Director of Program Management & Integration
Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants
Downers Grove, IL
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JOB DETAILS
JOB TYPE
Full-time
LOCATION
Downers Grove, IL
POSTED
20 days ago
Ready to be part of something extraordinary? At Cooper’s Hawk, connection is at the heart of everything we do, and we’re looking for passionate people to join us. When you become part of our team, you step into a collaborative, supportive culture built on Uncompromising Hospitality, where standards and genuine care come together to create something truly unforgettable. As we continue our exciting journey, you’ll help us deliver unforgettable experiences to our Wine Club Members and the entire Cooper’s Hawk community. Join us, and let’s turn moments into lasting memories.
The Director of Program Management & Integration (Culinary) is a critical integrator role that ensures culinary strategy is translated into scalable, executable, and operationally sound outcomes.
This role owns the end-to-end planning, governance, and execution of culinary initiatives—from early ideation and development through testing, approval, operational readiness, and sustained execution in restaurants. The Director of Culinary Program Management ensures clear processes, disciplined adherence, clean cross-functional handoffs, and formal validation at key milestones, enabling innovation without compromising operational excellence.
Partnering closely with Culinary R&D, Culinary Operations, Supply Chain, Menu, Operations Integration, Finance, and Systems teams, this role provides structure, visibility, and accountability across the full lifecycle of menu innovation, culinary improvements, and food & beverage initiatives.
This position is ideal for a highly organized, hospitality-minded leader who thrives at the intersection of strategy, process, and execution and who brings rigor, clarity, and collaboration to complex culinary work.
How You Will Succeed:
Culinary Process, Structure, and Standards (End-to-End Ownership)
- Lead the review, definition, and documentation of culinary roles, responsibilities, processes, and standards across both Culinary R&D and Culinary Operations.
- Identify process gaps, redundancies, or breakdowns, and develop new or refined processes where needed to support scalability and consistency.
- Establish and reinforce process adherence, governance, and accountability across culinary initiatives.
- Ensure standards are practical, operationally viable, and clearly communicated.
Culinary Project Execution & Governance
- Manage day-to-day planning, execution, and oversight of culinary and food & beverage initiatives from concept through implementation and sustainment.
- Translate culinary strategy into clear project plans with defined scope, timelines, dependencies, risks, and success metrics.
- Establish and manage stage-gate milestones, validations, and approval checkpoints to ensure readiness before progression.
- Provide clear visibility into project status, risks, and decisions for leadership and cross-functional partners.
- Support and/or lead culinary simplification initiative
Culinary Testing Leadership
- Own and manage in-field culinary testing strategy, execution, and evaluation.
- Ensure testing processes are structured, measurable, and aligned to both R&D objectives and operational realities.
- Partner with Culinary R&D, Culinary Ops, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations Integration to ensure testing outcomes drive informed decisions.
- Oversee field communications, measurement, tracking, and post-test recommendations.
Menu Development & Menu Cycle Integration
- Partner with Product and Menu Management to align on required culinary deliverables and timelines, ensuring the culinary vertical provides accurate, complete, and validated inputs to support menu strategy, cycle planning, decision-making, and launch readiness.
- Ensure culinary teams are aligned to menu cycle milestones, deliverables, and approval timelines.
- Support menu development, tasting cadence, and efficiency planning in partnership with Culinary R&D and Culinary Operations.
- Serve as a formal bridge from innovation to execution, ensuring clean handoffs from development into Culinary Operations.
- Ensure accurate creation, validation, and distribution of culinary specifications, SOPs, and training materials.
- Create alignment with culinary system owners (e.g. Crunchtime, RecipeViewer, Simphony).
Cross-Functional Integration & Communication
- Lead the Culinary Integration forum and drive alignment between Culinary R&D, Culinary Operations and key stakeholders.
- Proactively connect R&D, Ops, Supply Chain, Menu, Finance, Training, IT, and Integration teams to ensure shared understanding and readiness.
- Collaborate to ensure all margin- and COGS-related initiatives are documented and tracked
- Communicate changes, risks, dependencies, and decisions clearly and consistently.
Process & Systems Enablement
- Partner with IT, Culinary R&D, Culinary Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain to ensure system and data owners are aligned on roles, processes, and standards, enabling accurate data, reliable system execution, and scalable culinary initiatives.
- Ensure appropriate systems testing, validation, and sign-off occurs prior to launch.
- Support the development and documentation of system standards, business rules, workflows, templates, and tools that enable execution at scale.
Menu & Product Implementation
- Implement and maintain complexity scoring and embed it into tasting and decision-making processes.
- Shepherd menu items through concept, testing, costing, sourcing, training, approval, and launch.
- Partner with Supply Chain and R&D to confirm product availability, quality, consistency, and operational feasibility.
- Facilitate cross-functional readiness reviews and final approvals
Operational Integration & Continuous Improvement
- Partner with Operations Integration to ensure restaurants receive clear, accurate, and timely guidance for culinary rollouts; manage input from stakeholders.
- Partner with Operations Integration to respond to feedback from operations and guests to support continuous improvement.
- Monitor post-launch performance and support continuous improvement and optimization efforts.
What You Will Bring:
- Must embody Cooper’s Hawk values.
- 10+ years of experience in project management or consulting, ideally within multi-unit restaurant, hospitality, or food & beverage environments.
- 5+ years leading complex, cross-functional projects/programs
- Ability to translate culinary strategy into operationally viable plans for execution, working with cross functional teams
- Strong communication skills: can clarify decisions, risks, and dependencies; drive alignment in high ambiguity environments; and provide clear visibility to leadership.
- Bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, Culinary Arts, Operations, Business, or related field; or equivalent experience.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and project management tools (MS Project, Smartsheets)
Compensation Range: $140,000-$180,000 + bonus potential. The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity.
What You’ll Get:
- Incredible Discounts:
- Monthly Dining Allowance
- 50% Dining and Carryout
- 40% Retail Wine
- 20% Retail and Private Events
- Monthly Complimentary Wine Tasting for Two
- Medical, Prescription, Dental, Vision Insurance plus Telemedicine and Wellness Program
- Company Matching 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
- Flexible Savings Accounts- Health and Dependent Care
- Health Savings Account
- Long-Term Disability; Voluntary Short-Term Disability
- Basic Life and AD&D Insurance (with option to purchase additional coverage)
- Paid Parental Leave
- Highly Competitive Pay plus Team Member Incentives & Rewards
- Paid Time Off
- Milestones Recognition Program
- Complimentary Gym Membership in RSC Building
- Hybrid Work Week (3 days in office, 2 days remote, depending on role)
Cooper’s Hawk is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Cooper’s Hawk makes reasonable accommodations during all aspects of the employment process, including during the interview process.
The information provided above indicates the general nature and level of work required of the position and is not a comprehensive list of all responsibilities or qualifications. The Benefits list is only a highlight of some of the benefits offered to team members; eligibility for certain benefits apply.
About Us
Cooper's Hawk features a Napa-style tasting room with wine-inspired retail for entertaining and a full-service restaurant, bar and private event space, offering a modern-yet-casual dining experience. Each scratch-kitchen menu item is designed to pair with our wines. Speaking of wine...the Cooper's Hawk Wine Club is perhaps the largest in the world, offering not only top-notch award-winning wines but also exclusive Wine Club membership benefits, including curated dining and travel experiences. Since 2005, we've brought the Napa Valley experience to our guests and Wine Club members, and now, with Piccolo Buco by Cooper’s Hawk, we’re bringing the vibrant flavors of Rome to them as well. Together, we’re creating a lifestyle brand like no other.
About the Company
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Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurants
After four years of planning and construction, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant opened in 2005 in Orland Park, a south suburb of Chicago. The concept was unique. We would create a signature menu with a selection of dishes designed to pair perfectly with our own Cooper’s Hawk wines, made in our own private winery. With sophisticated food and exceptional wines, our concept was born.
The Cooper’s Hawk concept includes four distinct components: an upscale casual dining restaurant, full-service bar, private barrel-aging room, and Napa-style tasting room and retail gift store…all under one roof. Each Cooper’s Hawk location is distinctive in layout and décor, but carries the same warmth and elegance that guests have come to expect.
The Cooper’s Hawk concept includes four distinct components: an upscale casual dining restaurant, full-service bar, private barrel-aging room, and Napa-style tasting room and retail gift store…all under one roof. Each Cooper’s Hawk location is distinctive in layout and décor, but carries the same warmth and elegance that guests have come to expect.
INDUSTRY
Restaurant/Food Services
FOUNDED
2005
WEBSITE
https://www.coopershawkwinery.com/