What does a nutrition director do?
A Nutrition Director directs and supervises all aspects of an organization's nutrition guidelines and initiatives. They also ensure the provision of safe, nutritious food services to members of organizations.
Nutrition director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nutrition director resumes:
- Manage the WIC budget and execute budget amendments for the fiscal year.
- Manage food allergies and special diets by providing nutritious alternatives and creating student-specific menus.
- Ensure all menus meet USDA requirements.
- Enter all MDS forms need for facility.
- Cater to even the most severe allergies and intolerances.
- Develop and revise processes and forms for screening, assessment, MDS reviews and other nutrition interventions.
- Provide nutritional support to tracheotomy patients in ventilator unit to maintain optimum nutrition level.
- Specialize in clients with uncontrol diabetes, post gastric bypass, uncontrol hypertension & hypercholesterolemia.
- Complete nutritional assessments and implement customized dietary care plans for residents through educational efforts with patients and their families.
- Open a new LTC facility.
Nutrition director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 22% of Nutrition Directors are proficient in Patients, Nutrition Services, and Menu Planning. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Technical skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Nutrition Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 22%
Completed nutritional assessments and implemented customized dietary care plans for residents through educational efforts with patients and their families.
- Nutrition Services, 8%
Coordinate nutrition services and nutrition/health education for clients.
- Menu Planning, 6%
Have completed classes for menu planning and food requirements.
- Food Safety, 5%
Implemented and enforced food safety and sanitation policies and procedures.
- Nutrition Education, 5%
Job responsibilities consisted of developing nutritional care plans and nutrition education programs for acute and chronic conditions.
- Patient Satisfaction, 4%
Managed nutrition staff and developed strategies that significantly improved patient satisfaction scores.
Most nutrition directors use their skills in "patients," "nutrition services," and "menu planning" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential nutrition director responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a nutrition director to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "medical and health services managers review and evaluate healthcare metrics for ways to improve efficiency and meet goals." Nutrition directors often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "educate and train staff on hazard analysis and critical control points (haccp) principles and application guidelines. "
Technical skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling nutrition director duties is technical skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "medical and health services managers must stay up to date with advances in healthcare technology, such as the coding and electronic health record (ehr) systems their facility adopts." According to a nutrition director resume, here's how nutrition directors can utilize technical skills in their job responsibilities: "provide technical assistance to other schools in arkansas that are with the company. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for nutrition directors to perform their duties. For an example of how nutrition director responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "medical and health services managers must convey information to their staff, other healthcare workers, and, sometimes, patients and insurance agents." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nutrition director: "instituted monthly resident feedback meetings to enhance communication and resident satisfaction. ".
Detail oriented. A big part of what nutrition directors do relies on "detail oriented." You can see how essential it is to nutrition director responsibilities because "medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical nutrition director tasks: "oriented new staff and provided continuing education on policies and procedures to dietary/ food service staff and interdisciplinary care team. "
Leadership skills. Another common skill required for nutrition director responsibilities is "leadership skills." This skill comes up in the duties of nutrition directors all the time, as "medical and health services managers hire, train, and direct staff." An excerpt from a real nutrition director resume shows how this skill is central to what a nutrition director does: "provide leadership in food preparation and equipment safety. "
The three companies that hire the most nutrition directors are:
- Compass Group USA5 nutrition directors jobs
- The Coca-Cola Company2 nutrition directors jobs
- Optimum Nutrition2 nutrition directors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable nutrition director resume templates
Build a professional nutrition director resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your nutrition director resume.
Compare different nutrition directors
Nutrition director vs. Director of professional services
A director of professional services is responsible for evaluating and improving the professional services offered by the firm. Directors of professional services assess the operational processes and systems to ensure high-quality outputs and deliverables. They review contracts for project requirements and specifications and design strategic techniques to achieve goals and objectives within the budget limitations and agreed timetables. A director of professional services must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially in directing the project team for project solutions.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nutrition director responsibilities require skills like "nutrition services," "menu planning," "food safety," and "nutrition education." Meanwhile a typical director of professional services has skills in areas such as "healthcare," "client facing," "software development," and "business development." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Directors of professional services tend to reach similar levels of education than nutrition directors. In fact, directors of professional services are 3.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Nutrition director vs. Director of clinical operations
A director of clinical operations is responsible for monitoring the overall operations of a clinic facility, ensuring the efficiency of staff performance in providing the best quality care services for the patients. Directors of clinical operations enforce safety guidelines and security procedures during operations for everyone's strict compliance to prevent hazards and unforeseen circumstances within the premises. They also assist in clinical trials, as well as reviewing medical procedures, recommending strategic plans to improve medical approaches. A director of clinical operations handles the clinic budget, allocates adequate resources for every department's needs, and tracks medical inventory reports.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real nutrition director resumes. While nutrition director responsibilities can utilize skills like "nutrition services," "menu planning," "food safety," and "nutrition education," directors of clinical operations use skills like "clinical operations," "healthcare," "gcp," and "project management."
In general, directors of clinical operations achieve similar levels of education than nutrition directors. They're 2.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nutrition director vs. Director, network operations
As a network operations director, you will be responsible for overseeing the availability and overall performance of a company's network. You will perform varied tasks that include analyzing the network and recommending changes or upgrades, ensuring compliance to best practices, promoting continuous information operations, and overseeing other technical resources. A network operations director is expected to provide expertise in networking and operating system and project management. You are responsible for managing all vendor-related support contracts for software, hardware, and connectivity.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from nutrition director resumes include skills like "patients," "nutrition services," "menu planning," and "food safety," whereas a director, network operations is more likely to list skills in "network management," "network development," "san," and "direct reports. "
When it comes to education, directors, network operations tend to earn similar degree levels compared to nutrition directors. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Nutrition director vs. Director of health services
A Director Of Health Services is responsible for evaluating and supervising the overall activities for health maintenance and promotion of a health department. They are also responsible for budgeting, procurement, and requisition of biological supplies and equipment.
Types of nutrition director
Updated January 8, 2025
