Vice President, Meta Data Center

Sodexo; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 181,000 - 281,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive plan

Job summary

Sodexo seeks a visionary executive to own and scale the global data center food services program end-to-end for a leading tech partner. This role drives a multi-year strategy across culinary innovation, commercial performance, sustainability and rapid global expansion.

Take the lead in a high-visibility mandate, guiding cross-functional teams and shaping client success across a dynamic regional portfolio. Bonus eligibility applies to incentive plan.

Qualifications

• Senior P&L leadership for multi-site food services with strategic delivery ownership.
• Proven record transforming a food programme and client adoption of changes.
• Experience opening new sites rapidly and building repeatable opening capability.
• Outstanding senior client relationship management at top client levels.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams including operations, culinary, people, finance and projects.
• Genuine culinary credibility and ability to discuss food with chefs and clients.
• Commercial judgement on pricing, business cases, and economics for remote sites.
• Comfort operating across markets with diverse supply chains and cultures.

Responsibilities

• Define strategy for data centre food services with 3–5 year horizon.
• Lead transformation as a programme with sequencing and dating milestones.
• Own culinary programme across the estate: standards, provenance, nutrition.
• Lead openings pipeline readiness, resourcing, and day-one quality.
• Oversee performance: safety, quality, customer satisfaction, and KPIs.
• Manage senior client relationship and align stakeholders around the programme.
• Build leadership bench and cross-functional collaboration across sites.

Skills

Senior P&L leadership

Transforming food programme

Opening new sites quickly

Senior client relationship management

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic vision

Leadership of multi-site estates

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

We are seeking a visionary executive to own and scale our global data center food services program end-to-end for a leading global technology partner.

This isn't about maintaining an operational baseline, it's a high-visibility mandate to architect a multi-year strategy across culinary innovation, commercial performance, sustainability and rapid global expansion.

About the job

Take the lead in a high-level executive role where strategic direction meets operational excellence. You’ll drive growth, elevate performance, and inspire large, cross-functional teams, shaping the future of service delivery and client success across a dynamic regional portfolio.

Pay Range:

$181220 per year - $281380 per year

Incentive Eligibility:

Eligible to participate in Sodexo's incentive plan and earn variable compensation in addition to base salary

What’s in it for you

Make a global impact. Be the executive architect behind an industry-leading program, elevating standards, strengthening client partnerships, and shaping the future of workplace dining across the globe.

Accelerate your influence. Lead transformational growth, launch complex operations in emerging markets, and leave a lasting mark on one of the most dynamic and fast-growing sectors in the industry.

Strategy and transformation

• Own the strategy for data centre food services: the proposition, the service models, the commercial model, technology and the direction of travel three to five years out.
• Define what the transformed food programme is - standards, quality, choice, wellbeing, sustainability and value - and build the evidenced case for it with the client
• Lead the transformation as a programme, with sequencing, dependencies and realistic dating, so change lands across a live estate without destabilising current performance.
• Differentiate deliberately between what must be globally consistent and what should be locally determined, and be explicit about which is which.

Culinary programming

• Own the culinary programme across the estate: menu architecture and cycles, standards and specification, provenance and sourcing, nutrition and wellbeing, and the food-led elements of the employee experience.
• Build a programme that travels - one that holds its identity in a remote North American site and in a market where the supply chain, workforce and palate are entirely different.
• Build a program where technology is integrated throughout to drive a better experience as well as support the uniqueness of the data center demographic and needs
• Hold the line on culinary quality as the estate scales, including where speed of opening and cost pressure push against it.
• Work with Global Culinary Programming and the client's food and workplace teams so the programme is co-owned.

New openings and growth

• Own the openings pipeline readiness, sequencing, resourcing, supply chain, recruitment, training and day-one quality.
• Build a repeatable opening model so each new site is faster, more efficient and better than the last, rather than each one being mobilised from first principles.
• Lead the commercial side of growth: pricing, business cases, and the economics of operating at sites that are often remote, small-population and hard to supply.
• Support the client's own growth planning with a credible view of what Sodexo can deliver, where, and by when - and say early where the answer is not yet.

Operations and performance

• Hold accountability for the performance of the sites: safety, food safety, quality, customer satisfaction, and financial and KPI commitments.
• Make performance visible early across a geographically dispersed estate, and catch drift rather than explain it after the fact.
• Protect the operating standard through the growth period.

Client relationship

• Act as the senior Sodexo relationship owner for data centre food services, trusted by the client as an advisor on their food strategy and not only as a supplier of its delivery.
• Manage client expectations actively - on transformation pace, on opening timelines, on cost and on what is realistically achievable in each market.
• Navigate a client organisation with distinct infrastructure, workplace and regional stakeholders, aligning them around a single programme.

Team and capability

• Lead a functional leadership team Operations, Culinary, HR, Finance and Projects, including the roles that do not exist today, and define how they work together before the estate doubles in pace.
• Lead through functional leaders rather than through sites: set direction, hold them to account, and resist the pull back into direct operational involvement.
• Recruit, develop and retain leadership in locations that are genuinely hard to staff.
• Build bench strength and succession, so the openings pipeline is not dependent on a small number of individuals.
• Set the leadership culture across a dispersed estate where most people will rarely be in the same room.

Experience and capability

Essential

• Senior P&L or business leadership of a multi-site, multi-region food services operation at comparable scale, with accountability for strategy as well as delivery.
• Demonstrable record of transforming a food programme - not refreshing menus, but changing what the programme is and getting the client and the operation to adopt it.
• Track record opening new sites at pace, and of building a repeatable opening capability rather than mobilising each one bespoke.
• Outstanding senior client relationship management: trusted at the top of a sophisticated client organisation, able to shape their thinking and to manage expectations honestly when the answer is unwelcome.
• Built teams and structures from a standing start, including recruiting into difficult locations.
• Experience leading a cross-functional leadership team - operations, culinary, people, finance and projects reporting in - rather than a single-discipline structure.
• Genuine culinary credibility - able to hold a substantive conversation with chefs and with a client about food, and to be taken seriously by both.
• Commercial judgement: pricing, business cases, and the economics of small-population, remote or hard-to-supply sites.
• Comfortable operating across markets with materially different supply chains, labour markets, regulation and food culture.

What you’ll bring

Visionary Business Leader: Demonstrated ability to define and execute enterprise-wide strategies that drive innovation, enhance brand impact, and accelerate growth across global food service operations.

Operational Architect: Expert at building scalable frameworks, launching complex operations in challenging markets, and leading cross-functional teams to deliver world-class results at scale

• Senior P&L or business leadership of a multi-site, multi-region food services operation at comparable scale, with accountability for strategy as well as delivery.
• Demonstrable record of transforming a food programme - not refreshing menus, but changing what the programme is and getting the client and the operation to adopt it.
• Track record opening new sites at pace, and of building a repeatable opening capability rather than mobilising each one bespoke.
• Outstanding senior client relationship management: trusted at the top of a sophisticated client organisation, able to shape their thinking and to manage expectations honestly when the answer is unwelcome.
• Built teams and structures from a standing start, including recruiting into difficult locations.
• Experience leading a cross-functional leadership team - operations, culinary, people, finance and projects reporting in - rather than a single-discipline structure.
• Genuine culinary credibility - able to hold a substantive conversation with chefs and with a client about food, and to be taken seriously by both.
• Commercial judgement: pricing, business cases, and the economics of small-population, remote or hard-to-supply sites.
• Comfortable operating across markets with materially different supply chains, labour markets, regulation and food culture.

Requirements

• Education Requirement: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Management Experience: 10 years
• Related Experience: 10 years

What we offer

Compensation is fair and equitable, partially determined by a candidate's education level or years of relevant experience. Salary offers are based on a candidate's specific criteria, like experience, skills, education, and training. Sodexo offers a comprehensive benefits package that may include:

• Medical, Dental, Vision Care and Wellness Programs
• 401(k) Plan with Matching Contributions
• Paid Time Off and Company Holidays
• Career Growth Opportunities and Tuition Reimbursement

More extensive information is provided to new employees upon hire.

Who we are

At Sodexo, our purpose is to create a better everyday for everyone and build a better life for all. We believe in improving the quality of life for those we serve and contributing to the economic, social, and environmental progress in the communities where we operate. Sodexo partners with clients to provide a truly memorable experience for both customers and employees alike. We do this by providing food service, catering, facilities management, and other integrated solutions worldwide.

We embrace diversity and inclusion as core values, fostering an environment where all employees are valued and respected. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to individuals regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, military status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.