Director, Culinary Expansion

About KIPP NYC:
Founded in 1995, KIPP NYC Public Schools is a non-profit network of 18 free, public charter schools located in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We partner with families and communities to create joyful, academically excellent schools where every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.

From our first middle school, KIPP Academy in the Bronx, to today’s network of eight elementary schools, nine middle schools, and one high school, KIPP NYC provides students with engaging academics, arts, athletics, and social–emotional learning that prepare them for college, career, and beyond.

Our commitment doesn’t end at graduation. Through KIPP Forward, we continue to support our alumni as they navigate college, career, and life, helping them define success on their own terms and pursue the paths that align with their goals and sense of purpose.

Together, we serve more than 9,400 students, supported over 4,700 alumni, and employ more than 1,100 dedicated team members who bring passion, expertise, and commitment to our mission every day.

About KIPP NYC Culinary:

Since 2016, the KIPP NYC Culinary Team has been reimagining what school food can be by providing students with fresh, scratch-cooked, nutritious, and delicious meals at no cost to students or families. As an extension of KIPP NYC's commitment to creating joyful, academically excellent schools, the Culinary Team plays a vital role in ensuring students have access to healthy meals that support their learning, well-being, and overall success.

Today, the Culinary Team serves nearly 10,000 students across 18 KIPP NYC schools and continues to expand its innovative scratch-cooking model. In Fall 2026, the team will complete its expansion across the network, bringing high-quality school meals to every KIPP NYC student.

In recognition of its impact and bold vision for the future, KIPP NYC was awarded a Regional School Food Infrastructure Grant by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. This transformational investment will support the development of the KIPP NYC Culinary Institute—a central production and teaching kitchen, commissary, and workforce development hub that will strengthen school meal operations, expand career pathways for students, and deepen partnerships with local communities and New York State food producers.

Job Description

Position Overview:

Reporting to the Executive Director of Culinary, the Director of Culinary Expansion role is to manage various projects related to the broad expansion of the KIPP NYC Culinary Team. This includes the successful stewardship of the farm to school infrastructure grant in order to establish the creation of the KIPP NYC Culinary Institute- a central production and teaching kitchen, commissary, and career pathways center in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx to serve as a transformative hub for KIPP NYC’s culinary program. The person in this role builds the Institute to innovate large-scale scratch-cooking for school meals across the city, create new market opportunities and resiliency in our state food system, and be a source of learning and opportunity for thousands of students and the surrounding communities. 

This is a full-time, in-person position requiring on-site work five days per week. The role may be based at our KIPP NYC Midtown Manhattan office or at one of our KIPP NYC campuses across the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Manhattan. Your leadership team will determine the work location, including the cadence and frequency of time spent at each site.

Duties and Responsibilities:

General responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

Operations & Systems

• Plan and lead the successful operational execution for the expansion of the Culinary Institute, as part of the KIPP Culinary team
• Ensure the program is fiscally sound in accordance with the budget and grant and compliant with KIPP NYC finance & accounting policies. 
• Strengthen systems and processes to improve clarity, efficiency, and decision-making across the Culinary Team
• Document and institutionalize key workflows, decisions, and organizational knowledge
• Ensure staff always have the materials they need. 
• Support prioritization and management of the ED of Culinary’s time, focus, and key initiatives

Project Management & Strategy

• Partner with the Executive Director of Culinary to refine the vision for the KIPP NYC Culinary Institute. 
• Partner with the Real Estate Project Manager to develop and manage project plans, including timelines, KPIs, resource allocation, and evaluation
• Manage all compliance and reporting measures related to the farm to school infrastructure grant
• Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives from planning through execution, ensuring alignment to student outcomes
• Use data to identify priorities, inform decision-making, and drive continuous improvement
• Prepare high-quality materials for senior leadership and funders, including presentations, reports, and strategic plans

Grant Stewardship 

KIPP NYC has been awarded a $5M Regional School Food Infrastructure grant for the KIPP NYC Culinary Institute. The Director of Culinary Expansion will:

• Serve as the main point of contact with the NY Gov Economic Development Program Specialist 
• Refine the budget and org charts 
• Help ensure that the project is meeting the necessary deadlines
• Partner with local and state organizations to develop a Career Pathways program plan/timeline.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in management or leadership preferred.
• Experience leading multiple, simultaneous cross-functional, organizational initiatives with multiple senior leaders and stakeholders. 
• Ability to use data to identify insights into business outcomes and communicate findings to leadership.
• Excellent project management skills, including planning, needs assessment, fit gap analysis, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
• Demonstrated success in managing a budget and a clear understanding of how to read a detailed financial statement
• Ability to identify operational issues and recommend and implement strategies to resolve problems.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to develop strong working relationships, including the ability to drive results, collaborate, and influence multiple stakeholders without having direct management of individuals. 
• Highly proficient in Excel, Google Sheets, Asana, and other Microsoft/Google suite products for presentations, communications, analysis, and project management.
• A demonstrated passion for and commitment to the core values of our mission, public education, and social justice, with a desire to create a work environment that embraces and appreciates diversity.
• Deep commitment to KIPP NYC's mission and belief that strong operational systems contribute to excellent experiences for students, families, and staff.
• Demonstrates KIPP NYC's core values of zest, grit, hope, social intelligence, gratitude, and a sense of humor.

Additional Information

Compensation & Benefits:

KIPP NYC offers a salary ranging from $105,060 - $131,840 per year. Salary ranges at KIPP NYC are standardized based on role level and role function. Individual salaries are determined through a lens of equity, accounting for years of experience relevant to the role and scope of responsibilities, and are benchmarked against others within the same salary band.

KIPP NYC offers a generous benefits package, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Robust benefits that include medical, dental, and vision. 
• 403(b) retirement plan with a 50% match after 6 months. 
• Generous Time-Off aligned with the school calendar
• Up to 12 weeks of 100% parental leave. 
• Bright Horizon Back-up Child and Elder care.
• Employer-paid Life Insurance and Short-term/Long-term disability.
• Employee incentives include 8 Weeks paid Sabbatical after 10 years, annual professional development funds, and tuition reimbursement.

This description is intended to describe the type of work being performed by a person assigned to this position. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by the employee.

This is a full-time, in-person role based in New York City and will require travel to our schools. If you are not in a school-based position, the cadence and frequency of travel to schools is determined by your leadership team. If you relocate outside of a commutable distance or out of the state of NY, your employment will be subject to review, which may include separation from KIPP NYC. It is important that you notify HR if you move or have plans to relocate.

KIPP NYC LLC does not offer visa sponsorship or work authorization. 

KIPP NYC LLC is committed to creating a welcoming environment that includes employees with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We believe that enables us to better meet our mission and values while serving students and families throughout New York City. 

KIPP NYC LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KIPP NYC LLC is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment.