Director of James Nutrition Services

The Ohio State University

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Director for Food and Nutrition Services at the James Cancer Hospital provides site-based leadership and operational oversight for all assigned food and nutrition services, and community engagement and outreach. The role is accountable for translating system strategy into effective operations, ensuring service quality, regulatory compliance, workforce effectiveness, and financial performance. The Director leads and develops the local team, resolves cross-functional issues that impact operations, and partners closely with the Senior Director, James stakeholders, and other system leaders to ensure alignment with organization priorities. Oversees a budget of $6.7M expense and approximately 110 employees. Provides operational leadership for food, nutrition, and hospitality retail services across patient dining, culinary medicine, assigned retail hospitality venues (Au Bon Pain, West Campus, SSCBC), the Bloch Executive Suite, and mobile education within the James Cancer Hospital. Develops cohesive leadership and employee teams that execute organizational strategy, elevate patient and customer experience, meet regulatory and safety standards, and operate within established business objectives. Partners with James stakeholders and the WMC Food and Nutrition Services team to implement programs, processes, and service models that meet the needs of the organization. Ensures operations are well managed, employee performance aligns with health system performance management expectations, and financial targets for staffing, supplies, and revenue are achieved. Directly leads the Assistant Director for Patient Food Operations for the James.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant food service leadership required
• At least 5 years of this experience in healthcare foodservice leadership
• Ohio Department of Health Manager Certification in Food Protection within 6 months of hire

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred
• Ohio Registered Licensed Dietitian (RDN -LD) or Certified Dietary Manager (CDM) preferred

Responsibilities

• Implements strategy aligned with organizational priorities, patient and customer experience goals, and staff experience.
• Organizes and prioritizes projects balancing successful execution of current operations with operational planning, sequencing, and implementation needs of new programs or spaces.
• Collaborate with James medical and administrative leadership to engage the community through nutrition and wellness programs.
• Oversees the development and implementation of systems, structure, and leadership needed for reliable, safe, and high-quality service delivery across all operations.
• Collaborates closely with culinary leadership to foster a food-focused culture that values quality, consistency, and pride in execution across all food service environments.
• Ensures the team has the resources they need to complete their jobs such as equipment, technology, and workflow processes.
• Evaluates opportunities to advance services through innovation, technology, best practices, and continuous learning through pilots and LEAN practices.
• Directs emergency or disaster planning problem solving, service adjustments/execution in alignment with organization needs and standards for the James.
• Builds collaborative relationships and promotes alignment with James stakeholders and WMC Food and Nutrition Services team to implement programs and processes that support organization priorities.
• Navigates cross-departmental and system-level issues that impact operations or team performance, partnering with stakeholders to resolve barriers beyond direct departmental control.
• Develops and implements expectations, standards, and service models that consistently improve the patient, visitor, and staff experience.
• Creates a service culture within team.
• Evaluates customer satisfaction/engagement performance and communicates outcomes within organization and team.
• Develops leader team and pipeline to promote quality service execution, positive work culture, regulatory compliance, and business performance.
• Implements programs and processes to promote employee engagement, retention, and staff growth.
• Aligns the team to vision, mission, and purpose.
• Ensures employees have a voice in decision making.
• Evaluates employee recognition programs, turnover, retention, and employee engagement or culture scores and oversees development of tactics and implementation to improve.
• Ensures leader team uses department/organization processes for employee hiring, onboarding, training, skill development, and performance management appropriately.
• Coaches, counsels, and holds leader team accountable for work and employee performance.
• Ensures clear and consistent title and roles across the department by aligning role scope, functions, performance expectations, and career pathways to support execution.
• Identifies and resolves title and role challenges that impact performance.
• Ensures employees have the skills and training required for their role.
• Ensures compliance for food and nutrition services in the James, ensuring leaders maintain readiness for regulatory, accreditation, and food safety requirements.
• Collaborates with James stakeholders for healthcare regulatory priorities and needs.
• Ensures policies, procedures, and practices are established to promote regulatory compliance.
• Ensures a safe working environment including infection control, universal precautions, hazardous materials management, disaster preparedness, fire safety practices and general safety.
• Ensures compliance with department food safety program and promotes a food-safety culture given high risk status of James patients.
• Maintains responsibility and accountability for effective fiscal management of the assigned areas/cost centers including operating expenses and supply management, staffing models and benchmarks, capital expenditures, and revenue maximization.
• Develops assigned budgets in alignment with organization priorities.
• Develops staffing models that ensure adequate qualified and competent persons provide quality services while balancing labor productivity and financial targets.
• Implements department policies, procedures, and practices to support fiscal responsibility and accountability.
• Evaluates financial performance, identifies, and implements corrective actions as necessary.
• Guides resource decisions that support organizational priorities.
• Works within the Medical Center's and the Department's policies and procedures.
• Demonstrates Medical Center mission, vision and values through positive and effective interactions with staff, patient, and guest relations.
• Maintains professional conduct and promotes a positive team attitude by adhering to organizational expectations.
• Promotes teamwork through mutual respect for co-workers, developing positive interpersonal relationships and lending assistance as needed.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision coverage, with Ohio State paying a significant portion of the cost.
• Paid time off, including sick and vacation time and 11 holidays.
• State retirement plan or an alternative retirement plan, both with generous employer contributions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director