Director of Strategic Solutions

Job description

Job Summary: The Director of Strategic Solutions (DSS) serves as the strategic translator between constituent reality and the work CaterTrax® chooses to do, as the company transforms from a catering software provider into a strategic hospitality technology partner. A constituent is anyone whose experience is shaped by our platform. Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, this leader owns deep client and operational discovery, business problem diagnosis, solution framing, and the enterprise value narrative that connects constituent indispensability to growth. The DSS is responsible for hiring, managing, and developing all Strategic Solutions Consultants, and for establishing the discovery, brief, and decision-framework practices on which the squad model depends. This is a hybrid position located in Rochester, NY. Job Description: THIS ROLE ISN'T FOR EVERYONE: When you listen to what a constituent needs, do you ask insightful questions about the problem before proposing a solution? Do you enjoy walking into ambiguity and helping constituents uncover what they actually need? Can you comfortably shift between a conversation with a CEO, a product manager, an engineer, and a consultant — earning credibility with each? Do you get energized by coaching people as much as solving problems yourself? And when you spot an opportunity to create more value for a constituent, do you naturally pursue it? If this excites you and you're thinking, “That's exactly what I do,” keep reading. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES CONSTITUENT DISCOVERY & PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS Own deep client and operational discovery across constituent segments, treating each vertical's Executive, Operator, and Diner as one connected reality. Lead business problem diagnosis, separating symptoms from root causes and validating problems in operational reality before framing solutions. Establish discovery standards, methods, and cadences for the Strategic Solutions function. SOLUTION FRAMING & VALUE NARRATIVE Own solution framing: converting diagnosed problems into clearly scoped opportunities the platform can answer. Own the enterprise value narrative that connects constituent indispensability to CaterTrax growth. Set the quality bar for briefs and hold the Decision Framework line across the function. FUNCTION LEADERSHIP Hire, manage, coach, and develop all Strategic Solutions Consultants. Establish the Connector cadence standards that maintain standing access relationships between squads and their constituents. Plan Strategic Solutions capacity as squads expand, recommending growth when substrate maturity and constituent surface area justify it. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL PARTNERSHIP Partner with the Director, Product and Solutions on engineering intake so briefs translate cleanly into sequenced work. Partner with the Senior Agentic AI Engineers on Brief-to-agent translation. Partner with Commercial leadership to connect the strategic solutions motion to revenue growth and retention. Provide leadership with a clear, prioritized view of constituent problems worth solving. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE IDEAL BACKGROUND Enterprise SaaS experience. Complex constituent or multi-location operators. You've navigated organizational complexity, multiple stakeholders, and competing priorities inside a single account. Business problem translation. Demonstrated experience translating business problems into software capabilities, workflows, integrations, reporting, automation, or AI-enabled solutions. Not feature selling — problem solving. Cross-functional range. Comfortable working with executives, operators, administrators, Product, Technology, Sales, Implementation, and Constituent Success. Acts as connective tissue across functions without being captured by any one of them. Diagnostic discipline. Consistent comfort diagnosing root causes rather than accepting constituent requests at face value. You have a habit of asking the harder question underneath the one the constituent came in with. Industry proximity. Experience in hospitality, foodservice, managed services, enterprise dining, healthcare dining, higher education dining, corporate dining, or adjacent operational environments. Deep industry experience is strongly preferred; adjacent industry experience with demonstrated transferability is acceptable. Enterprise value connection. Ability to connect constituent pain to expansion opportunity, product direction, retention, and enterprise value. You understand that constituent indispensability and business growth are the same argument. You think beyond delivering projects. Player-coach team leadership. Experience leading a small team of consultants or analysts while staying personally close to the work. This role leads the squad Strategic Solutions Consultants and coaches their diagnostic quality but never delegates away its own constituent contact or its cross-vertical synthesis. You are comfortable holding both at once: the leader who sets the standard and the practitioner who still does the hardest diagnosis personally. EDUCATION Bachelor's degree in Business, Hospitality Management, or a related discipline required. MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred. EXPERIENCE Required: 10+ years of experience across strategy consulting, solutions leadership, or hospitality operations leadership. Demonstrated success leading constituent discovery and business problem diagnosis at the executive level. Proven track record translating operational problems into strategic software or technology opportunities. Experience building and leading a team, including hiring, coaching, and performance management. Executive-level communication and narrative-building skills. Preferred: Deep hospitality or foodservice operations experience, particularly with multi-site operators. Experience in enterprise SaaS or hospitality technology environments. Familiarity with product discovery methods and squad-based operating models. REPRESENTATIVE PRIOR TITLES If you've held a title like one of these, perfect: Principal Solution Consultant Director of Solution Consulting Strategic Solutions Consultant Senior Solution Consultant Business Value Consultant Value Consultant Industry Solutions Director Client Solutions Director Solution Strategist Hospitality Solutions Consultant SKILLS AND COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS Strategic synthesis: Turns messy operational reality into clear, prioritized problems worth solving. Diagnostic listening: Hears what constituents mean, not just what they say. Narrative building: Constructs a value story that executives, operators, and internal teams all recognize as true. Executive presence: Credible with C-level constituents and internal leadership alike. Coaching: Develops consultants into trusted constituent problem owners. Commercial acumen: Connects constituent indispensability to measurable growth. TECHNOLOGY SKILLS The Director of Strategic Solutions is expected to maintain working fluency across the following tools and domains. DISCOVERY & DOCUMENTATION TOOLING Agile and documentation tooling: Jira, Confluence (Atlassian suite experience preferred). CRM platforms for account context and commercial alignment. ANALYSIS & REPORTING Power BI or equivalent for constituent and value analysis; Excel at a power-user level. PRODUCTIVITY & COLLABORATION Microsoft 365 suite: Teams, SharePoint, Excel, and PowerPoint at a power-user level for executive reporting and communication. AI productivity tools: Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic Claude, or similar for personal and team enablement. PHYSICAL DEMANDS While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to operate a computer, copier, fax or other office equipment. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. WORK ENVIRONMENT Assumes a hybrid work environment. While performing the duties of this job, the noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate. TRAVEL Up to 30%, Domestic (as required) Compensation The salary range for the position is $160,000 to $175,000, contingent upon experience. FINAL THOUGHT: The right person for this role is genuinely excited by the opportunity to join a successful company and make it even better. You solve problems that matter and make a positive impact on your constituents and team. You're naturally curious, commercially minded, and energized by helping a company grow while growing right alongside it. You see possibility where others see obstacles. If this has your head nodding yes, we'd love to hear your story. Worker Type: Regular Number of Openings Available: 1