Manager, Digital Strategy & Innovation

Yum!•Irvine, CA

8h•$137,900 - $158,100•Hybrid

About The Position

Digital at Taco Bell is no longer just about showing up in channels - it’s about shaping how fans experience the brand at every moment, across every touchpoint. As Manager of Digital Strategy & Innovation, you will lead the transformation of digital from a campaign support function into an enterprise growth engine - defining how we connect with fans, unlock new revenue streams, and build experiences that extend far beyond the transaction. Reporting to the Director of Digital Strategy & Innovation, this role owns driving enterprise-level digital strategy, setting the vision for how brand platforms come to life across CRM, Merchandising (App/Web/Kiosk), Loyalty, Delivery, and emerging ecosystems. You will move fluidly from strategy to execution to system-building, ensuring that every initiative ladders up to a cohesive, scalable, and future-forward digital ecosystem. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, anticipating business needs, identifying opportunities before they’re asked for, and bringing forward solutions that shape the agenda - not just support it. At the center of a highly matrixed organization, you will act as the Digital Strategy Lead across Integrated Agency Teams, brand platform development, and franchise alignment, ensuring digital is embedded early, executed flawlessly, and continuously evolved through learnings and innovation. This role also plays a critical part in unlocking incremental growth for the business, identifying and scaling new digital revenue streams, from subscriptions and monetized content to new platform and experience opportunities, while pushing the organization toward bolder, more distinctive, and more culturally relevant work. Success in this role looks like owning entire digital initiatives end-to-end, influencing senior stakeholders, building systems that scale, and consistently bringing forward ideas that push the brand, and the industry, forward. If Taco Bell is going to lead the next era of digital, this role helps define what that looks like.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree required, Master’s Degree a plus
Minimum 7 years of marketing experience with several being in the digital marketing or creative agency space
Minimum 2 years of experience managing a direct report
Proven track record of owning and leading end-to-end strategy development and execution
Deep understanding of digital marketing channels and their capabilities including CRM, Merchandising, Delivery and Loyalty
Demonstrated ability to operate with autonomy, prioritize effectively, and make decisions in fast-paced, ambiguous environments
Strong leadership, project management, and planning skills with a bias toward action and accountability
Self-motivated with a strong drive for results and intellectual curiosity
Strong influence and collaboration skills with the ability to lead without authority across a highly matrixed organization
Employment eligibility to work with Taco Bell in the U.S. is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for this position.

Nice To Haves

Experience in multi-channel retail industry, QSR and/or franchised business a plus

Responsibilities

Authors the annual digital marketing strategy and playbook, defining best practices and the role of digital across the Marketing Calendar.
Sets the connections strategy, ensuring brand platforms are brought to life cohesively across CRM, OCX, Loyalty, Delivery, and Digital Innovation.
Translates emerging trends (AI, communities, content ecosystems) into actionable strategies that shape future roadmaps and Digital Innovation pipelines.
Operates with a high degree of autonomy, making informed decisions in ambiguous environments grounded in brand strategy, digital best practices, and business priorities.
Owns and independently leads the development and scaling of enterprise digital programs, from strategy through execution and optimization for assigned pillars (ie: Innovation, Value, Brand).
Identifies, builds, and scales new digital revenue streams, including subscriptions, monetized content, digital products, and emerging platform opportunities.
Leads ideation of breakthrough digital experiences that drive both fan engagement and incremental business growth.
Drives complex, multi-channel strategies while proactively identifying dependencies, risks, long-lead opportunities, and bringing forward solutions with minimal direction.
Acts as the Digital Strategy Lead across the Integrated Agency Team (IAT), ensuring digital is embedded from the outset of campaign and brand platform development.
Owns how creative comes to life across digital channels, driving digital-first thinking, connected storytelling, and breakthrough, conversation-driving work.
Ensures all digital creative delivers against a cohesive connections strategy across CRM, OCX, Loyalty, Delivery, and Innovation touchpoints.
Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, shaping decisions through clear, strategic framing and recommendations.
Represents Digital in key forums (3Ds, Marketing Strategy, DTLT) influencing the agenda and ensuring digital is integrated into enterprise priorities.
Proactively identifies and resolves cross-functional misalignment, driving clarity across Brand, Product, Tech, and Operations.
Acts as the primary escalation point for day-to-day operations and assigned pillar workstreams, ensuring issues are resolved efficiently and strategically.
Partners closely with the broader Digital Strategy team, aligning on priorities, sharing learnings, and driving consistency in how digital shows up across all pillars and initiatives.
Builds and codifies scalable systems, workflows, and GTM frameworks, improving how digital operates across planning, execution, and cross-functional collaboration.
Acts as a digital trend scout, proactively staying ahead of industry trends through events, workshops, and webinars, and translating insights into opportunities for the business.
Serves as an AI champion for the team, continuously exploring and applying generative AI and AI augmentation to optimize workflows, enhance strategy, and improve productivity - while partnering with Yum teams to stay aligned on advancements such as agent-driven experiences.

Benefits

Hybrid work schedule (onsite expectation Tues, Wed, Thurs) and year-round flex day Friday
Onsite childcare through Bright Horizons
Onsite dining center and game room (yes, there is a Taco Bell inside the building)
Onsite dry cleaning, laundry services, and carwash
Onsite gym with fitness classes and personal trainer sessions
Up to 4 weeks of vacation per year plus holidays and time off for volunteering
Generous parental leave for all new parents and adoption assistance program
401(k) with a 6% matching contribution from Yum! Brands with immediate vesting
Comprehensive medical & dental including prescription drug benefits and 100% preventive care
Discounts, free food, swag