A hospitality and entertainment company in Rochester, NY is seeking a Senior Director, Operations Strategy to lead strategic planning, operating model improvement, performance initiatives, and cross-functional execution across a complex service environment.

This leader will partner closely with Operations, Finance, Food & Beverage, Guest Experience, Facilities, Marketing, and executive leadership to improve efficiency, profitability, customer satisfaction, service delivery, and business scalability.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute operations strategy across hospitality, food service, and entertainment business units.
• Lead strategic initiatives focused on service optimization, revenue growth, cost control, guest experience, and operational consistency.
• Partner with senior operations leaders to assess business performance and identify improvement opportunities.
• Build business cases, operating plans, dashboards, and implementation roadmaps for major initiatives.
• Support annual planning, budgeting, forecasting, and long-range operational planning.
• Evaluate staffing models, labor utilization, process workflows, vendor performance, and resource allocation.
• Lead cross-functional projects involving new site openings, service model changes, technology implementation, guest experience improvements, menu optimization, venue optimization, or operational transformation.
• Translate data, financial performance, operational trends, and guest feedback into practical recommendations for senior leadership.
• Establish performance metrics and reporting routines to track progress against operational goals.
• Support change management and communication plans for major operational initiatives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in operations strategy, business operations, corporate strategy, consulting, hospitality operations, food service operations, entertainment operations, or related fields.
• Experience in hospitality, food service, entertainment, restaurants, venues, resorts, gaming, attractions, or similar customer-facing industries preferred.
• Strong analytical and financial skills, including experience with business cases, KPIs, budgets, forecasts, dashboards, and performance reporting.
• Proven ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives from strategy through execution.
• Experience improving operating models, service delivery, cost structure, productivity, revenue performance, or guest experience.
• Strong project management, communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to influence senior leaders and operators in a fast-paced, multi-site environment.
• Comfortable balancing strategic planning with hands-on operational problem-solving.

Benefits

• $140,000 to $180,000 base salary, plus bonus eligibility

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