Director, Strategy & Planning

Unit Description

Use your passion for service to create a positive impact and make a difference in the communities we serve!

Improving quality of life is not just a dream. For Sodexo it is a mission as the world leader of food services, facilities management, and more. In North America, our team of over 100k frontline workers and site managers serve more than twenty million consumers daily in away-from-home settings including corporate offices, hospitals, schools, campus services, manufacturing sites, and sports stadiums. 

Our Strategy & Transformation Team orchestrates a complex roadmap involving many discrete initiatives across M&A, organic growth, operational efficiencies, talent programs, digital enablement, and business model design. We work closely with business unit and functional leaders to drive tangible results and role model the behavior needed to embed change. At our core, we operate as an internal consulting group with shared accountability to drive outcomes, while navigating the complexity of managing by influence, dealing with extreme ambiguity, and working on projects that are a top priority for executives.

As the Director of Strategy & PMO, Schools you will drive the successful delivery of Strategy, programs, and project management services across our school’s portfolio. Your scope of responsibilities will include a primary accountability to form the integrated ‘functional’ roadmap, translating high-level plans into tangible initiatives, assisting business leaders with goal setting, defining executive-level KPIs, monitoring the completion of all key decisions and action plans, and facilitating ongoing strategy execution sessions. 

Successful candidates will be able to use their interpersonal and influencing skills to navigate a complex organization and keep our teams focused on results. You will need to rapidly come up to speed on a diverse set of business initiatives and ensure alignment of key internal/external stakeholders, remove project inhibitors, and identify gaps in project delivery. Being able to connect the dots, keep key stakeholders informed, and guide our leaders on “so what’s” will be essential in maintaining momentum across initiatives. You will need to leverage technology to support translation of functional strategies into tangible program design and delivery workstreams and apply project discipline to ensure delivery of the roadmap and expected Functional Outcomes on-time and within scope and budget. You must demonstrate a powerful desire to learn about functional business to improve your understanding of the strategic initiatives.

This is a remote-based role. Candidates can be based in any US location near a major airport.

Time breakdown:

• Fifty percent Actively leading the deployment of key initiatives; Drive End to End, Nurtrislice etc. to all districts. Leveraging technology to track initiatives and optimize team performance. Collaborating with strategic initiative leads to monitoring progress, escalating challenges, and problem solving in alignment with the functional roadmap.
• Thirty percent Collaborating with senior executives to define and track strategic objectives, what good looks like, and how to translate those into milestones and KPIs. Distilling complex information and concisely communicating progress updates and roadblocks to senior executives
• Ten percent Interfacing with Region Strategy team and Global Growth team to ensure alignment on preparing for and facilitating executive steering meetings, elevating key messages, and driving decision-making.
• Ten percent Leading and participating in key strategic initiatives (those where you will own deliverables beyond planning and tracking) and driving change where needed.

Is this opportunity right for you? We are looking for candidates who have:

• 6 years in management consulting or 8 years in a similar industry role working with leading organizations on a wide range of cross-functional strategic projects.
• Project management / PMO experience and discipline with an understanding of change management principles
• Experience setting strategic initiatives and managing cross-functional teams, but also a willingness to jump in personally to do the work.
• Collaborator capable of leading, participating in, and building collaborative, diverse, inclusive, high-performance teams.
• Demonstrated record of driving initiatives to deliver tangible, sustained business results.
• Effective communication and people skills; experience influencing and building alignment with senior management teams to drive results.
• Bachelor’s degree and MBA or equivalent required
• PMP, PROSCI, and/or Six Sigma certifications a plus

Sodexo offers a full array of benefits including paid time off, holidays, medical, dental, vision, 401K and access to ongoing training and development programs, tuition reimbursement, plus health and wellness programs.

Not the job for you? At Sodexo, we offer positions that support a variety of career goals working in diverse business segments, including Corporate Headquarters, Corporate, Schools, Campus, Government and Agencies, Healthcare, Senior Living and Sports and Leisure locations across the United States. Continue your search today.Working for Sodexo:How far will your ambition, talent and dedication take you? Sodexo fosters a culture committed to the growth of individuals through continuous learning, mentoring and career growth opportunities.

What We Offer

Sodexo offers fair and equitable compensation, partially determined by a candidate's education level or years of relevant experience. While the budgeted range for the position is posted, Sodexo salary offers are based on a candidate's specific criteria, like experience, skills, education and training.

Position Summary

Drives NorAm's annual strategic planning process by leading and advising on high impact growth initiatives, acquisition and execution and potential opportunities for the business. Identifies key strategic choices and initiatives and facilitates the development of work teams, work plans and monitoring mechanisms. Monitors completion of all key decisions and action plans. Assists the business to maintain focus on acquiring new customers, adding sales and developing customer loyalty by developing and leveraging resources. Participates in cross-functional or cross-divisional initiatives and oversight. Provides input and support to the NorAm leadership in the development of strategic impact projects and acquisition opportunities.

Qualifications & Requirements

Basic Education Requirement - Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experienceBasic Management Experience - 10 yearsBasic Functional Experience - 10 years experience in strategy, planning, and financeSodexo is an EEO/AA/Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran employer.

Salary : $107,500 - $162,690