Wine Director
Company Background
The Standard is one of the most culturally engaged hotels in the world. Hotels with real cultural life, an inclusive spirit and true creative attitude. A destination layered with events and amusements that leaves you with an uplifted feeling.
The Standard's irreverent and playful sensibility, combined with a careful consideration of design, detail and service, have established its reputation as a pioneer of hospitality, travel, dining, nightlife, and beyond. The Standard hotels are known for their taste-making clientele, their pioneering design, and their unrelenting un-Standard-ness.
Mission Statement
To create experience by embracing and empowering a diverse collective of team members, collaborators, and guests, who choose to call The Standard home.
Our Purpose
The Standard’s commitment is to being an anchor for each neighbourhood in which we reside as well as a platform for culture and creativity. Bringing people together in its spaces to interact with each other in genuine ways.
Our promise is to ensure that a stay is an experience and that a memory means making friends and having stories to tell. To understand why it exists, is to understand that The Standard, is a platform for people to meet, to engage, to learn, to dine, to sleep, to dance, to hideaway, to make believe and to do so whilst being yourself and having fun doing it.
We think of ourselves as a stage, not just a hotel. Here, you can become whomever you like, even if for just a night. Here, you will meet new friends, find new challenges, eat new food, stay up late, sleep in later, and at times, never even leave the property. We are unapologetically comfortable with disrupting expectations. It’s WHO WE ARE!
#StandardFamily
Job Title: Wine Director
Department: Food and Beverage
Location: The Standard, High Line
Reporting to: Director of Food & Beverage
Responsible for: All FOH and BOH staff, Sommelier, Wine Stewards
Job Overview: The Wine Director is the driving force behind our property’s wine culture, bringing expertise, creativity, and a floor-first approach. This role blends curation, education, and cost control with a heavy presence during peak service periods, ensuring guests and staff alike are immersed in a dynamic and engaging wine experience. While this is a property-wide position, the Grill is the main stage—where strategies are tested, sales are driven, and our wine program takes the spotlight.
Main Duties & Responsibilities:
Service Leadership
- Be highly visible and hands-on during peak service times, engaging with guests, guiding pairings, and driving energy on the floor.
- Partner with servers to upsell and maximize wine sales while creating interactive, memorable moments for guests.
- Serve as the go-to “wine personality” on property, making wine approachable, fun, and woven into the guest experience.
Wine Program & Curation
- Curate, maintain, and evolve the property-wide wine list, with an emphasis on The Standard Grill as the flagship program.
- Create playful, surprising, and thoughtful selections that reflect the brand’s identity while balancing profitability.
- Develop seasonal wine features, pairings, and activations to keep offerings fresh and exciting.
Sales Strategy & Education
- Build and implement strategies to increase wine sales across all outlets, with Grill as the primary focus.
- Lead regular trainings, pre-shifts, and tastings to educate and inspire staff, making them confident wine storytellers.
- Design and execute fun, interactive programming (tastings, winemaker events, competitions, etc.) to boost engagement and revenue.
Cost Control & Inventory
- Partner with the Food & Beverage Cost Controller to monitor, manage, and optimize wine costs.
- Maintain accurate inventory, streamline ordering, and minimize variances.
- Develop systems for reporting, accountability, and strategic purchasing to ensure margins align with budget targets.
Collaboration & Culture
- Work closely with the Beverage Director on broader property strategies and activations.
- Collaborate with outlet managers and chefs to craft pairings and integrate wine into the culinary narrative.
- Foster a culture where wine is part of the fun—approachable, engaging, and profitable.
Qualifications
- Strong background in wine curation, service, and education
- High level sommelier certification (WSET level 3 or equivalent)
- Demonstrated ability to drive sales and control costs in a high-volume environment.
- Exceptional floor presence with strong communication and guest-engagement skills.
- Experience in developing and executing creative wine programs for multi-outlet operations.
- Passion for making wine approachable, fun, and a central part of the dining experience.
Success in This Role Looks Like
- The Grill consistently outperforms in wine sales while maintaining cost targets.
- Team members are confident, educated, and actively selling wine with enthusiasm.
- Guests leave remembering not just the meal, but the wine experience.
- The wine program evolves seasonally, stays exciting, and reflects The Standard’s playful DNA.
Compensation
- $80,000 - $90,000 annual salary
- Annual Bonus Incentive
o Requirements:
- Wine Sales must increase compared to Prior Year in The Standard Grill
- Wine Sales' portion of the overall Food & Beverage P-Mix must not decrease in The Standard Grill
- Wine Cost may not exceed 27% Quarterly, and must work in tandem as to not skew the overall Beverage Cost above budget each month (in all outlets)
o Bonus: 3% of the Net Increase on Wine Sales in The Standard Grill compared to prior year.
- Excellent and Affordable Health care coverage
- Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Pet Insurance
- 401k
- 160 hours of PTO / year and Company recognized holidays
- Employee Discounts on Rooms, F&B, Retail, and The Standard Marketplace
- Employee Meals, Employee Referral Program, Commuter Discounts
- Regular fun staff events and celebrations!!!