Director of Client Activation

About the Role

The Director of Client Activation owns the path from contract award to steady-state operation. Every new account and every transition from an incumbent provider moves through a defined sequence: kickoff and discovery, program build and procurement, final readiness, go-live, and a 90-day stabilization that ends only when the account is formally handed to its permanent operating team. This role runs that sequence as the project manager of record for every concurrent opening in the portfolio.

The Director builds and holds the integrated activation plan for each account: scope, schedule, budget, risks, and the readiness gates that decide whether an opening is ready to open. The role aligns culinary, clinical nutrition, procurement, human resources, technology, marketing, and operations toward a single go-live date, so that a client's first 90 days feel like a promise kept.

The role sits within the Culinary & Experience organization by design. Activation is where our culinary philosophy is either installed on day one or deferred indefinitely, and the person who leads it must read a kitchen as fluently as a project schedule.

This is a builder's role. The enterprise activation capability is being codified and brought in-house, not inherited as a finished function. The Director will turn proven, largely unwritten practice into a repeatable, governed method.

Who We Are

Phoenix3 Collective is the parent organization for a family of hospitality companies serving senior living, healthcare, behavioral health, and corporate markets.

• Restaura elevates senior living and active adult dining.
• Culinour serves healthcare and behavioral health environments.
• Infuse delivers corporate dining and workplace hospitality.
• Quality Culinary Solutions partners with self-operated clients to raise their culinary standard.
• Centicor supports the enterprise in procurement, and CrossCheck provides audit and quality assurance.

Our culinary work rests on one foundation: scratch cooking, regenerative and regional sourcing, dignified hospitality for every diner regardless of dietary or texture needs, and a food-as-medicine philosophy. The Phoenix3 Culinary Framework turns that philosophy into commitment, and commitment into the experience a client sees on the first day we serve.

Who You Are

You open operations, and you stay until they are stable.

• You have opened or transitioned food service operations and stayed through stabilization, not just through the ribbon cutting.
• You run projects with discipline. Integrated schedules, critical paths, risk logs, and change control are how you think, not paperwork you tolerate.
• You are credible in a kitchen. You can walk a line, read a production plan, and tell a dining room that is ready to open from one that only looks ready.
• You hold many openings in your head at once and still give each client the sense that theirs is the only one.
• You say "not ready" when it is true, and you arrive with options rather than problems.
• You write things down. A method that lives only in people's heads is a method the organization does not yet own.
• You believe hospitality is an act of dignity, and it shows in how you treat an incoming team on the first morning of a transition.

What You Will Do

Lead the activation portfolio

• Serve as project manager of record for every new account opening and incumbent transition, from the award gate through the Day-90 exit gate, across all operating brands and advisory engagements.
• Build and maintain the integrated activation plan for each account: scope, work breakdown, critical path, a milestone schedule anchored to go-live, resource plan, and communication plan.
• Manage the portfolio as a whole: sequence concurrent openings, resolve resource conflicts, and give leadership one current view of every account's phase, status, and risk.
• Run the operating cadence of every activation: kickoff, weekly status, risk and issue reviews, readiness reviews, and change control over scope, schedule, and budget.

Govern readiness

• Apply the seven-phase activation lifecycle with consistent entry and exit criteria at every account: Kickoff & Discovery, Program Build & Procurement, Final Readiness & Opening Prep, Go-Live, Stabilize, Standardize, and Optimize & Handoff.
• Chair the go-live readiness review and issue an evidence-based recommendation: menus approved, teams trained and competency-validated, certified food protection coverage for every operating hour, supplier and systems conversions complete, and clinical requirements in place.
• Hold or re-sequence a go-live when readiness criteria are not met, and escalate early with options and a recovery plan.
• Lead the Day-90 exit gate so every activation formally ends, with joint sign-off from Activation, operating company leadership, and Operational Excellence, and a clean transfer of open items to the permanent account leader.

Manage transitions

• Plan and lead transitions from incumbent providers with continuity of service as the non-negotiable standard: no missed meal, no lapse in food safety coverage, and no gap in therapeutic or texture-modified service.
• Coordinate the workstreams that decide a transition: employee transition and onboarding, inventory and equipment handover, permit and license continuity, supplier conversion, and systems cutover.
• Partner with Human Resources so transitioning team members are welcomed, oriented, equipped, and paid correctly from their first shift.

Install the culinary program

• Ensure the Phoenix3 Culinary Framework is installed at go-live rather than phased in later: scratch cooking standards, menus built and costed in TrueVue (our recipe and menu system of record), production systems, and the brand culinary experience.
• Integrate clinical readiness into every activation plan with Health & Wellbeing, including IDDSI-compliant texture-modified service, diet order workflows, and, for healthcare accounts, accreditation and survey readiness.
• Confirm each account launches within its approved cost structure (PRD in senior living, PPD in healthcare and behavioral health, and the applicable standard in corporate dining) without compromising scratch technique.

Lead the activation team

• Lead the activation bench: activation chefs, team leads, and hospitality leaders deployed to openings.
• Recruit, develop, schedule, and evaluate the team against the pipeline.
• Build the internal activation capability the enterprise needs, including a staffing model tied to the pipeline and a development path that turns strong operators into strong activation leaders.
• Lead cross-functional workstream owners through influence. Most of the people who deliver an activation do not report to this role.

Own the method

• Own the Phoenix3 activation playbook and its companion instruments, including the 30/60/90 Client Activation Checklist, and keep them current, versioned, and in use.
• Capture what experienced activation leaders know and do that is not yet written down, and codify it into the method.
• Run a structured retrospective at the close of every activation and convert findings into playbook amendments. Retire steps that do not earn their place.
• Administer the activation project management platform and reporting so every account's plan is visible to leadership in real time.

Hold financial and commercial discipline

• Build and manage the mobilization budget for each account against the approved cost model, and report variance and forecast at every status cycle.
• Provide scope, timeline, and resource input to pursuits before award, in partnership with Growth and Business Development, so that what is sold can be delivered.
• Feed transition pricing and team scoping with actual effort and cost data from completed activations.

Partner with the client

• Serve as the client's primary activation contact from award through Day 90: set expectations early, communicate plainly, and surface risks before the client discovers them.
• Lead client-facing kickoff, readiness, Day-30, and Day-90 reviews alongside the permanent account leader, building the relationship the operating team will inherit.
• Represent Phoenix3 Collective in client meetings, site visits, and new business presentations where activation capability is being evaluated.

Qualifications

Required

• Operations experience. At least eight years of progressive experience in multi-site food service, hospitality, healthcare, or senior living operations, including at least four years as the accountable lead for account openings, transitions, or implementations.
• Concurrent openings. A record of leading multiple concurrent openings or transitions from contract award through stabilization, on schedule and within budget.
• Project management discipline. Integrated schedules, critical path, risk and issue management, change control, and executive status reporting.
• Culinary and operational fluency. The ability to walk a kitchen, read a production plan, and judge whether a dining operation is ready to open.
• Food safety credential. Current Certified Food Protection Manager credential, or the ability to obtain one within thirty days of hire.
• Influence and client leadership. Experience leading across functions without direct authority and managing client relationships at the executive level.
• Education. Bachelor's degree in hospitality, business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Location. Able to work Monday through Friday in the Waltham, MA headquarters office when not traveling.

Preferred

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent, and formal change management training.
• Contract food service or management company experience, particularly transitions from an incumbent provider.
• Senior living, healthcare, or behavioral health dining experience, including accreditation or survey readiness.
• Culinary credential or formal culinary training, such as the Culinary Institute of America or equivalent.
• Familiarity with IDDSI texture-modified dining standards and therapeutic diet requirements.
• Experience with enterprise project management platforms (Smartsheet, Monday.com, or equivalent) and with recipe, menu, and point-of-sale systems.
• Experience managing workforce transitions, including in unionized environments.
• Advanced degree in business, hospitality, or a related field.

Physical and Travel Requirements

• Travel to client accounts and support center locations up to 50% of the time, including multi-state travel and extended on-site presence during go-live windows.
• Be available for early morning, evening, weekend, and holiday work around openings and transitions.
• Stand and walk for extended periods during site walks, readiness reviews, service observation, and kitchen time.
• Work in commercial kitchen environments, including exposure to variable temperatures.
• Occasionally lift, carry, push, or pull up to 25 pounds.
• Frequent repetitive motion of hands and arms.