About the role#
The Student Dining Senior General Manager serves as the senior operational leader for multiple residential dining halls or a large, complex dining operation. You will provide both strategic and hands-on leadership for the residential student meal program and late-night retail offerings. This role is responsible for hospitality, culinary and service quality, student satisfaction, food safety, financial performance, and workforce effectiveness.
What you'll do#
- Direct daily operations across all assigned dining halls and respond to changing student demand.
- Establish and maintain common operating standards for high-volume execution.
- Coordinate staffing and resources to support reliable daily service and business continuity.
- Partner with culinary and service leaders to align operation plans and approve program enhancements.
- Evaluate the end-to-end dining experience and use participation data to implement improvements.
- Ensure full compliance with federal, state, local, university, and departmental requirements regarding food safety, sanitation, workplace safety, and labor practices.
- Develop, implement, and manage operating budgets and business plans.
- Forecast and control operating expenses while analyzing financial data to identify risks and opportunities.
- Build and maintain a culture of hospitality by engaging with students and campus stakeholders.
- Review student satisfaction results and feedback to establish service priorities.
- Lead, coach, and develop assigned managers, operational leaders, and frontline teams.
- Conduct regular leadership meetings to reinforce accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
What you'll need#
- A Bachelor's degree in hospitality, business administration, food service management, or a related field, or 10 years of progressively responsible experience in high-volume dining or hospitality management.
- Demonstrated experience managing a high-volume dining hall or comparable complex operation.
- Experience in collegiate, institutional, residential, or other high-volume dining environments.
- Comprehensive knowledge of dining operations, culinary execution, food safety, labor management, inventory, and cost control.
- Financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, labor planning, and revenue analysis.
- Strong leadership, communication, coaching, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to use Microsoft Office applications.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a ServSafe CA certificate.
Location & details#
- This position is located in Stanford, California.
- This is a full-time, on-site role. Telecommuting is not available.
- Weekend and dinner service hours are required.
About Stanford University
Stanford University is an educational institution based in Stanford, California. Founded in 1885, it supports research and instruction across fields including engineering, medicine, law, and the humanities. The university maintains an enrollment of over 17,000 students. It operates with a faculty of more than 2,400 members.
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