Director, Hospitality

Optima Living•Edmonton, AB

43d

About The Position

Founded in 2007 by two friends inspired by their families’ dementia journeys, Optima Living was created to provide a more home-like experience in seniors housing and care. What began as a personal mission has grown into one of Western Canada’s leading senior living and continuing care providers. Today, Optima Living offers Independent Living, Assisted Living, Supportive Living, Long-Term Care, Brain Health, and Memory Care across Alberta and British Columbia. Our innovative approach includes Spark, Your Wellness, Your Way; our proprietary brain health and care model. As the only Top 10 Canadian senior living and care provider focused exclusively on Western Canada, we proudly serve more than 4,300 residents. Guided by our North Star, Let us welcome you home™, we are committed to People, Place, and Community. With a resident-first philosophy and a focus on innovation, we are redefining aging with purpose creating communities where seniors live with dignity, connection, and joy. Reporting to the Senior Director of Resident Services, the Director of Hospitality is responsible for establishing, implementing, and elevating hospitality excellence across Optima Living. Grounded in the Optima Way and guided by our North Star, “Let us welcome you home,” this role translates the organization’s service vision into clear, measurable standards that ensure a consistent, high-quality experience for residents, families, team members, and guests across all communities. The Director of Hospitality sets and manages enterprise-wide hospitality frameworks, driving consistency in service delivery, environmental presentation, and overall experience. This leader develops scalable standards, training programs, and accountability measures that foster a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. By partnering with Operations, Human Resources, and community leadership teams, the Director ensures that hospitality expectations are embedded into daily practice and aligned with Optima Living’s mission, vision, and values. This position is focused on defining and overseeing hospitality standards rather than managing culinary operations. The successful candidate will bring a strategic and systems-oriented approach to enhancing service quality, empowering teams, and elevating the resident experience across a growing, multi-site organization. Through influence, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making, the Director of Hospitality will strengthen organizational alignment, support operational success, and ensure that every interaction reflects Optima Living’s commitment to making every person feel at home. All duties and responsibilities are carried out in accordance with Optima Living’s policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements, promoting person-centered care that respects the dignity, individuality, and independence of every resident. This role is not responsible for culinary execution but for defining and overseeing the hospitality standards that shape the overall resident and guest experience, including service delivery, environmental presentation, and operational consistency.

Requirements

Minimum of 3-5 years of progressive experience in hospitality, restaurant, luxury residential, or multi-site service operations.
Demonstrated success in establishing, implementing, and managing hospitality and service standards across multiple locations.
Proven ability to elevate customer or guest experiences through structured frameworks, training programs, and performance metrics across diverse locations.
Strong track record of influencing outcomes and driving alignment without direct authority.
Exceptional communication, coaching, stakeholder engagement, and executive presence.
Demonstrates a systems thinking approach with a strong operational mindset.
Proven ability to lead with calmness and credibility while partnering effectively across clinical, operations, and infrastructure teams.
High emotional intelligence with a passion for service excellence and people-centered leadership.
Able to balance standardization with the need for local flexibility.
Sets and upholds high expectations for hospitality standards, with the ability to inspire and motivate others to achieve the same.
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Clear Vulnerable Sector Check

Nice To Haves

Experience in senior living, healthcare, or regulated environments is considered an asset.
Background in premium, guest-centric organizations is highly desirable.
Experience supporting growth initiatives, new site openings, renovations, or portfolio expansions is an asset.
Franchisor/Franchisee experience is an asset.

Responsibilities

Develops and maintains Optima’s hospitality standards, service principles, and experience expectations.
Creates clear, scalable frameworks for: Resident and guest experience, Dining service standards (in collaboration with Dining/Culinary), Housekeeping and Laundry Standards.
Ensures hospitality standards are practical, measurable, and aligned with Optima’s culture, mission and operational realities.
Creates a sustainable rollout plan to ensure that these standards remain intact and effective in the communities.
Leads the Community of Practice (COP) for Hospitality.
Provides leadership and direction to Regional Hospitality Manager ensuring alignment and consistency across regions.
Serves as the primary escalation point for complex hospitality issues that cross sites or regions.
Influences site leadership teams through partnership rather than direct authority.
Supports the communities in action planning for the resident, family, and team member experience strategy, including onboarding, ongoing engagement, and service recovery.
Uses resident and employee feedback, satisfaction surveys, and qualitative insights to identify experience gaps and improvement opportunities.
Leads targeted initiatives to improve consistency and personalization of service across all communities.
Designs and oversee a hospitality training and onboarding framework for hospitality teams and site leadership.
Partners with Operations and HR to embed hospitality expectations into: Hiring and onboarding, Performance reviews, Recognition programs.
Champions a hospitality-first mindset, reinforcing that hospitality is everyone’s responsibility.
Establishes and monitor key hospitality metrics, including resident satisfaction, service recovery trends, and audit results.
Conducts regular reviews with Regional Hospitality Manager to drive accountability and improvement.
Leads continuous improvement efforts based on data, best practices, and frontline feedback.
Partners with Operations teams to ensure hospitality considerations are built into: New site openings, Renovations and refreshes, Space design and flow.
Supports pre-opening hospitality readiness, including staffing models, training, and experience planning.
Ensures hospitality systems scale effectively as Optima grows.
Ensures hospitality standards are documented, communicated, and consistently adopted across all communities; as validated through audits and observations.
Achieves hospitality onboarding and training completion targets with demonstrated application of skill in day-to-day operations.
Drives continuous improvement in resident and family experience scores, supported by positive qualitative feedback and a reduction in recurring concerns.
Strengthens service recovery performance by ensuring prompt issue resolution and minimizing the recurrence of common concerns.
Elevates dining, housekeeping, and laundry experience standards ensuring measurable improvement and consistency across all regions.
Fosters strong engagement within the Community of Practice, reflected through active participation, meaningful contributions, and implementation of best practices.
Ensures hospitality readiness for new openings and renovations, including timely execution of training, staffing models, and overall experience setup.