Senior Director of Small Business Programs

Hot Bread Kitchen’s small business program, HBK Incubates, changes the lives and economic outcomes of women of color and immigrant women food entrepreneurs by providing transformational support that allows their small food businesses to grow into sources of sustainable income and long-term wealth-building. We provide low-to-middle income women who face systemic barriers, a pathway to successful small business ownership, which in turn transforms the economic opportunities and financial security in their lives, their families, and their communities. The program provides mentorship, technical assistance, access to kitchen production space, and holistic resources so that members can SEED, START, and SCALE their food businesses.

Hot Bread Kitchen is looking for a strategic and results-driven Senior Director of Small Business Programs with financial acumen to impactfully implement four small business programs: Seed, Start, Scale, and Cultivate, ensuring business viability, driving revenue growth, and providing holistic mentorship opportunities. Reporting directly to the Chief Program Officer, the person in this role will grow, manage, and motivate their team towards key goals and outcomes while fostering a community of food entrepreneurs . This is a unique leadership opportunity to shape and drive impactful change in the food entrepreneurship ecosystem of New York City.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Program and Partnership Development:

Develop and implement programs and partnerships in alignment with Hot Bread Kitchen’s 2025 - 2027 Strategic Plan to both expand and deepen impact. Specifically:

• Expand small business programs, making it more accessible to all New Yorkers and making Hot Bread Kitchen New York City’s hub for all food entrepreneurship activities.
• Deepen Hot Bread Kitchen’s small business programs to impactfully meet the needs of food entrepreneurs, focusing on revenue growth, capital access, and access to markets for all food businesses, including early stage and those poised for growth in the Scale Program.
• Increase programmatic financial planning capacity across all program areas, including ensuring that the team core business financials are infused across all program materials and tools.
• Lead efforts to build and nurture strategic partnerships with a focus on leveraging the small business landscape to build programs that expand access to capital and markets.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of financial planning initiatives, adjusting strategies as needed to ensure sustainability and growth for entrepreneurs.

Management and Continuous Improvement:

• Manage, mentor, and grow a high-performing team, providing supervision and guidance to ensure successful program execution and team development.
• Partner with the Director of Impact and Innovation to develop and manage key performance indicators - measuring program effectiveness, tracking progress toward business growth, and assessing overall program impact.
• Ensure ongoing quality and timely data collection.
• Use data and member feedback to continuously improve programs, ensuring they drive results that support the sustainability and growth of small businesses.
• Provide data-driven insights to stakeholders, ensuring alignment with goals and showcasing measurable outcomes.

Development:

• Work closely with the Senior Director of Institutional Partnerships to identify and pursue funding opportunities, including grants and partnerships, which support the small business program expansion and long-term sustainability.
• Represent Hot Bread Kitchen at funder meetings and appeals, cultivating relationships with potential funders and advocating for support of small business programs.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven experience (10+ years) in small business program management, with a particular focus on capital access, business development, and entrepreneurial support.
• Passionate about Hot Bread Kitchen’s mission to advance economic mobility for women and underrepresented communities through New York City’s vibrant food industry.
• Ability to thrive in both independent and collaborative settings, managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced, goal-driven environment with tight deadlines.
• Receptive to feedback, with a growth mindset and the ability to adapt and improve.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders and effectively convey complex ideas.
• Strategic thinker who is detail-oriented, process-driven, and able to balance vision with execution.
• In-depth understanding of the barriers facing immigrants and women of color in starting and scaling businesses, with a commitment to addressing these challenges.
• Experience working with small food businesses strongly preferred, including expertise in financial management
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google platforms required; experience with Salesforce is a plus.

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP

• Member of Hot Bread Kitchen Leadership team providing thought partnership to the Executive team on operations and strategic planning, and contributing to the organization’s fun, collaborative and caring culture.
• Ensures effective internal communications, collaboration and a culture of philanthropy across teams to advance goals of Hot Bread Kitchen.
• Supports and actively engages in the principles of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion across the organization.

COMPETENCIES

• Strategic minded - Focuses on the big picture, ensuring that goals and objectives are strategically aligned with the organization’s vision and mission. Recognizes areas where change can advance the organization, engages in and contributes towards change efforts.
• Collaboration - Works with others to achieve common goals and desired results. Connects with people from many different backgrounds. Finds and creates opportunities to deepen connections and build authentic, mutual relationships with [teammates, donors, members, families] across lines of difference, such as race or other identities. Welcomes viewpoints that differ from your own, and manages discomfort when people express themselves in ways that aren’t familiar to you.
• Innovative - Believes that new things can be done and people can stretch themselves to achieve new results. Maintains an optimistic outlook, has a questioning approach, suggests hypotheticals and always looks for ways to make ideas work.
• Results-driven - Achieves goals promptly and adapts to various solutions when an original solution did not work. Gathers information, seeks input, and drives work forward.
• Influence - Enlists the support and cooperation of others and encourages them to be proactive, uses their position and role to create a positive change.

OUR VALUES

We are driven by a feeling of commitment to support our members, teammates, and partners as best as we can. Our culture of equity comes from the many cooks in our kitchen and the diversity of perspectives we each bring. We believe that respect goes a long way in making people feel welcome, accepted, and celebrated. We seek out opportunities for connection and become a stronger team by being in community and prioritizing candor over consensus. The pace of our work and velocity of change can be quick; our entrepreneurialism helps us take optimistic risks and pursue inventive solutions.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

This is a full-time position. The salary range is $95,000 to $105,000 and is commensurate with experience. Hot Bread Kitchen’s comprehensive benefits package includes health/vision/dental insurance (available from day one!), 401K contributions, paid office closure (including holidays and staff appreciation days), a one-week holiday break at the end of the year, flexible vacation time, generous sick and paid family leave, and a paid sabbatical program (after 5 years). Our organizational culture is entrepreneurial, flexible, and civically minded (learn more about our culture on hotbreadkitchen.org/careers).

LOCATION

This is a hybrid position and requires in-person presence at least three days a week either in our Chelsea Market headquarters and/or at our program sites. This entails having the flexibility to work evening hours and travel to community-based locations across New York City.