Manager - Fresh AI Engineering

Wendy's • Dublin, OH

81d • $114,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Wendy's is seeking a hands-on, forward-thinking Engineering Manager to help scale and stabilize Wendy's FreshAi platform and build the foundation for future AI-enabled restaurant systems. This role blends operational command with architectural vision, balancing real-time incident support, vendor coordination, and system design for a fast-moving, AI-powered environment. This position is ideal for a senior technologist who thrives in both deployment scenarios and long-term platform planning, with a passion for system reliability, AI integration, and emerging tech at scale.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering or platform architecture, including customer-facing and AI-powered applications.
• Experience leading platform deployments and owning real-time operational response.
• Strong technical proficiency across Angular, JavaScript, Java, RESTful APIs, microservices, and WebSocket.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, preferably Google Cloud.
• Experience in QSR, retail, or high-availability SaaS environments.
• Familiarity with LLM/AI system behavior, model lifecycle management, or MLOps.
• Hands-on experience with deployment pipelines, observability tools, or incident automation.
• Exposure to Vision AI, IoT, or edge compute architectures.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical leader during deployments and hypercare periods for FreshAi and future emerging tech initiatives.
• Own triage workflows: monitor production systems, lead incident resolution, coordinate hotfixes, and ensure uptime.
• Collaborate with engineering, QA, product, and vendor teams to deliver stable releases and reduce production defects.
• Proactively identify and mitigate risks through dashboards, alerting tools, and platform health metrics.
• Define the technical strategy and system architecture for scalable, modular AI-integrated platforms.
• Architect end-to-end solutions that span Angular frontends, Node.js services, Java backends, and cloud-based AI agents.
• Integrate evolving platform components like VisionAI, Agent Space, and IoT edge solutions into a cohesive digital ecosystem.
• Lead cross-functional integration between Wendy's teams and external partners such as Google Cloud, Acrelec, and HME/Nexeo.
• Manage vendor performance and alignment with product and system SLAs.
• Translate platform needs into partner-ready requirements and resolve cross-system dependencies.
• Influence long-term technical roadmap for FreshAi and other high-impact initiatives across channels.
• Contribute to technical evaluation of LLM agent behaviors, model performance, and emerging frameworks.
• Build documentation and playbooks to scale deployment success and operational support across multiple restaurant environments.

Benefits

• Parental leave
• Free EAP sessions
• Company 401k match
• Annual bonus target of 20% of annualized base salary based on performance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Food Services and Drinking Places
• Education Level: High school or GED
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees