Director, Budget & Agency Operations

McDonald's Corporation • Chicago, IL

15d • $168,000 - $210,000

About The Position

The Director leads marketing investment, resource prioritization, and agency management across national and local marketing. The role provides an enterprise-wide view of priorities, funding, resources, and dependencies, connecting strategy to execution by clarifying trade-offs, sequencing decisions, and directing resources to priority needs.

The Director aligns marketing resources and investments with priorities, identifies risks and gaps, and recommends funding shifts to maximize system results. The role directs national G&A, SIM, and OPNAD marketing program budgets, identifies cost savings and efficiencies, develops investment narratives with Marketing Performance teams, and presents budget results, ROI, financial results, and agency performance to marketing leadership and stakeholders.

The role aligns agency scope, capacity, and compensation with priorities, improves agency performance and accountability, and leads national and local agency sourcing and selection with Global Sourcing. It also leads cross-functional workstreams to connect marketing strategy, investment, resources, and execution; builds relationships with owner-operators, marketing leaders, and agency partners; and partners with Finance and SIP teams on annual sales projections for OPNAD budget planning.

The position has direct responsibility for one Manager and develops talent across direct and indirect reporting lines. The expected salary range is $168,000 to $210,000 per year. The role is eligible for a bonus and long-term incentives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or Business Administration.
• 8–10 years of experience in marketing operations, general management, finance, or agency management.
• Proven experience leading a large investment portfolio, agency sourcing and/or financial management activities.
• Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders and drive strategic initiatives.
• Broad understanding of integrated marketing strategy and execution.
• Ability to synthesize complex work into an enterprise-wide view.
• Ability to drive prioritization across senior, cross-functional stakeholders and build trusted relationships with owner-operators.
• Strong financial acumen, including experience in budget and fee management, and disciplined attention to detail.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or advanced degree.

Responsibilities

• Align marketing resources and investments with priorities, identify risks and gaps, and recommend funding shifts to maximize system results.
• Direct national G&A, SIM, and OPNAD marketing program budgets, aligning spending with financial goals.
• Identify cost savings and efficiencies while maximizing marketing effectiveness; partner with Marketing Performance teams to build the investment narrative.
• Present budget versus actuals, ROI, financial results, and agency performance to marketing leadership and stakeholders, and recommend investment priorities and scenarios for senior management decisions.
• Optimize agency scopes, deliverables, and compensation to reduce duplication, improve efficiency, and strengthen performance.
• Evolve agency compensation and pay-for-performance models against industry standards.
• Assess agency metrics and develop performance and fee analyses for internal and owner-operator audiences.
• Lead national and local agency sourcing and selection with Global Sourcing; manage RFP/RFI processes and align selections with organizational needs and marketing objectives.
• Lead cross-functional workstreams that align marketing investments with strategy; influence stakeholders through storytelling and data-driven insights.
• Build strategic relationships with owner-operators, functional marketing leads, and agency partners.
• Partner with national and local marketing leadership to align agency work with marketing objectives, financial goals, and budget constraints.
• Partner with Finance and SIP teams on annual sales projections for OPNAD budget planning.
• Develop talent across direct and indirect reporting lines, with direct responsibility for one Manager.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health insurance, including medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Life insurance.
• Bonus eligibility based on individual and company performance.
• Long-term incentive eligibility, including stock or other equity grants pursuant to McDonald’s long-term incentive plan.
• Sabbatical program.
• Tuition assistance.
• Flexible work arrangements.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director