Director AI Strategy & Transformation

Yum!•Plano, TX

2h•$195,200 - $243,900

About The Position

This role leads Yum!’s enterprise-wide AI strategy, driving adoption, innovation, and transformation across brands and functions. The Director oversees the AI Academy, advances AI-first enablement, and guides the development of scalable AI solutions to enhance productivity, operational efficiency, and business performance. Working closely with executive leadership and cross-functional teams, the role shapes AI investment priorities, champions responsible AI adoption, and delivers measurable business impact. The Director owns enterprise AI adoption and enablement, including the AI Academy, learning curriculum and platform, adoption analytics, AI champion community, enterprise agent strategy, and rapid enablement of new capabilities. The role also leads the development of proprietary AI agents and automation systems, identifying priority workflows and tracking their business impact. As Yum!’s senior internal AI transformation expert, the Director owns annual and multiyear AI roadmaps, advises the CTO, CIO, and CDO, and represents the enterprise AI function in executive decision forums. The position manages and develops three direct reports.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in AI, digital transformation, product leadership, or related fields.
Demonstrated ability to lead complex, enterprise-scale transformation programs involving ambiguity and cross-functional interdependencies.
Experience managing and developing teams, including direct leadership responsibility.
Strong ability to define strategy, structure complex problems, and execute at scale through diverse cross-functional teams.
Expertise evaluating AI technologies, governing risk, and driving safe, responsible AI adoption.
Exceptional communication and influencing skills, including the ability to engage C-suite leaders and guide strategic decision-making.
Deep understanding of AI platforms, emerging technologies, enterprise security, and compliance frameworks.
Bachelor’s degree required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Experience building enablement programs, learning platforms, or automation systems.

Responsibilities

Lead Yum!’s enterprise-wide AI Academy and evolve it into a strategic transformation engine that improves AI readiness, maturity, and capability across brands and functions.
Own the strategy, design, and evolution of the AI curriculum, with measurable behavior change, productivity improvement, and enterprise value creation.
Direct the AI learning platform roadmap and execution with engineering and design teams, building a scalable, intuitive, and gamified platform.
Establish analytics architecture, measurement standards, dashboards, and KPIs for AI adoption to inform executive decisions.
Drive enterprise AI adoption targets for Above Restaurant Leaders and remain accountable for outcomes affecting operational performance and transformation readiness.
Build and lead a global community of AI champions and practitioners to support change management across markets and functions.
Partner with Learning, AI, Data, Analytics, and brand leadership to embed AI tools and workflows into operations.
Manage and develop three direct reports and ensure the AI Adoption team delivers strategic and operational excellence.
Evaluate emerging AI technologies, model releases, platform capabilities, and ecosystem changes to identify enterprise transformation opportunities.
Own the enterprise AI enablement roadmap, aligning technology opportunities with strategic priorities, business needs, and brand requirements.
Shape the enterprise agent strategy and operating model so business and technology teams can build, deploy, and reuse agentic AI solutions.
Lead cross-functional rapid enablement with cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, legal, engineering, and AI teams to activate new capabilities securely and compliantly.
Define and govern standardized frameworks to assess AI technology feasibility, risk, compliance, business impact, and readiness.
Promote an AI-first culture by equipping leaders with guidance, guardrails, and tools to deploy AI capabilities safely and quickly.
Own enterprise technology risk related to AI enablement and ensure alignment with global security, governance, and compliance standards.
Lead multidisciplinary teams to develop proprietary autonomous agents and AI-driven automation systems for mission-critical workflows.
Own the strategy for internally built AI solutions that improve operational efficiency, margins, decision quality, and enterprise speed.
Identify and prioritize enterprise workflows and pain points with executive and functional leaders, translating them into scalable AI products.
Partner with functional leaders on AI transformation roadmaps, priority workflow redesign, implementation ownership, and productivity targets.
Define success metrics, monitor business impact, and continuously optimize proprietary AI systems.
Balance innovation with risk and guide development of systems that operate safely within Yum!’s global technology and compliance environment.
Own Yum!’s enterprise AI strategy and annual and multiyear roadmaps, aligning priorities across brands and functions and guiding investment decisions.
Lead the enterprise C-level AI agenda with executive leadership, shaping long-term strategy, investment priorities, transformation milestones, and governance.
Advise the CTO, CIO, and CDO on AI innovation, enterprise adoption maturity, enablement challenges, and competitive opportunities.
Deliver executive-level storytelling, insights, and recommendations to guide decisions across brands and corporate teams.
Ensure alignment across technology, operations, finance, brand leadership, and global digital strategy.
Represent the enterprise AI function in high-stakes decision forums and help shape policies, risk posture, and operational readiness for AI adoption at scale.