Director, IT & Enterprise

Home Chef • Chicago, IL

4h • $160,000 - $185,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Home Chef's IT team is responsible for maintaining technology and enterprise systems that support our company goals and continued growth. The team supports our Chicago-based corporate office in addition to 4 national production facilities. Ideal candidates embody our tech team values: serving as proactive thought-partners to business stakeholders, encouraging their team to think bigger, taking full ownership of outcomes, and maintaining a fun, collaborative environment.

Requirements

• 3+ years experience running an IT team (10+ team members; manufacturing/operations/food environment a plus)
• Experience managing $1M+ software budgets
• Experience evaluating, negotiating, and implementing enterprise software contracts
• Flexibility to travel up to 20% of the time
• Flexibility to be on-call to support plant technology & employee needs
• Up to one year of post-high school training such as in a business school, community college or vocational training

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Workato

Responsibilities

• Establish and execute the multi-year IT strategy and enterprise roadmap aligned with Home Chef’s growth objectives
• Lead enterprise AI, automation, and data governance strategies, establishing guidelines that encourage practical AI adoption while protecting corporate data
• Continually evaluate technical infrastructure, decommission redundant tools, and drive modern efficiency across systems
• Maintain clear communication channels to provide leadership visibility into project roadmaps, resource allocation, and initiative progress
• Maintain resilient networking infrastructure, targeting high uptime and proactively eliminating single points of failure across corporate and manufacturing locations
• Oversee plant-floor technology systems across 4 facilities, including custom pick-to-light platforms, WMS, timekeeping systems, and access controls
• Manage end-to-end hardware lifecycles for corporate laptops, plant-floor kiosks, scanning equipment, and network hardware from procurement through retirement
• Implement robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions for both corporate staff and plant-floor teams
• Oversee responsive helpdesk services, including structured on-call and off-hours support
• Partner with operational teams to plan, install, and validate technology for facility expansions and new site launches
• Maintain, integrate, and optimize key enterprise platforms (e.g., NetSuite, Google Workspace, Kronos, ADP, Concur, Greenhouse)
• Act as a technical advisor to cross-functional leaders during the evaluation, selection, and rollout of new software applications
• Oversee IT-specific spend within the enterprise software budget and negotiate vendor contracts
• Drive SaaS governance to eliminate license sprawl and optimize software spend
• Expand cross-platform automations and workflow optimizations (experience with Workato is a plus)
• Develop, maintain, and enforce cybersecurity policies, Zero Trust controls, Incident Response (IR) protocols, and Disaster Recovery (DR) plans
• Collaborate with Kroger’s corporate IT security team to ensure Home Chef systems adhere to enterprise security and compliance standards
• Conduct periodic vulnerability assessments, system audits, and penetration testing across corporate and plant environments
• Monitor changing data privacy regulations and partner with legal to maintain operational compliance
• Mentor, coach, and support professional growth for a team of IT administrators and support staff
• Establish clear performance metrics, operational SLAs, and professional standards for the IT department
• Build strong collaborative relationships across all departments, positioning IT as a consultative problem-solver
• Continuously evaluate organizational structure to ensure proper coverage across corporate offices and distributed production facilities

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance available
• Paid holidays, sick time and vacation time
• 401k program
• Flexible spending accounts for qualified medical, dependent care, parking, or transit expenses

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: High school or GED