Director of Dining

Job Posting Location:

Claremont, CA

Job Posting Title:

Director of Dining

Job Description:

ABOUT POMONA COLLEGE: Located near Los Angeles, California, Pomona College is widely regarded as one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges. Established in 1887, Pomona College is known for small classes, a challenging curriculum, close relationships between students and faculty, and a range of student research and leadership opportunities. Pomona is a member of The Claremont Colleges.

JOB PURPOSE: Pomona College seeks an exceptional, people-centered hospitality leader to serve as Director of Dining Services and help shape the next chapter of dining at the College. The Director will combine the operating capabilities of an outstanding hospitality executive with the interpersonal skills, visibility, judgment, and relationship-building approach of a community leader. The next Director will have an unusual opportunity: to build one of the most distinctive and highly regarded residential college dining programs in the country while creating a workplace in which Dining employees feel respected, supported, and connected to the mission of the College. Pomona operates two primary dining halls and two cafés, together with catering and related hospitality services, providing a strong platform for innovation. Rather than simply operating four separate venues, the College wants to think creatively about how these spaces can work together as a cohesive dining program—each with its own identity, offerings, and role in campus life. The Director will be encouraged to bring fresh ideas about menus, service models, hours, programming, technology, sustainability, and the use of physical spaces. The goal is not innovation for its own sake, but a dining experience that students value, employees are proud to deliver, and the broader Pomona community views as an important part of the College experience.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Reporting directly to the Assistant Vice President, Facilities & Campus Services, the Director of Dining Services works independently and collaboratively to perform the following essential duties and responsibilities:

People Leadership and Labor Relations

• Provide clear direction and leadership to a large, diverse workforce in a collective bargaining environment.
• Recruit, select, onboard, coach, evaluate, and develop leaders and staff across culinary, service, catering, administrative, and support functions.
• Build strong relationships with employees; set clear standards for performance, conduct, attendance, communication, and service; recognize excellent work; and address concerns promptly, fairly, and consistently.
• Build a collaborative leadership team, strengthen succession planning, and create meaningful opportunities for internal growth.
• Coordinate staffing plans and schedules that support service needs, employee well-being, contractual obligations, and responsible labor management.

Dining Operations and Hospitality

• Plan and lead a comprehensive meal program across board-plan dining, retail operations, cafés, catering, and special events.
• Maintain exceptional standards for food quality, variety, presentation, service, cleanliness, sanitation, merchandising, and the condition of facilities and equipment.
• Maintain a visible presence in Dining operations, engaging directly with managers, frontline employees, and students to identify opportunities and resolve operational issues.
• Oversee menu development and program design in partnership with culinary leaders, addressing diverse tastes, food allergies, special diets, nutrition, wellness, and inclusive dining needs.
• Ensure customer concerns are heard and resolved professionally while creating consistent standards of hospitality across the program.

Financial and Administrative Stewardship

• Develop and manage operating budgets based on realistic service, staffing, revenue, and cost assumptions.
• Monitor revenues, food and labor costs, purchasing, payroll, invoices, inventory, and other financial and operational reports.
• Maintain accurate financial reporting and effective internal controls, and take timely action when performance varies from plan.
• Identify responsible cost-management and revenue opportunities without compromising food quality, service, safety, employee well-being, or the student experience.
• Oversee inventory controls and the procurement of food, supplies, and equipment within established standards and budgets.

Safety, Compliance, and Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with applicable food safety, sanitation, occupational safety, health, accessibility, and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain strong training, inspection, documentation, and corrective-action practices across all venues.
• Ensure equipment and facilities are properly cleaned, maintained, and used, and partner with campus colleagues to address risks and capital needs.
• Foster a culture in which employees raise concerns early and leaders respond with urgency, care, and accountability.

Strategy, Innovation, and Campus Engagement

• Translate the College’s aspirations into a clear, practical, and measurable strategy for Dining Services.
• Bring fresh thinking to menus, service models, hours, programming, technology, sustainability, and the use of physical spaces, while testing ideas thoughtfully and measuring results.
• Use technology and data to strengthen menu planning, ordering, scheduling, inventory, customer communication, and operating performance.
• Advance local and responsible purchasing, sustainability, nutrition, and food-waste reduction within responsible financial parameters.
• Collaborate with students, faculty, staff, College offices, vendors, and external partners on programs and cross-campus initiatives.
• Represent Dining Services on selected committees and contribute actively to College planning, events, and community life.

Program Assessment and Continuous Improvement

• Establish meaningful service, financial, workforce, safety, and customer-experience measures, including reliable approaches for understanding student satisfaction.
• Maintain appropriate records, prepare reports, analyze trends, and communicate results to College leadership and campus partners.
• Pilot promising concepts, evaluate outcomes, and adjust or expand programs based on evidence and community feedback.
• Anticipate emerging culinary, consumer, workforce, technology, and sustainability trends and translate them into practical improvements.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in hospitality or restaurant management, business, or a related field.
• Licenses/Certificates: California ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification, or the ability to obtain it within 30 days of hire and maintain recertification as required. A valid driver’s license and the ability to meet College vehicle-insurance requirements. Ability to work a flexible schedule that may include evenings, weekends, holidays, and occasional travel, based on program and College needs. Ability to work regularly in active dining and production environments and perform the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation.
• Experience: At least 5 to 7 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in food-service production or another large, complex, multi-unit dining or restaurant environment. Demonstrated success leading and developing substantial frontline workforces and management teams. Experience managing budgets, food and labor costs, procurement, inventory, operational reporting, and financial performance. Strong working knowledge of high-volume food production, quality control, food safety, sanitation, and service delivery.

Experience in higher education is valuable but not essential. Pomona welcomes candidates from hospitality, restaurants, corporate dining, healthcare, universities, and other complex food-service environments who can bring fresh thinking to residential college dining.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE AND CRITICAL SKILLS: This position must possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to be able to successfully perform the essential functions of the job or must be able to demonstrate how the essential functions will be performed (with or without reasonable accommodation) using other knowledge, skills, and abilities not listed below.

• A people-first leadership style grounded in visibility, listening, fairness, accountability, and follow-through.
• Ability to lead effectively in a unionized environment and build constructive relationships across roles and perspectives.
• Strong judgment and problem-solving skills, with the ability to move from ideas to practical action plans and measurable results.
• Demonstrated success introducing new culinary, service, technology, or customer-experience concepts in a disciplined way.
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, facilitation, presentation, and customer-service skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with individuals and groups from a wide range of backgrounds and to consider differing viewpoints with respect.
• Strong organization and project-management skills, including the ability to prioritize competing demands, meet deadlines, and maintain attention to detail.
• High standards of integrity, discretion, ethics, professionalism, and care when handling confidential or sensitive matters.
• Knowledge of current culinary trends, menu development, marketing, merchandising, and the research and implementation of new food products.
• Experience with food allergies, dietary restrictions, special-diet preparation, nutrition, and inclusive menu planning.
• Proficiency with culinary, menu-management, ordering, scheduling, inventory, financial, and related operating systems.
• Experience developing and facilitating training for employees with different roles and levels of experience.
• Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish is highly preferred.

Open until filled, giving priority to applicants who apply before November 30, 2026.

This search is being managed by an external recruitment firm, Next Level Executives. If you have any questions about the position or the recruitment process, please contact Suzi Harris, Senior Executive Recruiter, at suziharris@next-level-executives.com.

REQUIRED HOURS: This full-time position has a regular schedule of Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, due to the seven-day-a-week operations of Dining Services, flexibility is required to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as operational needs arise. The Director is expected to provide operational oversight and respond to time-sensitive matters outside regular business hours when necessary. Work schedules may be adjusted based on departmental and operational needs. Occasional travel may be required.

ADDITIONAL POSITION DETAILS: This position is a regular, full-time, exempt position, benefits eligible. Annual Salary for this position is between $150,000 and $180,000 with a competitive benefits package. The specific factors that the College will consider when offering a salary to an individual will include, but not be limited to: education, training, relevant prior experience, and performance in prior roles. All staff positions are ineligible for visa or permanent resident card sponsorship. As a California employer, Pomona College requires all employees to be residents of California.

ADA/OSHA: This job description defines the essential job duties of this position. The College expects that employees hired for this position can perform the essential functions of this job without imposing risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of themselves or others. It may also include marginal functions, generally defined within Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

DISCLAIMER: This job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this position. When duties and responsibilities change and develop, the College will review this job description and make changes of business necessity.