Principal Product Manager, Kitchen Commercial Lead

Toast

9d • $82,000 - $168,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Toast is hiring a Principal Product Manager to lead the Kitchen Display System (KDS), a product used by tens of thousands of restaurants to connect front-of-house and back-of-house operations. KDS routes tickets to prep stations, manages order sequencing, and helps kitchens operate quickly and accurately. The Kitchen Operations team aims to expand KDS adoption by supporting sophisticated enterprise workflows, differentiating through kitchen data and AI-powered operational insights, and growing adoption among restaurants still using paper tickets.

This high-ownership, high-visibility role sits at the intersection of restaurant operations, hardware-software product development, and applied AI. The product leader will shape tools used by kitchen workers and build the data and agent capabilities that help kitchens operate more intelligently. The role owns KDS strategy and delivery, works directly with large restaurant groups, leads kitchen data strategy, and develops the business case for future KDS investments. EST or CST is preferred. The position follows Toast's hybrid work model; in-office expectations vary by region.

Requirements

• Proven experience defining and owning product strategy for a complex, operationally critical product.
• Ability to identify meaningful new product opportunities, build the case for them, and drive them from early concept to conviction.
• Curiosity about and a clear point of view on AI and agentic product opportunities in operational environments, including where autonomous action creates value versus risk.
• Track record of working directly with enterprise customers and translating nuanced, high-stakes workflow requirements into product decisions that scale beyond a single customer.
• Strong understanding of SMB operators and the realities of running a restaurant kitchen without a data analyst, IT team, or change-management budget.
• Executive presence and ability to build alignment without authority across engineering, design, enterprise customer success, sales, and product leadership.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with products spanning hardware and software.
• Experience in food and beverage.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive KDS product strategy across enterprise workflow depth, data differentiation, SMB attach growth, and the agentic AI roadmap, linking investments to adoption goals and business outcomes such as ARR growth, reduced support tickets, and enterprise retention.
• Identify valuable agentic AI applications in kitchen operations, such as proactive prep-time adjustments, automatic kitchen configuration changes, intelligent ticket routing, and load balancing, and develop investment cases for high-leverage opportunities.
• Own KDS delivery end-to-end and work directly with large restaurant groups to translate complex, high-stakes workflow requirements into scalable product decisions.
• Lead KDS kitchen data strategy, defining efficiency insights for operators at different scales, from API-first analytics for enterprise operators to actionable SMB reporting, and sequence investments to enable those insights.
• Shape and validate the business case for the next-generation KDS strategy and its long-term growth opportunities.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation and benefits programs.
• Cash compensation, including overtime and bonus or commissions if eligible.
• Equity.
• Benefits intended to support a healthy lifestyle and flexibility for changing needs.

What This Job Offers

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