Be the one who makes a difference! At Vertex Education we are a team of high achievers, courageous leaders, and passionate believers in changing lives through education. As a purpose-led education services provider, our mission is destined to benefit many and yet it starts with just one person inspired to work together with us to make a memorable and meaningful difference for our clients, schools, students, and communities. Be the one who makes a difference—with us.

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At Vertex Education, we change lives through education! As the Director of Food Services , you will lead the network’s strategy to deliver high-quality, compliant, and student-centered nutrition programs. Your leadership will ensure consistent, efficient meal service operations across all campuses by standardizing practices, driving vendor performance, enhancing team capability, and using data to inform decisions that support student well-being and school success. Essential Functions: 1. Operating Standards and Governance: Develop and maintain standardized operating procedures for meal preparation, distribution, food safety, and inventory management across all school kitchens and service models. Maintain a centralized resource hub including menus, compliance documentation, operational playbooks, safety checklists, and food program calendars. Define and implement clear roles and responsibilities between central food services, school teams, and vendors using a RACI model. Lead process improvement initiatives when food service workflows create inefficiencies or impact the student experience.

2. Quality Assurance, Validations, and Compliance: Implement a quality assurance framework that includes kitchen inspections, meal quality reviews, and vendor performance audits. Oversee audit scheduling for internal reviews and external compliance requirements, including USDA guidelines, state health inspections, and meal count validations. Ensure regulatory compliance across all meal programs, including National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). Monitor food safety incidents, service disruptions, and non-compliance trends to drive corrective actions and continuous improvement. Conduct site visits to assess food quality, compliance, and service effectiveness at the campus level.

3. Training and Capability Building: Design and deliver training programs for food service personnel, including onboarding, kitchen safety, meal counting, and compliance with federal and state nutrition guidelines. Facilitate workshops on menu planning, allergy protocols, customer service, and vendor coordination. Maintain a knowledge base of recipes, job aids, SOPs, and FAQs to support school-based teams and central staff. Provide coaching and technical assistance to school leaders responsible for overseeing or coordinating food service operations.

4. Performance Analytics and Reporting: Define KPIs for food services such as meal participation rates, cost per meal, vendor SLA adherence, inventory accuracy, and audit pass rates. Partner with BI to develop dashboards that provide real-time insight into food program performance, service issues, and areas for optimization. Collaborate with school leaders to review monthly food service scorecards and identify actionable improvement opportunities. Use data to assess financial performance, participation trends, and student satisfaction with food offerings.

5. Strategic Initiatives and Advisory Services: Lead strategic initiatives such as vendor transitions, school expansion support, new service model rollouts, and kitchen equipment upgrades. Apply project and change management strategies to ensure successful implementation of new meal programs, menu updates, or technology tools. Serve as an advisor to network and campus leaders on food service strategy, student satisfaction, vendor contracts, and regulatory changes. Evaluate new food service models, vendors, and systems to enhance operational efficiency, quality, and student engagement.

Qualifications: Required: Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, Food Service Management, Business Administration, or a related field. 7+ years of leadership experience in food service operations, with multi-site oversight and regulatory accountability. Deep understanding of USDA child nutrition programs (NSLP, SBP, SFSP) and state-level compliance requirements. ServSafe Manager certification. Experience managing vendor relationships, meal planning, food safety, and kitchen operations. Strong analytical and financial skills; able to manage budgets, track participation data, and evaluate program effectiveness. Proven ability to develop training programs, improve operational processes, and drive team performance. Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills with both internal stakeholders and external vendors.

Preferred: School Nutrition Specialist (SNS) certification or equivalent. Experience working in public or charter school systems. Familiarity with food service technology platforms and point-of-sale systems.

Be excited to be a part of our team and grow your career with us! Be the one who enables us to positively impact over 258,000 students across multiple states while driving our growth forward so we can enrich even more lives. Be the one who helps us achieve excellence for over 226 schools that we support with academics, finance, technology, human resources, communications, marketing, facilities, construction, and food services. Be the one who is a diverse thinker, a team player, a smart risk taker, an innovator, and a difference maker by encouraging others to climb higher and reach farther to further education. Be yourself surrounded by wonderful people who care about you, value your unique skills, and lift you up. Be supported in your work by caring leaders and team members who want you to succeed. Be empowered to make a difference and climb higher and reach farther to change lives through education. Be well in all aspects of your life from your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing to your finances. Enjoy industry-leading pay, rewards, referral bonuses, with unlimited flexible paid time-off for performance. Be able to care for your health and your family with comprehensive medical, dental and vision benefits and invest in your future with 401(k) plans with a 6% employer match on your contributions. Enhance your growth and development with mentoring and money to take training classes. Thrive in a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive environment where we treat others with fairness and respect, celebrate diversity, and elevate equality and inclusion as an equal opportunity employer.

Be the one who makes a difference! With an innovative mind, a hungry heart, and engaging spirit you can change lives through education. Be a part of Vertex Education and let’s make a difference together. Apply Today!