Senior Dining Manager

Regular, full-time (1.0 FTE) staff position based in Tacoma, WA. This is an on-campus role only. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

About the role

Provides strategic and operational leadership for all aspects of The Diner, the University's residential dining facility located in Wheelock Student Center. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, The Diner is committed to delivering an exceptional dining experience that emphasizes high-quality and accommodates a wide range of dietary preferences, medical dietary restrictions, and food allergies. Supporting up to 3,000 guest transactions daily, The Diner plays a vital role in fostering campus community and student success.

The Senior Manager is responsible for the safe, efficient, and customer-focused operation of this high-volume dining program, providing leadership and oversight for managers, supervisors, regular staff, and student employees. This position establishes operational priorities, develops and mentors leaders, ensures compliance with food safety, allergen management, and regulatory standards, and drives continuous improvement in service quality, operational efficiency, employee engagement, and guest satisfaction. The position ensures all operations align with Dining & Event Services (DES) standards, philosophy, and strategic goals.

This is a full-time, year-round position. Work schedules vary based on operational needs and include evenings, weekends, holidays, and other hours as necessary to ensure uninterrupted dining services.

Responsibilities

• Oversees the daily operations of The Diner, ensuring high-quality service, food safety, sanitation, and compliance with University and departmental standards.
• Supervises, develops, and evaluates managers, supervisors, regular staff, and student employees through hiring, training, coaching, and performance management.
• Ensures compliance with food safety, HACCP, allergen management, and sanitation standards.
• Manages staffing, scheduling, and operational coverage for all meal periods.
• Promotes a welcoming, guest-focused dining experience and resolves customer concerns.
• Fosters teamwork, accountability, and effective communication while addressing operational and personnel issues.
• Collaborates with campus partners to support daily operations, special events, and continuous improvement.
• Leads operational improvements, including menu development, merchandising, and service enhancements.
• Provides hands-on operational support and performs other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Supervises Dining Service Managers, Supervisors, and regular and student staff.
• Performs and oversees personnel functions including hiring, performance evaluations, performance management, and scheduling.
• Ensures The Diner staff are performing their jobs adequately.
• Manages hours and schedules for all Diner staff members.
• Provides timely performance reviews for staff members.
• Enforces policies as outlined in the DES Staff Handbook.

Qualifications

• Two years of progressively responsible management experience in the hospitality, restaurant, food service, or higher education dining industry is required. Experience managing a high-volume restaurant or college/university dining operation is strongly preferred. An equivalent combination of education, training, and directly related experience that demonstrates the required knowledge, skills, and abilities may be considered.
• Demonstrates time management skills supporting a complex workload; ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects.
• Well versed in Microsoft Software Suite.
• Ability to pass pre-employment background inquiry and testing, including a physical, drug screening, and strength test.
• Must possess a valid Food Worker Card.
• Manager’s ServSafe certificate preferred.
• Ability to respectfully work, communicate, and provide leadership within a diverse campus community.

Skills

• Language Skills: Must be able to speak clearly, listen attentively, read, write, and understand English. Ability to communicate with all levels of staff members in various settings, including one-on-one and small groups. Tact in working with professional peers from other departments and all subordinates.
• Mathematical Skills: Reasonable skill in computing, reporting, and working with numbers as it applies to pricing and cashiering; calculating work schedules and time-cards; estimating production needs.
• Reasoning Ability: Proven strategic planning skills and a customer-focused business approach. Ability to think quickly and accurately, showing initiative and sound judgment. Ability to communicate operational challenges, with recommended solutions where possible.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Regularly required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms.
• Frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; talk or hear; and taste or smell.
• Regularly required to lift and/or move up to 30 pounds.

Pay

The anticipated range for this position is $31.00 to $34.00 per hour. Decisions about starting salaries are made based on the extent and relatedness of the candidate's education and experience and on internal equity and market considerations.

Benefits

Puget Sound offers a generous benefits package for eligible staff employees, including:

• Medical, dental, and vision.
• Life insurance and long-term disability.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Retirement plan options and 403(b) contributions.
• Paid vacation, sick leave, floating holiday, campus holidays, and bonus holidays.
• Education benefits, such as full tuition for eligible employees and their families.
• Access to university facilities and entertainment (fitness center, pool, library, concerts, lectures, and more).

Positions that work less than .75 FTE (1,560 hours per year) do not qualify for long-term disability or education benefits. Positions that work less than .50 FTE (1,040 hours per year) will accrue paid sick leave but are not eligible for additional benefits. Temporary positions that work at least .50 FTE (1,040 hours per year) will be eligible for benefits. This position is non-exempt from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.