Director, Strategic Initiatives - Arby's

Inspire•Atlanta, GA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Strategic Initiatives & Performance serves as a strategic partner to Arby’s Chief Operating Officer and Arby’s Senior Leadership Team, setting the operations agenda, translating performance into action, and connecting the organization to deliver measurable business results. This role is responsible for converting the Operations Strategy and brand priorities into a focused portfolio of work with clear accountabilities, milestones, and outcomes. The Director owns the operations performance fact base, integrating restaurant operations, guest, sales, and financial data to identify performance gaps, opportunities, trends, and root causes. The role advances restaurant economics, establishes performance measures and operating cadences, governs the operations portfolio, and coordinates cross-functional execution and change across Franchise Operations, Restaurant Experience, Development, Finance, Data & Analytics, Technology, Marketing, Supply Chain, and other shared-service partners. The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking, strong business and financial acumen, analytical rigor, operational understanding, cross-functional leadership, and executive communication skills to improve restaurant economics, accelerate decision-making, and ensure Arby's Operations priorities deliver their intended business outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, Operations, Finance, Management, Strategy, or related field required
10+ years of experience in strategy, operations, business transformation, consulting, project management, or related fields
Proven ability to translate strategy and complex performance data into clear priorities, recommendations, and action
Strong business and financial acumen, including experience with restaurant or unit-level economics, profitability, and investment decisions
Demonstrated experience developing KPIs, scorecards, dashboards, business cases, and executive-level performance insights
Proven success leading complex cross-functional initiatives, governance processes, and organizational change
Ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders and drive results without direct authority
Exceptional analytical thinking, executive communication, prioritization, and problem-solving skills; experience in a franchise or multi-unit operating environment preferred

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced Degree

Responsibilities

Translate Arby's Operations Strategy and brand priorities into a focused portfolio of initiatives, clear accountabilities, milestones, and measurable outcomes
Establish and monitor KPIs, scorecards, targets, and success measures that connect restaurant execution, guest experience, and business performance
Lead Operations strategic planning, annual planning, leadership reviews, and operating cadences that focus the organization on the highest-value opportunities
Identify performance gaps, emerging opportunities, and root causes using operational, guest, sales, and financial insights
Translate performance insights and strategic priorities into actionable plans and clear recommendations for Operations leadership
Drive accountability against commitments, outcomes, and the business case for strategic priorities
Support emerging business priorities and strategic decisions as directed by the COO
Own the Operations performance fact base by integrating restaurant operations, guest, sales, and financial data into a clear view of business performance
Develop actionable insights into sales, traffic, labor productivity, COGS, controllables, capital investment, four-wall profitability, and franchisee returns
Partner with Finance and Data & Analytics to develop reliable scorecards, dashboards, analyses, and decision-support tools
Identify performance trends, outliers, and root causes and translate findings into targeted actions for Franchise Operations and Restaurant Experience
Develop business cases and economic assessments that inform prioritization, investment decisions, and strategic initiatives
Measure initiative performance and determine whether intended operational and financial outcomes are being achieved
Continuously improve the quality, accessibility, and actionability of Operations performance insights
Own governance for the Operations portfolio, including prioritization, StageGate, key milestones, decisions, risks, dependencies, and outcomes
Establish clear operating rhythms that provide leadership visibility to strategic priorities, performance, and required decisions
Ensure resources and organizational capacity are focused on the highest-impact work and recommend tradeoffs when priorities compete
Coordinate cross-functional execution of major Operations initiatives from concept through implementation and measurement
Lead change planning with field and support teams to drive effective implementation, adoption, and sustained execution
Measure post-launch results and use learnings to improve future priorities and implementation approaches
Serve as a strategic advisor and business-performance thought partner to the COO and Operations leadership team
Provide concise insights, recommendations, business cases, executive presentations, and visibility to progress against strategic priorities
Connect performance data and field insights to leadership decisions, resource allocation, and Operations priorities
Create mechanisms for tracking key commitments, risks, decisions, and business outcomes
Ensure alignment across Franchise Operations, Restaurant Experience, and critical shared-service partners
Lead the Operations integration with Development to connect restaurant performance, franchisee health, asset strategy, and growth decisions
Coordinate Operations input into new restaurant development, remodels, portfolio optimization, ownership transitions, and other development priorities
Provide centralized coordination for franchisee services and recurring system-level issues that require cross-functional resolution
Capture franchisee and field learnings and translate them into broader Operations priorities, solutions, and process improvements
Build change management and adoption plans into strategic initiatives from the beginning rather than treating implementation as a final step
Partner with Franchise Operations and Restaurant Experience to ensure solutions are effectively translated into field execution
Establish feedback loops that measure adoption, effectiveness, business impact, and opportunities for improvement
Use performance results and field feedback to continuously refine the Operations portfolio and inform the next priority
Help foster a culture of accountability, fact-based decision-making, continuous improvement, and operational excellence
Collaborate closely with Franchise Operations, Restaurant Experience, Finance, Data & Analytics, Development, Technology, Marketing, Supply Chain, Communications, People, Training, and other shared-service teams
Build strong relationships across Arby’s, Inspire shared services, and the franchise system
Influence decisions and drive measurable outcomes across functions without direct authority
Serve as the connector between strategy, restaurant performance, solution development, and field execution
Facilitate alignment across stakeholders to accelerate decisions, resolve barriers, and deliver successful implementation