Director of Strategy Operations

Alameda County Community Food Bank•Oakland, CA

12h•$164,124

About The Position

The Director of Strategy Operations serves as the architect and steward of Alameda County Community Food Bank’s Vision 2030 strategy and Theory of action. This role ensures that organizational strategy is not only aspirational, but operationalized - embedded into systems, budgets, metrics, culture, and day-to-day decision-making. Reporting to the VP of Operations and serving as a key member of the Directors Team, the Director of Strategy Operations leads enterprise-wide strategic planning, cross-functional alignment, innovation incubation, and organizational performance management. This role ensures that ACCFB’s strategic priorities move beyond outputs (e.g., pounds distributed) toward measurable systems change, root cause impact, and food justice outcomes. The Director oversees the Strategy Team and the Food Justice Innovation & Incubation portfolio, translating Vision 2030 into executable roadmaps, governance structures, and measurable impact frameworks that drive organizational transformation. Alameda County Community Food Bank has achieved notable success in recent years — and is currently responding to an incredible increase in need in our community due to the pandemic and recession. Even with a passionate network of 420+ agency partners serving more clients — and distributing more food – than ever before, we’ve expanded our services even further to meet the growth in need. Our organization’s success is built on bold decision-making, a culture of equity and inclusivity, and an environment that embraces innovative thinking to create a healthier, more prosperous and just community for all. With our latest strategic plan, we are setting a bold trajectory for the long-term work required to dismantle the systems that perpetuate poverty, including racism. Our staff regularly engage in conversations about race, class, power and privilege as part of our organizational commitment to equity, justice and inclusion. Please learn more about our efforts at www.accfb.org.

Requirements

8-10 years of relevant work experience, including demonstrated success in cross-departmental program development and organizational change management, with 5-7 years of progressively responsible experience in strategy, innovation, enterprise operations, or organizational transformation.
Proven ability to develop strategies for success within a complex, diverse organization operationalizing multi-year strategic plans. 5+ years of experience in an innovation and design management role with responsibility for shepherding complex, cross-functional ideas, initiatives and projects from strategic development through implementation over multi-year periods.
Experience developing training curricula and materials and facilitating training one-on-one and in groups.
Strong customer service orientation - both organizational and interpersonal. Ability to work well with individuals from a variety of socioeconomic and educational backgrounds in a culturally diverse environment.
Excellent written and verbal communications skills; able to communicate expectations, establish priorities, work collaboratively and ensure accountability. Exceptional analytics skills; experience developing dashboards to monitor process metrics.
Knowledge of data collection and research methodologies; able to analyze data and derive actionable strategic insights. Strong attention to detail and experience keeping accurate records on complex programs.
Access to reliable transportation.

Nice To Haves

Human-Centered Design certification preferred: HCD, IDEO U, Google UX or formal training in systems thinking, human-centered design. Program Management Institute certifications preferred: PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA.
Experience in nonprofit or food justice ecosystems.
Expertise in Access, Excel, databases, Cloud Technology, Jet Reports Professional, and/or Dynamics NAV.

Responsibilities

Drive Strategic Execution & Alignment — Champion Vision 2030 and Theory of Change by translating strategic pillars into clear initiatives, KPIs, performance dashboards, and accountability mechanisms; partner with Leadership and Directors Teams to ensure disciplined prioritization and alignment across all departmental workplans.
Oversee Innovation & Impact Measurement — Lead incubation and innovation projects from design through delivery, tracking scope, budget, and timelines; develop organizational impact metrics that go beyond pounds of food to capture systems-change and root cause work.
Build a Culture of Equity-Centered Innovation — Apply equity and human-centered design principles across all projects; champion an innovative culture rooted in reimagining systems that perpetuate food insecurity and align annual goal-setting processes with organizational strategy in partnership with People & Culture.
Cultivate Strategic Partnerships & Funding Pathways — Identify and build relationships with non-traditional partners to advance food justice; collaborate with the development team to create long-term funding strategies and act as liaison with external consultants and contractors.
Communicate Progress & Learning — Design and maintain high-level data dashboards and storytelling tools that track progress toward strategic objectives and convey ACCFB's journey to internal and external stakeholders, while staying current on Food Banking trends, innovation, and project management best practices
Lead the Innovation & Incubation Portfolio — Oversee the full lifecycle of ACCFB's Food Justice Innovation initiatives from design through evaluation, shaping strategic direction, managing the pipeline, and ensuring initiatives deliver measurable impact while championing a culture of experimentation and human-centered systems re-imagination.
Build Partnerships & Secure Resources — Identify and cultivate non-traditional partnerships that accelerate food justice impact and develop sustainable funding pathways in collaboration with the Development team to support innovation initiatives long-term.
Represent & Advance ACCFB's Innovation Vision — Serve as an external voice for ACCFB's strategy and innovation work across Feeding America, peer food banks, nonprofits, and donor communities, elevating the organization's thought leadership in food justice spaces.
Align Resources to Strategy — Lead high-level prioritization processes that align staffing, budgets, and initiatives with strategic goals, and support org-wide work planning through process design, tooling, resource alignment, coaching, and progress tracking.
Build & Govern Strategic Roadmaps — Establish standardized project management frameworks and governance structures across divisions and develop annual and multi-year roadmaps with clear milestones and measurable impact targets.
Drive Strategic Plan Implementation — Lead org-wide execution of the strategic plan, tracking progress against defined KPIs through active dashboards and meetings that aggregate and communicate metrics across all strategic initiatives.
Embed Innovation & Design Capabilities — Develop best-in-class innovation and design education throughout the organization, championing engagement and building capacity at all levels to advance a culture of strategic thinking and experimentation.
Cultivate External Relationships — Build and maintain meaningful relationships with external partners and stakeholders to advance ACCFB's strategic priorities and amplify its impact in the food justice ecosystem.
Align Strategy to Food Justice — Ensure programmatic, advocacy, and operational strategies are grounded in ACCFB's root-cause food justice framework, maintaining coherence between day-to-day work and long-term systems change goals.
Develop Holistic Impact Metrics — Build impact measurement frameworks that move beyond food distribution to capture systems change, community power building, policy influence, innovation outcomes, and long-term food security indicators.
Tell the Story of Progress — Design compelling dashboards and reporting tools that communicate ACCFB's journey toward Vision 2030 to both internal teams and external stakeholders.
Build Organizational Capacity — Lead development of internal skills in project management, innovation methods, human-centered design, and equity-centered strategy; partner with leadership to identify opportunities to strengthen these practices across the organization and implement collaborative solutions.
Lead & Develop the Strategy Team — Manage and grow the Strategic Projects Manager and broader strategy team, fostering a strong internal customer service orientation, high-quality execution, accountability, and a culture of continuous improvement.
Standardize & Elevate Project Management — Drive continuous improvement of ACCFB's project management practices through deployment of standardized frameworks and shared best practices organization-wide.
All other duties as assigned.