Sr. Manager, Growth Operations

Panera Bread•Newton, MA

1d•$136,383 - $163,660•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Growth Operations leads Panera's operational planning and execution for New Bakery-Cafe Openings, remodels, market/café ownership transitions, closures, FSO openings, new franchisee café openings, relocations, and other cafe changes within Operations Services. This leader oversees two Managers of Growth Operations and owns critical-path governance, opening-order coordination, operational readiness, opening support and training, and post-opening stabilization.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
4+ years of experience in restaurant operations, new-unit openings, development operations, project management, franchise operations, or a related field.
Demonstrated cross-functional program and team-leadership experience.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and project-management tools.
Ability to travel based on business needs.

Nice To Haves

Experience coordinating openings, remodels, transitions, closures, franchise partners, and vendors preferred.
Exceptional project planning, organization, prioritization, and follow-through.
Strong business acumen, analytical thinking, judgment, and creative problem-solving.
Ability to influence without authority, navigate ambiguity, and build stakeholder alignment.
Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive presentation skills.

Responsibilities

Oversee active and upcoming growth and portfolio-change projects, including status, dates, dependencies, risks, resources, and decisions.
Assign projects based on timing, complexity, geography, franchise group, priority, and capacity.
Balance workload and provide support for high-risk or off-track projects.
Establish rolling forecasts and identify conflicts with other field activity.
Own and improve critical paths for each project type.
Establish milestones, owners, dependencies, lead times, readiness requirements, escalation triggers, and completion standards.
Conduct portfolio and readiness reviews and lead post-project lessons learned.
Ensure each new bakery-cafe has an integrated readiness plan.
Oversee opening orders, early orders, smallwares, uniforms, chemicals, equipment-related supplies, operational and training materials, and delivery issue resolution.
Confirm readiness across people, product, process, technology, equipment, facilities, vendors, training, and communications.
Oversee opening-week support and post-opening stabilization.
Oversee critical paths, business continuity, communications, systems, vendors, supplies, training, and operational readiness for remodels, transitions, closures & FSOs.
Ensure franchise ownership transitions move access, services, ordering relationships, resources, and accountability appropriately.
Oversee closure readiness and support the operating model and tools required for FSOs.
Lead and develop two Managers of Growth Operations.
Serve as senior integration leader across Operations Services and cross-functional partners.
Develop portfolio dashboards, success measures, and executive updates.
Convert recurring breakdowns and lessons learned into process and tool improvements.