We are seeking a visionary executive to own and scale our global data center food services program end-to-end for a leading global technology partner.
This isn't about maintaining an operational baseline, it's a high-visibility mandate to architect a multi-year strategy across culinary innovation, commercial performance, sustainability and rapid global expansion.
About the jobTake the lead in a high-level executive role where strategic direction meets operational excellence. You'll drive growth, elevate performance, and inspire large, cross-functional teams, shaping the future of service delivery and client success across a dynamic regional portfolio.
Pay Range: $181220 - $281380
Incentive Eligibility: Eligible to participate in Sodexo's incentive plan and earn variable compensation in addition to base salary
Strategy and transformation
- Own the strategy for data centre food services: the proposition, the service models, the commercial model, technology and the direction of travel three to five years out.
- Define what the transformed food programme is - standards, quality, choice, wellbeing, sustainability and value - and build the evidenced case for it with the client
- Lead the transformation as a programme, with sequencing, dependencies and realistic dating, so change lands across a live estate without destabilising current performance.
- Differentiate deliberately between what must be globally consistent and what should be locally determined, and be explicit about which is which.
Culinary programming
- Own the culinary programme across the estate: menu architecture and cycles, standards and specification, provenance and sourcing, nutrition and wellbeing, and the food-led elements of the employee experience.
- Build a programme that travels - one that holds its identity in a remote North American site and in a market where the supply chain, workforce and palate are entirely different.
- Build a program where technology is integrated throughout to drive a better experience as well as support the uniqueness of the data center demographic and needs
- Hold the line on culinary quality as the estate scales, including where speed of opening and cost pressure push against it.
- Work with Global Culinary Programming and the client's food and workplace teams so the programme is co-owned.
New openings and growth
- Own the openings pipeline readiness, sequencing, resourcing, supply chain, recruitment, training and day-one quality.
- Build a repeatable opening model so each new site is faster, more efficient and better than the last, rather than each one being mobilised from first principles.
- Lead the commercial side of growth: pricing, business cases, and the economics of operating at sites that are often remote, small-population and hard to supply.
- Support the client's own growth planning with a credible view of what Sodexo can deliver, where, and by when - and say early where the answer is not yet.
Operations and performance
- Hold accountability for the performance of the sites: safety, food safety, quality, customer satisfaction, and financial and KPI commitments.
- Make performance visible early across a geographically dispersed estate, and catch drift rather than explain it after the fact.
- Protect the operating standard through the growth period.
Client relationship
- Act as the senior Sodexo relationship owner for data centre food services, trusted by the client as an advisor on their food strategy and not only as a supplier of its delivery.
- Manage client expectations actively - on transformation pace, on opening timelines, on cost and on what is realistically achievable in each market.
- Navigate a client organisation with distinct infrastructure, workplace and regional stakeholders, aligning them around a single programme.
Team and capability
- Lead a functional leadership team Operations, Culinary, HR, Finance and Projects, including the roles that do not exist today, and define how they work together before the estate doubles in pace.
- Lead through functional leaders rather than through sites: set direction, hold them to account, and resist the pull back into direct operational involvement.
- Recruit, develop and retain leadership in locations that are genuinely hard to staff.
- Build bench strength and succession, so the openings pipeline is not dependent on a small number of individuals.
- Set the leadership culture across a dispersed estate where most people will rarely be in the same room.
Experience and capability
Essential
- Senior P&L or business leadership of a multi-site, multi-region food services operation at comparable scale, with accountability for strategy as well as delivery.
- Demonstrable record of transforming a food programme - not refreshing menus, but changing what the programme is and getting the client and the operation to adopt it.
- Track record opening new sites at pace, and of building a repeatable opening capability rather than mobilising each one bespoke.
- Outstanding senior client relationship management: trusted at the top of a sophisticated client organisation, able to shape their thinking and to manage expectations honestly when the answer is unwelcome.
- Built teams and structures from a standing start, including recruiting into difficult locations.
- Experience leading a cross-functional leadership team - operations, culinary, people, finance and projects reporting in - rather than a single-discipline structure.
- Genuine culinary credibility - able to hold a substantive conversation with chefs and with a client about food, and to be taken seriously by both.
- Commercial judgement: pricing, business cases, and the economics of small-population, remote or hard-to-supply sites.
- Comfortable operating across markets with materially different supply chains, labour markets, regulation and food culture.
What you'll bring Visionary Business Leader: Demonstrated ability to define and execute enterprise-wide strategies that drive innovation, enhance brand impact, and accelerate growth across global food service operations.
Operational Architect: Expert at building scalable frameworks, launching complex operations in challenging markets, and leading cross-functional teams to deliver world-class results at scale
- Senior P&L or business leadership of a multi-site, multi-region food services operation at comparable scale, with accountability for strategy as well as delivery.
- Demonstrable record of transforming a food programme - not refreshing menus, but changing what the programme is and getting the client and the operation to adopt it.
- Track record opening new sites at pace, and of building a repeatable opening capability rather than mobilising each one bespoke.
- Outstanding senior client relationship management: trusted at the top of a sophisticated client organisation, able to shape their thinking and to manage expectations honestly when the answer is unwelcome.
- Built teams and structures from a standing start, including recruiting into difficult locations.
- Experience leading a cross-functional leadership team - operations, culinary, people, finance and projects reporting in - rather than a single-discipline structure.
- Genuine culinary credibility - able to hold a substantive conversation with chefs and with a client about food, and to be taken seriously by both.
- Commercial judgement: pricing, business cases, and the economics of small-population, remote or hard-to-supply sites.
- Comfortable operating across markets with materially different supply chains, labour markets, regulation and food culture.
Requirements- Education Requirement: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
- Management Experience: 10 years
- Related Experience: 10 years
What we offerCompensation is fair and equitable, partially determined by a candidate's education level or years of relevant experience. Salary offers are based on a candidate's specific criteria, like experience, skills, education, and training. Sodexo offers a comprehensive benefits package that may include:
- Medical, Dental, Vision Care and Wellness Programs
- 401(k) Plan with Matching Contributions
- Paid Time Off and Company Holidays
- Career Growth Opportunities and Tuition Reimbursement
More extensive information is provided to new employees upon hire.
