Director, Global Restaurant Experience Design

KFC, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), is a renowned global chicken restaurant brand with a rich history rooted in hard work, hospitality, and integrity. Founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, who valued doing things "the hard way" to ensure quality, KFC has grown into a beloved brand recognized worldwide for its iconic fried chicken. The company holds true to its heritage while continuously evolving through digital innovation and sustainability initiatives to enhance customer experiences and promote responsible growth. KFC opens a new restaurant somewhere in the world every six hours, underscoring its rapid global expansion and commitment to making its delicious chicken accessible everywhere. The brand’s sustainability efforts are highlighted through programs such as the 2025 global plastic packaging goal and the KFC Harvest program, which has donated over 82 million pounds of food to communities globally. KFC champions diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity, fostering an environment where everyone—from millionaires to truck drivers—is treated like family. The company prides itself on its over 800,000 team members who bring unique perspectives and fuels the brand’s continued success and innovation.

This role centers on leading the design and evolution of KFC’s global restaurant experience by translating the brand’s vision into iconic, contemporary, and operationally efficient environments. The position acts as a critical bridge among brand, concept innovation, development, and operations to deliver the next generation of KFC restaurants while ensuring design excellence across the global system. As the leader of this design initiative, you will transform KFC’s brand and concept vision into physical restaurant environments that foster strong emotional connections, compelling brand storytelling, and contemporary cultural relevance. Collaborating closely with Marketing, Brand, and Operations teams, you will integrate product rituals and unique guest experiences into restaurant design, supporting the brand’s commitment to innovation and customer engagement.

The responsibilities extend to owning and evolving KFC’s global restaurant design standards and asset platforms by maintaining the Design Reference Manual and brand standards library, ensuring consistent quality across markets while allowing local flexibility. This role requires developing next-generation restaurant prototypes and exploring innovative formats such as small footprint, inline, urban, and non-traditional venues. You will lead flagship projects that showcase the future of the KFC experience and identify ways to enhance guest flow, operational efficiency, and asset productivity through design innovation.

Partnering with franchisees and markets, you will support the execution of development and remodel programs, remove design or development barriers affecting new unit growth, provide guidance on value engineering, cost management, and asset productivity, and ensure alignment between brand ambitions, operational realities, and investment returns. Additionally, you will develop sustainability strategies for KFC restaurant assets in collaboration with Yum and KFC Global teams and monitor retail, hospitality, and restaurant design trends to steer future asset evolution.

This role also includes building and developing internal design capabilities, managing third-party architecture and design partners, and creating a strong ecosystem of agencies and partners who support restaurant innovation. The salary range for this position is $184,500 to $200,000 annually, plus bonus eligibility. KFC offers a collaborative, fast-paced work environment focusing on professional growth and development, providing the opportunity to innovate within a global brand and leave a significant impact on one of the world’s most recognized restaurant experiences.