Associate Director, Hospitality & Engagement

About the role

JOB SUMMARY The Associate Director of Hospitality & Engagement is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing guest experience, service analytics, catering operations, and financial planning within Campus Dining. This position requires a candidate who can operate at the intersection of hospitality management and data-driven strategy. Scope of Role : Budget Oversight: Manages a combined annual operating budget of approximately $56.9M, inclusive of $54M in Campus Dining Operations and $2.9M in Catering. Organizational Impact: While this role currently has no direct reports, it carries significant cross-functional influence across multiple dining units, catering teams, and campus partner departments. Future organizational growth may include direct supervisory responsibilities.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required in Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Food Service Management, or Data Analysis. Other relevant experience may be considered.
• Minimum 5 years of progressive leadership experience in large-scale hospitality, food service, or dining operations.
• Demonstrated financial acumen with experience managing multi-departmental operating budgets of $5M or greater, including forecasting, variance analysis, and cost controls.
• Ability to lead data analytics or guest feedback initiatives and translate findings into operational improvements.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with experience working across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Experience with catering operations, event management, and elevated dining programs preferred.
• KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACCOUNTABILITIES
• Sentiment Feedback & Guest Experience Program
• A. Sentiment Analysis & Data Oversight
• Direct the monitoring and analysis of guest feedback across all channels, including online reviews, surveys, comment platforms, and customer support interactions.
• Oversee the use of sentiment analysis tools, AI, and large language models (LLMs) to assess overall guest sentiment, identify emerging trends, and surface key themes across service units.
• Ensure consistent application of data analysis best practices, including dashboard creation, automated reporting, and visualization tools such as Tableau, Google Analytics, and Excel.
• Establish quarterly benchmarks for guest satisfaction scores and present findings with actionable, data-informed recommendations.
• B. Feedback Management
• Oversee the collection, organization, and categorization of feedback data to ensure it is accessible, accurate, and actionable across the department.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams - including unit managers, culinary leads, and campus partners - to ensure timely and thoughtful responses to guest feedback and service inquiries.
• Maintain data integrity and accuracy standards across all feedback systems and reporting outputs.
• C. Insights Generation & Reporting
• Extract actionable insights from guest feedback to drive improvements in dining products, service delivery, and overall campus experiences.
• Prepare and present regular reports summarizing sentiment analysis findings, trend analysis, and strategic recommendations for key stakeholders.
• Translate data-driven insights into concrete operational and programming adjustments across campus service venues.
• D. Guest & Community Engagement
• Lead proactive guest engagement efforts, including the design and deployment of surveys, focus groups, and other feedback mechanisms to gather meaningful input from students, faculty, and the broader campus community.
• Oversee in-person tabling and engagement initiatives that connect directly with the student community to gather real-time feedback and foster positive relationships.
• Ensure that guest interactions reflect a high standard of empathy, professionalism, and responsiveness in alignment with campus service hospitality values.
• E. Continuous Improvement
• Partner with the marketing and communications team to refine promotions, campaigns, and messaging based on sentiment trends and guest behavior insights.
• Continuously evaluate and optimize the Sentiment Feedback Program itself, incorporating new tools, methodologies, and best practices as they emerge.
• Goal: Achieve and sustain a guest satisfaction rating of 75% or above across all dining units, with measurable year-over-year improvement driven by data-informed action.
• Catering Operations Oversight
• Oversee all aspects of Campus Dining's catering operations, ensuring quality, profitability, and strong client relationships. Responsibilities include:
• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the catering department, managing an annu

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