Director, Business Operations

Chicago Public Schools•Chicago, IL

7h•Onsite

About The Position

The department of Nutrition Support Services (NSS) offers all CPS students breakfast, lunch, and afterschool meals at no charge. Meals are offered every school day, during Saturday-school programs, and during the summer. Meals comply with nutrition standards set forth in the USDA’s Child Nutrition Program meal patterns. The department of Nutrition Support Services provides a healthy, high quality meal program that supports a joyful and equitable daily learning experience for all students. Reporting to the Executive Director of Nutrition Support Services, the Director of Business Operations directs, supports, and develops the operational and financial strategy, processes, and continuous improvement of NSS including but not limited to the areas of finance, procurement and vendor management, communications, staffing and employee support, and data reporting and technical systems support. This role is responsible for supporting procurement activities and supporting vendor relationships and implementing financial and operational process improvements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in accounting, finance, business administration or related field
Minimum of seven (7) years of experience in business operations including budget development and management
Minimum of three (3) years of management experience, supervising a team a direct reports
Experience in leading the implementation of cross-functional projects
Ability to understand, explain, and adhere to CPS policies and procedures
Ability to develop and implement strong business plans
Strong communication skills (speaking - including presentations - listening, and writing)
Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment
Strong leadership and team building skills, e.g. ability to influence others and develop high performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving student success
Expert knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management and organizational development
Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support schools and principals
Exceptional organizational, time management, and project management skills
Ability to define problems, analyze a variety of data, outline valid conclusions and action steps, and create compelling and accurate reports and data visualizations
Ability to streamline and implement new structures and roles that create speed, efficiency, and support rapidly shifting business demands
Strong working knowledge of industry regulations and legislative guidelines

Nice To Haves

Experience in the food and nutrition industry with multi unit site management, strongly preferred
Experience with grant and/or contract administration preferred

Responsibilities

Directly manages the NSS budget and oversees all supporting business operations activities, including but not related to all NSS operational, financial, procurement, talent, and data processes.
Oversees the NSS position management processes. Partners with Staffing Manager and NSS leadership to track vacancies and manage position numbers from a budgetary perspective; Maintains NSS organizational charts and position descriptions; Facilitates Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer budget reviews and approvals
Supervises, develops, and manages the performance of the NSS business operations team; Ensures the business operations team adheres to all NSS and District policies, procedures, and standards
Ensures adherence to audit procedures for meal claiming and counting, such as providing supporting documentation for financial audits and those required by Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and/or the USDA
Creates and distributes financial and operational reports and data visualizations for diverse uses and audiences, including senior District leadership and the public view
Oversees the submissions process of grant applications, grant management, and ensures fiscal compliance with grant rules and regulations, including but not limited to overseeing the processing of monthly claims, providing programmatic data to support the department’s dashboard and survey reporting requirements, and providing financial support for programmatic audits from the state
Ensures the department has the correct operational systems in place and each system and business process is set up to maximize claims and revenue while streamlining processes, such as directly overseeing the development and maintenance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and systems; Trains, plans and coordinates with the team to maintain the department’s technology roadmap in partnership with ITS; Develops and maintains the department’s dashboard(s) and the point of sale (POS) system
Oversees the analysis of department data to inform decisions and monitor progress; Drives improvements to data infrastructure and resources; Develops and maintains indicators to measure the success of nutrition initiatives in the District
Partners with the Executive Director to facilitate strategic planning and continuous improvement processes across NSS; Manages NSS usage of districtwide CI system; Ensures department level goals are aligned to budget and staffing allocations
Other duties and workstreams as assigned