National Education Catering Senior Lead Growth & Ops

Compass Group PLC; Northampton; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Contributory pension scheme

Career development programmes

Digital GP and healthcare benefits

Exclusive travel discounts with major

Shopping discounts with major grocers

Cinema ticket discounts

Wellbeing and fitness programs

Employee discounts

Job summary

Chartwells Education, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, is seeking an experienced Deputy Account Director to lead a national education catering portfolio. You will work closely with General Managers and operational teams to ensure outstanding service delivery, strong client relationships and sustainable growth across multiple sites.

The role requires a commercially minded leader with a passion for food and hospitality, capable of driving change, supporting investment plans and achieving high

Qualifications

• Significant experience within multi-site contract catering, hospitality, or food service operations.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing teams across multiple locations.
• Strong financial and commercial management skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and client relationship-building abilities.
• The ability to identify complex business challenges and implement effective solutions.
• Strong communication and influencing skills at all levels.
• Experience managing projects, change initiatives, or investment programmes.
• A passion for delivering exceptional food and hospitality experiences.
• A proven track record of driving operational performance and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Support the management and performance of a national portfolio of education catering contracts.
• Build and maintain strong client relationships, acting as a key point of contact across the business.
• Drive operational excellence, ensuring quality, service, compliance, and contractual standards are consistently achieved.
• Coach, develop and inspire General Managers and site leadership teams to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
• Support the delivery of commercial objectives, including revenue growth, profitability, retention and client satisfaction.
• Lead and support projects, mobilisation activities and future investment plans across the portfolio.
• Analyse business performance data and implement improvement plans where required.
• Champion a culture of innovation, engagement, safety, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure all sites operate in line with company policies, legislative requirements, and safeguarding standards.

Skills

Multi-site leadership

Commercial acumen

Financial management

Stakeholder management

Project management

Change management

Communication & influence

Operational excellence

Job description

Chartwells Education, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, is seeking an experienced Deputy Account Director to lead a national education catering portfolio. You will work closely with General Managers and operational teams to ensure outstanding service delivery, strong client relationships and sustainable growth across multiple sites.

The role requires a commercially minded leader with a passion for food and hospitality, capable of driving change, supporting investment plans and achieving high