Director, IT & Enterprise at Home Chef in Chicago, IL

Home Chef’s IT team is responsible for maintaining technology and enterprise systems that support our company goals and continued growth. The team supports our Chicago-based corporate office in addition to 4 national production facilities. Ideal candidates embody our tech team values: serving as proactive thought-partners to business stakeholders, encouraging their team to think bigger, taking full ownership of outcomes, and maintaining a fun, collaborative environment.

Detailed Responsibilities

Strategy & Planning:

• Establish and execute the multi-year IT strategy and enterprise roadmap aligned with Home Chef’s growth objectives
• Lead enterprise AI, automation, and data governance strategies, establishing guidelines that encourage practical AI adoption while protecting corporate data
• Continually evaluate technical infrastructure, decommission redundant tools, and drive modern efficiency across systems
• Maintain clear communication channels to provide leadership visibility into project roadmaps, resource allocation, and initiative progress

Operations & Support:

• Maintain resilient networking infrastructure, targeting high uptime and proactively eliminating single points of failure across corporate and manufacturing locations
• Oversee plant-floor technology systems across 4 facilities, including custom pick-to-light platforms, WMS, timekeeping systems, and access controls
• Manage end-to-end hardware lifecycles for corporate laptops, plant-floor kiosks, scanning equipment, and network hardware from procurement through retirement
• Implement robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions for both corporate staff and plant-floor teams
• Oversee responsive helpdesk services, including structured on-call and off-hours support
• Partner with operational teams to plan, install, and validate technology for facility expansions and new site launches

Enterprise System Management:

• Maintain, integrate, and optimize key enterprise platforms (e.g., NetSuite, Google Workspace, Kronos, ADP, Concur, Greenhouse)
• Act as a technical advisor to cross-functional leaders during the evaluation, selection, and rollout of new software applications
• Oversee IT-specific spend within the enterprise software budget and negotiate vendor contracts
• Drive SaaS governance to eliminate license sprawl and optimize software spend
• Expand cross-platform automations and workflow optimizations (experience with Workato is a plus)

Security & Privacy:

• Develop, maintain, and enforce cybersecurity policies, Zero Trust controls, Incident Response (IR) protocols, and Disaster Recovery (DR) plans
• Collaborate with Kroger’s corporate IT security team to ensure Home Chef systems adhere to enterprise security and compliance standards
• Conduct periodic vulnerability assessments, system audits, and penetration testing across corporate and plant environments
• Monitor changing data privacy regulations and partner with legal to maintain operational compliance

Team Management:

• Mentor, coach, and support professional growth for a team of IT administrators and support staff
• Establish clear performance metrics, operational SLAs, and professional standards for the IT department
• Build strong collaborative relationships across all departments, positioning IT as a consultative problem-solver
• Continuously evaluate organizational structure to ensure proper coverage across corporate offices and distributed production facilities

Key Traits and Behaviors

• Taking Ownership: We do whatever is necessary to get the job done - no job is too big or too small. We are willing to do any task at any level - and get our hands dirty (at a meal solutions company, sometimes we all have to do the dishes!). We work with speed, setting realistic but aggressive timelines. We do not allow lack of perfect to get in the way of progress.
• Pragmatic, Next-level Thinker: We explore new methodologies and strategies and are not constrained by conventional thinking or ‘the way we have always done it’. We take calculated risks in order to learn and innovate with speed, or ‘test and learn’. We pride ourselves on using data and insights to drive practical decisions in our fast-paced environment.
• Humble Team Player: We work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues, always putting company and team needs ahead of personal achievement. We are open to different points of view when weighing a decision, pulling in different people to provide fresh and unique perspectives.

Qualifications

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability needed for this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities.

• 3+ years experience running an IT team (10+ team members; manufacturing/operations/food environment a plus)
• Experience managing $1M+ software budgets
• Experience evaluating, negotiating, and implementing enterprise software contracts
• Flexibility to travel up to 20% of the time
• Flexibility to be on-call to support plant technology & employee needs
• Up to one year of post-high school training such as in a business school, community college or vocational training

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