Director, Software Engineering

McDonald's Corporation • Chicago, IL

11d • $195,371 - $244,214

About The Position

The Director, Software Engineering - POS Modernization is a key leadership role in McDonald’s Restaurant Technology organization, reporting to the Senior Director, Software Engineering. The role defines and drives the architecture, engineering strategy, and technical vision for a next-generation Point-of-Sale platform intended for adoption across global markets.

The Director establishes a scalable, resilient, secure, and highly available platform to support McDonald’s evolving business needs and innovation roadmap. This includes defining long-term technical strategy and architecture and leading a complex modernization effort that transforms legacy capabilities into a modern, cloud-connected platform.

The role leads and develops cross-functional engineering teams that include internal engineers, engineering managers, architects, quality engineering professionals, and external delivery partners. Working with Product Management, Architecture, Platform Engineering, Security, and market stakeholders, the Director aligns teams and technology decisions and ensures global-scale solutions meet operational, performance, reliability, security, and maintainability needs.

As a senior technology leader and trusted advisor, the Director represents POS Modernization across Restaurant Technology, Operations, Consumer, and other business functions, and champions adoption and operational excellence in global markets. The role also manages product and platform investments, budgets, vendor relationships, and resource planning. McDonald’s describes its benefits as including health and welfare coverage, a sabbatical program, tuition assistance, and flexible work arrangements. This position is bonus-eligible and eligible for a long-term incentive.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of progressive software engineering experience, including hands-on technical leadership in software development, platform architecture, distributed systems, and large-scale enterprise application delivery.
• At least 7 years of experience leading high-performing engineering organizations in Agile environments, including management of engineering managers, architects, engineers, quality engineering teams, and external delivery partners.
• Proven experience defining and executing technology strategies, modernization initiatives, and architectural roadmaps for mission-critical platforms and products.
• Strong expertise in software architecture, cloud-native technologies, scalability, resiliency, security, performance optimization, and operational excellence.
• Experience partnering with Product Management, Architecture, Security, Data & Analytics, Operations, and business stakeholders in complex global matrix organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to build, develop, mentor, and retain high-performing engineering teams while fostering innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Experience leading complex software implementations, deployments, and product rollouts across multiple regions, markets, and stakeholder groups.
• Strong business and financial acumen, including experience managing engineering budgets, vendor partnerships, technology investments, and resource planning.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and executive presence, with the ability to influence and align technical and non-technical audiences at all organizational levels.
• Strong analytical, strategic-thinking, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to navigate ambiguity, make informed decisions, and drive outcomes.
• Impact-oriented leadership style and ability to establish a compelling vision, create organizational alignment, and inspire teams to deliver measurable business results.
• Willingness and ability to embody McDonald’s values: Serve, Inclusion, Integrity, Community, and Family.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, GCP, or AWS; microservices architectures; APIs; event-driven systems; and modern engineering practices.
• Experience managing globally distributed teams and strategic vendor relationships.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field; a master’s degree is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture reviews, technical design decisions, and end-to-end solution delivery for a resilient, extensible platform serving global market needs.
• Build, lead, and develop high-performing engineering teams, including internal engineers, quality engineering resources, architects, and strategic delivery partners.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards, software development best practices, and architectural principles covering modularity, maintainability, scalability, observability, and operational excellence.
• Define and uphold quality standards, non-functional requirements, and program-wide acceptance criteria for reliability, performance, security, and availability.
• Own technology governance, security compliance, data integrity, and risk management practices across the platform, protecting sensitive customer, restaurant, and business data.
• Drive modernization initiatives while balancing innovation, technical debt reduction, platform stability, and delivery commitments.
• Manage product and platform investments, budgets, vendor relationships, and resource planning, with a focus on business value and return on investment.
• Serve as the senior technology leader and trusted advisor for POS Modernization, influence enterprise technology strategy, and represent the platform across business and technology functions.
• Champion platform adoption and operational excellence across global markets to support restaurant operations, crew experiences, and business growth.
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Health and welfare benefits, including medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental, and vision coverage, as well as life insurance.
• Sabbatical program.
• Tuition assistance.
• Flexible work arrangements.
• Bonus eligible.
• Long-term incentive eligible.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed