Director, Planning and Technology

Job Description:

Company

Description:

McDonald's is proud to be one of the most recognized brands in the world, with restaurants in over 100 countries that serve 70 million customers daily. We continue to operate from a position of strength. Our updated growth strategy is focused on staying ahead of what our customers want and realizing further growth potential. Our relentless ambition is why McDonald's remains one of the world's leading corporations after almost 70 years.

Joining McDonald's means thinking big and preparing for a career that can have influence around the world.

At McDonald's, we see every day as a chance to create positive impact. We lead through our values centered on inclusivity, service, integrity, community and family. From support of Ronald McDonald House to our Youth Opportunity project and sustainability initiatives, our values keep us dedicated to using our scale for good: good for our customers, people, industry and planet. We also offer a broad range of outstanding benefits including a sabbatical program, tuition assistance and flexible work arrangements.

Department Overview

As a Director on the US Restaurant Development (USRD) Strategic Planning and Analytics Team, this role is responsible for driving strategic planning initiatives and collaborating closely with Finance, Legal, and Franchising Leadership to advance organizational objectives related to building the real estate pipeline, opening new restaurants, and investing in McDonald's current portfolio.  The Director will champion the development of high-performing talent and cohesive teams, fostering a culture of growth and technological innovation, and professional excellence.

In addition, this leader will play a pivotal role in supporting Senior Leadership by delivering actionable business insights, crafting compelling presentations, and enabling effective decision making through robust data analysis. The position will also oversee cross-functional technology projects, ensuring alignment with broader USRD strategies and priorities.

Duties

Principal Accountabilities in addition to following McDonald's policies and procedures, principal accountabilities include, but are not limited to:

People

+ Facilitates professional growth of the team through leadership, training, and mentoring.

+ Actively participates in the transfer of knowledge across technology and analytics leaders in other MHQ departments.

+ Proactively engages with senior leadership to communicate team priorities, provide updates on key initiatives, and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

The Position

+ Manages two teams:
One team is primarily responsible for optimizing project scheduling, planning, and providing analytics around the real estate pipeline, plan progress on openings and supporting initiatives within Reinvestment with analytics. The second team provides data integration efficiencies and prototypes nimble applications for the whole department and is really focused on business process improvements.

+ Provides strategic leadership for development initiatives within the U.S. This includes real estate planning (signings and opens), resource planning, reinvestment planning, and execution strategies on how to move faster/work more efficiently utilizing technology.

+ Manages the planning function for development including the annual plan process, long-term strategic plans and G&A.

+ Liaison with partner department including Finance, Field Offices, Finance, Legal, Operations, Franchising, and IT on short- and long-term strategies/proactive problem solving.

Relationships

Key relationships include Senior VP of Development, Senior Development Directors, Development Directors, Real Estate and Construction Managers, U.S. Finance, Franchising, Legal and IT Leadership.

Qualifications

Technical Skills

+ Working knowledge and proven experience in Alteryx to develop and review workflows.

+ Working knowledge and proven experience with Smartsheet.

+ Working knowledge and proven experience with BI Tools (Power BI or Tableau)

+ Advanced Microsoft Office skills, with a focus on Excel/Excel VBA and familiarity with AI tools such as CoPilot Studio (agents)

Background

+ Masters…