Director, Solution Readiness

McDonald's Corporation•Chicago, IL

4d•$178,121 - $222,651

About The Position

McDonald’s growth strategy, Accelerating the Arches, encompasses all aspects of our business as the leading global omni-channel restaurant brand. As the consumer landscape shifts we are using our competitive advantages to further strengthen our brand. One of our core growth strategies is to Double Down on the 3Ds (Delivery, Digital and Drive Thru). McDonald’s will accelerate technology innovation so 65M+ customers a day will experience a fast, easy experience, whether at one of our 25,000 and growing Drive thrus, through McDelivery, dine-in or takeaway.  McDonald’s Global Technology is here to power tomorrow’s feel-good moments.   That’s why you’ll find us at the forefront of transformative technology, exploring new and innovative ways to serve our millions of customers and spread happiness one delicious Hot Fudge Sundae-dipped fry at a time. Using AI, robotics and emerging tech, we’re digitizing the Golden Arches. Combine that with our unparalleled global scale, and we’re reshaping all areas of the business, industry and every community that is home to a McDonald’s restaurant. We face complex tech challenges every day. But that’s where our diverse and talented teams come in. They’re made up of the best and brightest from all over the globe, and they thrive in the space where feel-good meets fast-paced.   Check out the McDonald’s  Global Technology Technical Blog to learn how technology and our global team are directly enabling the Accelerating the Arches strategy.  Department OverviewThis opportunity is part of the US Technology Solution Readiness team. Our mission is to deliver limitless technology solutions that make dining convenient and delightful. We enable Crew, Managers, and Owner Operators to Run Great Restaurants. Our technology supports all 13,500+ US restaurants and helps restaurant teams serve millions of customers daily. The US Solution Readiness Director leads consumer platform technology supporting one of the largest mobile ordering, delivery, and dedication platforms worldwide. The Director manages long-term roadmaps, rolling planning, and current releases of consumer platform products. They ensure these efforts align with McDonald’s Global Technology strategic goals. Although the primary focus is on US customers, a global perspective is essential to develop enterprise solutions and benefit from McDonald’s unparalleled global scale. Collaborating with global product owners, vendors, and architects, the Director advises on crucial build, architectural, and functional decisions to meet customer needs. The Director is also a people leader for solution readiness managers and business technical analysts and is the owner of implementation decisions for the products. The ideal candidate will be results and measurement driven, an outstanding communicator, and exhibit teamwork and influencing skills that foster a collaborative and continuous improvement environment. The successful candidate will also be recognized for their ability to attract and develop top talent for the leadership pipeline. Key collaborators include US Owner Operators, internal business areas such as Digital Customer Experience, Operations, Marketing, Global Technology, Legal, and many others. Close partnership and active management of strategic technology vendors is critical to success.

Requirements

Experienced technology leader with 10+ years of hands-on development, cross-functional project/program management, and deployment experience with insights into the latest technology trends
Demonstrated success leading large product and project teams through effective planning, communication, presentation, and execution
Experience partnering with team members in a large global matrix org structure
Solid understanding of the software development life cycle, agile methodologies, and proficient in project management guidelines
Strong ability to convey ideas clearly in writing and speech across all levels of the organization
Aligns across collaborators and exhibits a strong level of decisiveness in a timely manner
Previous experience with mobile apps, ordering and payment technology, 3rd party delivery integration, dedication programs, and understanding of the supporting business processes
Experience with crafting and driving testing strategies for functional, integration, and performance testing
Experience working on large complex projects that span multiple years and geographies
Experience developing solutions that provide high levels of resilience and scale
Experience leading technical priorities and driving strategic architectural initiatives
Strong ability to convey complex technical concepts clearly and bring the organization into agreement with collaborators of varying expertise levels
Active coach and mentor whose goal is to grow and improve team members’ potential
Ability to synthesize information and communicate effectively to a broad range of partners
Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology or Business with related experience, MBA a plus

Nice To Haves

AWS and GCP certifications a plus

Responsibilities

Improving the value of US Technology products throughout the entire product lifecycle
Influencing and maintaining a product roadmap that encompasses US market requests and global central initiatives
Ensuring alignment of product roadmaps with the US strategy and, where applicable, Global Technology Product roadmaps and vendor roadmap
Leading the development activities required to deploy product and feature activations
Driving alignment and resolving dependencies between engineering, solution readiness, deployment, and support teams
Partner with Owner Operators on the Technology Board to drive strategic alignment
Partner with collaborators in Marketing and Operations to ensure business needs are met
Collaborate with Global Technology teams to co-create global consumer platform solutions
Defining business and technical requirements, standards, and vendor SLAs
Coordinating product and service vendors to guarantee business needs and SLAs are achieved
Leading testing and QA strategy, vendor coordination, and pilot & Beta testing activities
Ensuring overarching financial responsibility and leading annual budgeting for all products within the portfolio
Evaluating the economic viability, high-level argument, and funding model for current and future capabilities
Responsible for product integration with US specific technologies and restaurant implementation
Understand technical interdependencies and collaborates with other systems and products
Establish standard methodologies for identifying, analyzing and managing technical risks.
Responsible for testing strategy and the quality of the outputs of the internal/external development teams
Ensure processes are in place to support the 24x7 operational needs of these technologies
Provide people leadership for team members, professional development, and career pathing