Founded in 2013, Home Chef is the leading meal solutions company with both a retail and online presence. Available online at homechef.com and in retail at more than 2,100 Kroger grocery stores, Home Chef is committed to inspiring and enabling more people to cook simple, delicious meals, no matter how busy they are.

In 2023, Home Chef introduced a new brand, Tempo! Tempo features a rotating selection of ready-to-heat meals delivered directly to your door. These meals are better-for-you versions of familiar favorites, designed to save you time and reduce stress while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Our Tempo menu includes options that are protein-packed, fiber-rich, calorie and carb conscious, keto-friendly, and dietitian-approved.

Similar to our recipes, we recognize that variety is the spice of life, and therefore, our employees also bring their uniqueness and color to our fantastic team. We’re eager to work with humble team players and pragmatic next-level thinkers to innovate on Home Chef’s offerings.

Home Chef’s IT team is responsible for maintaining technology and enterprise systems that support our company goals and continued growth. The team supports our Chicago-based corporate office in addition to 4 national production facilities. Ideal candidates embody our tech team values: serving as proactive thought-partners to business stakeholders, encouraging their team to think bigger, taking full ownership of outcomes, and maintaining a fun, collaborative environment.

Detailed Responsibilities

Strategy & Planning

Establish and execute the multi-year IT strategy and enterprise roadmap aligned with Home Chef’s growth objectives
Lead enterprise AI, automation, and data governance strategies, establishing guidelines that encourage practical AI adoption while protecting corporate data
Continually evaluate technical infrastructure, decommission redundant tools, and drive modern efficiency across systems
Maintain clear communication channels to provide leadership visibility into project roadmaps, resource allocation, and initiative progress

Operations & Support

Maintain resilient networking infrastructure, targeting high uptime and proactively eliminating single points of failure across corporate and manufacturing locations
Oversee plant-floor technology systems across 4 facilities, including custom pick-to-light platforms, WMS, timekeeping systems, and access controls
Manage end-to-end hardware lifecycles for corporate laptops, plant-floor kiosks, scanning equipment, and network hardware from procurement through retirement
Implement robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions for both corporate staff and plant-floor teams
Oversee responsive helpdesk services, including structured on-call and off-hours support
Partner with operational teams to plan, install, and validate technology for facility expansions and new site launches

Enterprise System Management

Maintain, integrate, and optimize key enterprise platforms (e.g., NetSuite, Google Workspace, Kronos, ADP, Concur, Greenhouse)
Act as a technical advisor to cross-functional leaders during the evaluation, selection, and rollout of new software applications
Oversee IT-specific spend within the enterprise software budget and negotiate vendor contracts
Drive SaaS governance to eliminate license sprawl and optimize software spend
Expand cross-platform automations and workflow optimizations (experience with Workato is a plus)

Security & Privacy

Develop, maintain, and enforce cybersecurity policies, Zero Trust controls, Incident Response (IR) protocols, and Disaster Recovery (DR) plans
Collaborate with Kroger’s corporate IT security team to ensure Home Chef systems adhere to enterprise security and compliance standards
Conduct periodic vulnerability assessments, system audits, and penetration testing across corporate and plant environments
Monitor changing data privacy regulations and partner with legal to maintain operational compliance

Team Management

Mentor, coach, and support professional growth for a team of IT administrators and support staff