Job Description
Department Overview
The U.S. Technology Support team minimizes disruption to restaurant operations and proactively delivers support with speed, clarity, and convenience across approximately 14,000 U.S. locations, spanning franchise and company-owned models, every daypart, every market.
We are looking for a Director to lead Restaurant Technology Support for the U.S. Market. This is a senior leader who can define the strategy of support, drive the transition from reactive to proactive operations, lead the evolution of the Helpdesk in the AI era, and bring the operational rigor required to monitor, measure, and drive performance in a 24x7 environment.
This is a strategic leadership role that requires equal credibility in setting direction with senior leadership and leading major incident response under pressure. The Director will lead a team of senior managers, hold global service desk vendors accountable to their commitments, partner closely with franchise operators and field technology teams, and operate as a peer across U.S. and Global Technology.
Duties
Strategy & Vision
• Define and execute a multi-year strategy for U.S. Restaurant Technology Support, transitioning from reactive to proactive and predictive operations
• Lead the Helpdesk vision, integrating AI, automation, observability, and self-service to reduce demand and improve experience
• Translate strategy into a clear, funded, and executable roadmap aligned with leadership priorities
Major Incident & Problem Management
• Lead major incident management, ensuring timely resolution, clear executive communication, and structured post-incident reviews
• Drive end-to-end problem management, identifying root causes and implementing systemic fixes with measurable impact
• Act as the senior escalation point for critical support issues
Helpdesk Operations & Performance
• Oversee daily support operations, ensuring SLA adherence and high service quality
• Define and track key KPIs (MTTR, repeat incidents, call drivers, first-contact resolution) to drive performance
• Ensure effective knowledge management and agent readiness
• Align support readiness with business cycles, launches, and peak periods
AI & Future Capability
• Lead implementation of AI-driven capabilities (predictive detection, automated resolution, intelligent triage) to improve efficiency and reduce support volume
• Evolve the Helpdesk into a proactive and self-healing support model
• Drive adoption of digital/self-service channels to improve experience and reduce demand
Vendor Management
• Manage performance of service desk and third-party vendors, ensuring accountability across SLAs and KPIs
• Stabilize ongoing service desk transitions and enhance vendor capabilities
• Continuously assess and improve vendor performance through data-driven insights
Executive Communication & Stakeholder Management
• Communicate complex technical issues clearly to senior leadership, enabling informed decisions
• Build strong relationships with franchise owners and cross-functional stakeholders
• Partner across tech, operations, and product teams to influence upstream decisions
People Leadership & Talent Development
• Lead and develop a team of senior managers, focusing on performance, growth, and succession planning
• Drive accountability, clear expectations, and high-performance culture
• Build team capability and independence, ensuring long-term organizational strength
Qualifications
- 10+ years leading technology operations, support, or service management, with at least 5 years in a director or equivalent leadership role
- Proven leadership of 24x7 operations at national or global scale, with direct accountability for technology outcomes across 1,000+ multi-site field locations in retail, restaurant, hospitality, or distributed field operations
- End-to-end ownership of a large-scale service desk transformation, including vendor transitions, platform migrations, and hypercare operations
- Demonstrated experience leading production AI deployments in a support context, such as intelligent triage, predictive analytics, automated resolution, or agent assist, with measurable business outcomes
- Experience developing multi-year technology roadmaps for support functions, translating operational data and business strategy into sequenced, funded, and executable plans
- Deep experience managing outsourced service providers in global operating models, including SLA governance, performance management, and contract accountability
- Familiarity with observability, monitoring, and incident management tools such as New Relic, Datadog, ServiceNow, JIRA, and Confluence, and visual reporting tools including PowerBI
- Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with franchise or operator communities, with an understanding of how technology performance translates to business impact
- Proven track record of developing leaders, with specific examples of people coached, promoted, or prepared for greater responsibility
- Demonstrated ability to address underperformance directly and early, without dependence on HR to initiate the process
- Exceptional executive communication skills, able to translate complex technical situations into clear business narratives and adapt in real time to senior audiences
- Demonstrated bias toward action and a proactive posture, surfacing issues, making decisions under uncertainty, and driving outcomes independently
- Strong understanding of ITSM principles applied pragmatically in complex operational environments
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field
Compensation
Bonus Eligible: Yes
Long - Term Incentive: Yes
Benefits Eligible: Yes
Salary Range
The expected salary range for this role is $168,212.00 - $210,265.00 per year
The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors.