Chief Program Officer

Title: Chief Program Officer

Reports to: Executive Director

Status: Full-time, Exempt (salaried)

Location: Remote within the United States (option to work from our office in Berkeley, CA)

Our Organization

The Center for Good Food Purchasing uses the power of procurement and partnerships to create a transparent and equitable food system for people, animals, and the environment. We do this by helping major institutions nationwide adopt and implement the Good Food Purchasing Program.

Over 70 institutions in 40 major US cities have enrolled in the Program. With a collective annual food spend surpassing $1.2 billion, these institutions and cities are committed to directing their purchasing power toward the five Program values: local and community-based economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and community health and nutrition centered around the principles of equity, transparency, and accountability. Using the Program’s metric- and data-driven framework, they measure and improve food purchasing practices over time.

We also work with national partners, local grassroots coalitions, and institutions to shift toward values-based purchasing from farm to fork and build a cohesive network movement to support more resilient and equitable food systems.

The Center for Good Food Purchasing is a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Partners.

Chief Program Officer Summary

The Chief Program Officer (CPO) is a member of the senior leadership team and has a seat at the table to shape the strategic direction, priorities, and growth of the Center. The CPO leads programmatic vision, oversees the development and execution of our core work (i.e., supporting institutional adoption and implementation of the Good Food Purchasing Program), and ensures that the Center’s programs remain high-impact, responsive to partners, and aligned with our organizational values and equity commitments.

The CPO oversees the Program Team, which serves as the primary liaison with institutional participants (e.g., municipal agencies, school districts, hospitals), co-developing short- and long-term implementation strategies informed by data to improve their Program performance, and identifying opportunities for collective action regionally and nationally. The Program team works in close coordination with our Ecosystem Engagement, Policy, Communications, Development, and Core Mission Support teams to empower institutional leaders and community partners to build just, sustainable food systems, using procurement as a lever for change.

This is a remote role that requires occasional domestic travel. The Center for Good Food Purchasing is based in the Bay Area of California.

Success in This Role Looks Like (within the first 12-18 months):

• Core program strategies (institutional support, verification, data analytics, technical assistance, partnerships) are integrated under a unified operating model that is innovative and responsive to evolving food system challenges and opportunities.
• Participating institutions show measurable improvement in their alignment with the Good Food Purchasing values (e.g., increasing purchases in local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, nutrition) and consistently meet or exceed their performance targets.
• Develop and launch a learning agenda and dashboard that turns data into decisions and concrete program changes. The Program Team will publish at least two external pieces (e.g., briefs, webinars, or conference sessions) to share learnings with the field.
• Program team members are supported in their day-to-day work and professional growth, receive regular coaching and professional development, understand how their individual roles and team contribute to our organizational goals and mission, and have the conditions they need to thrive in their roles.
• The Center expands its reach and influence—engaging with more cities/institutions, deepening our network of partners, and elevating the Center’s visibility and thought leadership in values-based procurement and equitable food systems.

Essential Functions

Program Strategy and Portfolio Management

• Lead the development and refinement of the Center’s depth and breadth strategies for implementing the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP), ensuring responsiveness to emerging trends (e.g., climate, supply chain disruption, equity) and integration of innovative technical solutions.
• Establish expansion priorities; make engagement decisions based on institutional readiness criteria and capacity; and align engagement calendar with organizational strategy.
• Align depth and breadth strategies and expansion priorities with Program Team capacity: support a high-performing culture while identifying new technology and program management strategies to expand the Center’s ability to serve our growing cohort of engaged institutions.

Performance, Assessment, and Learning (Data/Evaluation)

• Oversee all aspects of the Good Food Purchasing Program, including stakeholder engagement, institutional assessments, data analytics, technical support provision, tool development, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, including tracking key performance indicators of both program impact and program team effectiveness.
• Set metrics and benchmarks, and track progress across all program lines.
• Use data and learning to guide continuous improvement, course correction, and scaling decisions.

Program Delivery, Partnerships, & Field Leadership

• Ensure high-quality training, technical assistance, and peer-learning; expand tools and resources that translate data into action across sectors (schools, hospitals, carceral institutions, etc.)
• Serve as a senior cross-functional leader, partnering closely with the Center’s Ecosystem Engagement, Communications, Development, Policy, and Core Mission Support teams to cultivate and steward high-trust relationships and cross-sector collaboration with institutional partners (e.g., cities, school districts, hospitals), local leads, coalitions, funders, and community advocates, ensuring historically marginalized voices are centered.
• Serve as a public voice for the Center in convenings, conferences, media, coalitions, and policy arenas. Promote the Center’s mission and elevate awareness of values-based procurement approaches in institutional food systems.

Internal Leadership and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Ecosystem Engagement, Policy, Communications, Development, and Core Mission Support teams to coordinate stakeholder strategy and align priorities.
• Contribute to organization-wide strategy as a member of senior leadership; help shape a people-first culture that exemplifies kindness, assumes positive intent, and advances equity—ensuring historically marginalized voices are meaningfully integrated into organizational-strategy and decision-making.

People Leadership and Change Management

• Manage, lead, and mentor senior and mid-level program staff.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, motivation, and professional growth. Provide consistent feedback and coaching, and lead annual performance support conversations.
• Ensure the program team has access to professional development in food systems, equity, procurement, analytics, evaluation, and technology. Co-design professional development plans with all program team members and provide accountability for progress.
• Oversee annual work planning, resourcing, and prioritization for the program team; lead change management for program evolution and scale, ensuring smooth transitions and buy-in.

Technology and Data Strategy

• Collaborate with organizational leadership, cross-team project leads, and consultants to develop and implement a technology strategy that supports core program functions, builds team capacity, scales with program growth, and fuels data-driven insights that inform organizational strategy.
• Evaluate tools/platforms; guide design, testing, and requirements; enable self-service analytics across the organization.

Budget, Grants, and Revenue

• With senior leadership, design, manage, and monitor program budgets and the annual departmental budget. Ensure efficient resource allocation across programs/projects.
• Forecast and monitor earned revenue partnerships with Core Mission Support Team; contribute to the growth of fee-for-service offerings.
• Support resource development in partnership Development (project concepts, proposals) and ensure programmatic compliance and timely reporting.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant work experience, including program management, food procurement, and/or institutional food service.
• Project leadership experience, including project design, team formation, budget and timeline management, deliverables accountability, and reporting.
• 5+ years of experience supervising a diverse, high-functioning team.
• Deep understanding of food systems issues, particularly in the areas of institutional procurement, supply chain, environmental sustainability, workers’ rights, animal welfare, and local economies.
• Experience with quantitative assessment and analysis, fluency in data management and analysis tools (e.g., Excel, business intelligence tools), and ability to translate data into decisions and action.
• Collaborative spirit and enthusiasm for bringing together stakeholders with diverse priorities and perspectives to seek mutual benefit and practical solutions.
• Ability to work independently and effectively in a virtual environment with a remote team, including strong prioritization and deadline management, and regular access to phone, internet, and video conferencing.
• Ability to convey complex messages and concepts to diverse audiences with ease via written and verbal communication.
• Willingness to travel domestically (estimated four times per year).

Preferred Qualifications

• Operational knowledge of federal meal programs and requirements.
• Knowledge of public solicitations/contracting processes.
• Experience implementing a data strategy, including understanding business objectives, data governance, technology infrastructure (e.g., optimizing data architecture, implementing the right data management, analysis, and BI software), and fostering a data-literate culture.
• Experience with grant activity tracking and reporting.
• Experience engaging with community-based and/or grassroots organizations.

Compensation & Benefits

The Chief Program Officer is a regular full-time, exempt position with an annual salary of $138,500. Our salaries are competitive; reflect our size, geographic location, and field; and are commensurate with experience. We conduct an annual review of market-based salary trends to promote equitable and competitive compensation practices.

The Center for Good Food Purchasing, a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Partners, is a people-first workplace that values flexibility, work-life balance, and restoration. In addition to offering competitive benefits (i.e. medical/dental/vision, disability/life insurance, vacation, and a 403(b) plan with employer match after two years), we also offer generous paid holidays in addition to vacation time (27 holiday days in 2025, which include annual summer and winter breaks), two flexible working Fridays monthly, remote work stipends, an annual professional development budget, travel opportunities, and paid sabbaticals.

Community Partners® is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. We strongly encourage and seek applications from people of color, including bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as women, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. In addition, the organization will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring.

How to Apply

Applicants applying by Wednesday, November 19, will be given priority consideration, with the position open until filled. Submit your application via this form. The form will ask for your contact information, a brief original cover letter written by you in PDF format that describes relevant experience, your resume in PDF format, and two to three professional references.

We invite applicants to highlight their unique skills, experiences, and passion in their applications using their own words. While AI can help you prepare your materials, please make sure to review and personalize them to accurately represent your qualifications and enthusiasm for our organization and mission.

If selected, the interview process will consist of one initial video interview (30 minutes), with the potential for a second video interview (45-60 minutes).

You will receive a response within 2-3 weeks of application close. We respectfully request no calls or emails. Please note that due to the high number of anticipated applicants, we are not able to provide personalized feedback on application materials.

Goodfoodpurchasing.org

Application form URL:

https://forms.gle/JJn62QKiwgTaYfvv8