General Description:  The Director ensures the division’s meal program provides nutritious and delicious food that reflects the diverse cultures, tastes, and dietary needs of our 22,000 students, and that leverages the growing community of chefs, farmers, restaurants, and food non-profits in the region.  Specifically, the Director is responsible for the school division’s meal program, including breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks/meals and oversees all nutrition staff.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensures the Nutrition department provides healthy and delicious meals to students each day as part of the division’s meal program as well as provides exceptional customer service to schools
• Leads, coaches and evaluates a team of direct reports to ensure the department meets its goals
• Supports the department’s processes for food ordering, preparation, and distribution
• Ensures full compliance and consistent implementation of all federal and state laws and guidelines
• Leads efforts to increase both the nutritional value of and student satisfaction with student meals, paying special attention to our students’ diverse cultural backgrounds and dietary needs and preferences; develops strategy for ongoing student taste tests to guide menu selections
• Commits to the use of seasonal, sustainably produced and local products to the greatest extent possible; plans menus that highlight Virginia Harvest of the Month produce when possible
• Evaluates each school’s meals program to determine its effectiveness; monitors and evaluates the implementation of the meal program overall; makes updates as needed
• Establishes and implements budgeting and financial management systems consistent with federal, state, and local requirements
• Sets ambitious department goals to ensure programmatic financial self-sufficiency
• Leverages the talent, expertise, good will, and financial resources of the food and restaurant community in the Richmond region to support the division’s meal program
• Ensures RPS kitchens are up-to-date and efficiently utilized
• Leads planning for professional development for staff to build skills for cooking healthy and delicious meals from scratch
• Collaborates with other members of the Wellness Office to ensure the physical, emotional, and mental health of our students
• Collaborates with the RPS Student Health Advisory Board
• Performs other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• At least seven years of experience in the food and nutrition field
• At least three years of experience managing meal programs either in schools, other large organizations, or in the restaurant industry
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; ability to communicate complex ideas simply and succinctly
• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills; ability to work collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders
• Ability to motivate, encourage, and appropriately challenge staff
• Strong organizational skills, including attention to detail and ease at managing competing demands and determining priorities independently
• Experience working in a fast-paced, environment; adaptable when managing multiple, shifting priorities; comfortable with ambiguity
• Bilingual/proficiency in Spanish preferred