address neighbor feedback, and support overall neighbor satisfaction

· Drive change management for new processes, technology, staffing models, and partner transitions to enable growth with minimal service disruption.

· Uses neighbor feedback, lived experience, and data insights to inform program design and continuous improvement.

· Ensures services are accessible, equitable, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.

Partnership Development and Relationship Building

· Support relationships with healthcare and community-based organizations, government, and philanthropic partnerships that advance strategy

· Provide persuasive, credible, and polished communication through excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills.

Operational Excellence, Logistics & Quality

· Oversee day-to-day program operations to ensure safe, reliable, and on-time meal delivery with consistent neighbor experience.

· Establish and continuously improve SOPs in partnership with other leaders for ordering, packing, labeling, routing, delivery confirmation, issue resolution, and neighbor communications.

· Partner with kitchen leadership to align menus, packaging, production schedules, and special diets with distribution constraints and neighbor needs.

Data, Technology & Performance Management

· Define, track, and report KPIs (e.g., successful delivery rate, cost per meal delivered, meal quality incidents, neighbor satisfaction, call wait times, answer rates).

· Identify and implement technology improvements (ordering, delivery confirmation, call monitoring, reporting) to enable scale and reduce manual work.

· Use continuous improvement methods (process mapping, standard work) to improve reliability, throughput, and cost-to-serve.

Financial Stewardship & Resource Planning

· Develop, manage and monitor annual operating budgets and resource plans for Program Operations

· Develop business cases for investments and quantify impact, risk, and ROI (mission and financial).

· Support grant/funder requirements, reporting, and audits in collaboration with finance and development teams.

· Accountable for achieving program goals within financial parameters.

Leadership Responsibilities

· Provides direct leadership to the Centralized Neighbor Support team, including a Senior Program Manager and support staff.

· Builds team capability and organizational readiness to support future growth.

· Fosters a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.

· Responsible for hiring, coaching, performance management, and succession planning when applicable.

ROLE-SPECIFIC SUCCESS FACTORS

· Strategic leadership: Creates clear direction, aligns stakeholders, and translates strategy into executable operating plans.

· Exceptional Communication and Influencing Skills: Work collaboratively with internal and external partners

· Scaling & operating model design: Builds repeatable systems, governance, and capacity plans to grow volume reliably and strengthen neighbor satisfaction.

· Logistics & distribution expertise: Detail-oriented to work on programming end to end across departments (Warehouse, Inventory Control, IT, Transportation, Business Analytics, etc.).

· Performance management: Establishes KPIs and drives root-cause fixes and continuous improvement.

· Partner management: Coordinates with partners and manages performance against requirements and service levels.

· Change management: Leads operational transitions with strong communication, training, and adoption planning.

· Risk, compliance & quality mindset: Documentation discipline and proactive risk mitigation.

· Client-centered service: Ensures respectful, consistent service delivery for all neighbors.

· 8-10 years of progressive leadership experience leading complex service delivery - preferably in meal delivery, disability and/or older adult services, food service operations, or a closely related environment; experience scaling operations strongly preferred.

· 5+ years of experience managing and developing a strong team

· Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.

· Experience with call centers and/or customer satisfaction a plus

· Demonstrated success leading organizational or operational transformation initiatives

· Persuasive, credible, and polished communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills.

· Ideal candidate has experience providing support that focus on the needs of older adults and people with disabilities.

· Experience with contract/compliance requirements and funder reporting in a regulated, service-delivery setting.

· Experience managing vendors and coordinating partners/subcontractors.

· Hands-on, systems-minded leader who can zoom out to strategy and zoom in to execution.

· Strong leadership skills and the ability to work effectively and respectfully with leadership of large organizations, faith-based organizations, and community-based groups.

· Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and orientations.

· Commitment to help create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture that encourages and celebrates differences.

· Committed to safety, dignity, and quality neighbor experience.

· Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building structure where it does not yet exist.

· Proficiency with operational reporting and KPI management; comfort translating data into decisions and action (e.g., on-time delivery performance, meeting needs of neighbors).

· Proficient computer skills, including MS Office applications, and the ability to quickly learn new software programs and online platforms.

WORK ENVIRONMENT & POSITION REQUIREMENTS

· Hybrid work environment with occasional visits to warehouse and distribution facilities.

· Occasional evening and weekend work based on operational needs.

· Occasional local travel throughout Cook County; valid driver's license required.

· May represent the Food Depository at community meetings, partner events, and other external engagements.

Benefits

• Health, dental and vision insurance coverage
• Employer-paid life and disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer contribution
• Generous paid time off
• Parental leave
• On-site gym
• $3,000 annual employer-paid ThrivePass lifestyle and wellness benefit program
• $250 employee referral bonus