About the Company
Can you imagine a world without the Big Mac? Or Chicken McNuggets? Or Happy Meals? Luckily, back
in 1954, a man named Ray Kroc discovered a small burger restaurant in California, and wrote the first
page of our history. From that humble start as a small restaurant, we're proud to have become one of
the world's leading food service retailers in more than 100 countries, with more than 36,000 restaurants
serving approximately 69 million people every day. If you would like to become part of one of the
world’s best known brands and countries please keep reading.
Manager Operations Research & Innovation
Job Description:
1. Design, oversee, & communicate the results of custom qualitative and quantitative operations
research studies that support McDonald’s Corporation in “Running Great Restaurants Every Day”
2. Serve as a subject matter expert on the root causes of restaurant operations opportunities & design
criteria for new innovations
3. Act as a trusted consultant to support data driven decision making at all phases of the innovation
cycle – from inspiration to evaluation
This position sits at McDonald’s global Innovation Center within the Operations Research group. The
position will support Innovation Center teams, broader corporate platform teams, as well as global
market partners on the operational side of efforts including but not limited to food quality, digital
innovation, and service enhancements. The candidate will work cross functionally with teams
representing Engineering/Equipment, IT, Concept/Design, Operations, HR, and Training.
The ideal candidate will be equally committed to understanding the details of our restaurants’
operations, identifying actionable insights, and telling a clear and compelling story to our internal
clients. The ideal candidate will be equally comfortable at leading external vendors to execute research
and rolling up his/her sleeves to conduct field work or “dig into the data”. The ideal candidate will be
comfortable remaining method agnostic and working across a wide range of business questions (e.g.,
how might we improve hospitality, accuracy, or throughput; how might we improve restaurant team
effectiveness; how does this widget impact customer flow in the restaurants).
Desired areas of expertise include: Restaurant/Retail/Hospitality Operations, Custom Research Design
(lab and field-based), Broad Skills in Data Collection & Analytic Methods (e.g., Ethnographic Observation,
Data Mining & Exploratory Analysis, Descriptive and Inferential Statistics, Simulation, Data Modeling,
Surveys, Focus Groups), Project Management, Telling Stories with Quantitative and Qualitative dat
Principal Accountabilities:
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Research Design
o Partner with internal clients to clearly frame business questions
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Clearly define & operationalize the independent variables (e.g., new products,
equipment, procedures, and environments) and dependent variables (e.g., knowledge,
behavior change, customer satisfaction, guest counts/sales)
Identify appropriate methodologies (e.g., lab studies, online testing, surveys, inrestaurant pilots, video ethnography, simulation/modeling, etc.) and data sources (e.g.,
quant/qual, internal/external sources, etc.) to balance cost with validity and reliability
Scope costs and timeline, Identify risks/barriers, Socialize for understanding and
approval
Support the continual development of internal research capabilities to meet emerging
business needs
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Research Execution:
o Coordinate with internal partners & stakeholders to execute research (e.g., data teams,
field management, restaurant owners, etc.)
o Develop and audit data collection methods & tools to ensure confidence and minimal
disruption to restaurant operations
o Conduct relevant project tracking to ensure projects remain on scope, on time, and on
budget
o Communicate status to internal clients
o Develop reports, videos, graphics, white-papers, etc. to clearly convey findings
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Strategic Consulting:
o Represent research findings through written reports and in-person presentations,
webinars, and workshops to key internal client groups (from restaurant to senior
executive levels)
o Serve as a member of project or platform teams to ensure relevant research
opportunities are identified, teams are knowledgeable of the research capabilities
available to them, and insights are understood and appropriately applied as solutions
are developed or refined
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Vendor Management
o Identify & select relevant vendors for emerging project needs
o Oversee project-based vendor contracting
o Manage the research objectives and workload of on-site vendor analytic team
o Support screening of new vendor capabilities
Minimum Requirements
Education/Experience
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Degree in related fields (e.g., behavioral/social science, operations research, insights). Bachelor’s
degree required. Master’s or Ph.D. preferred.
Minimum 5-7 years work experience with progressive responsibility in managing research,
projects, and suppliers
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Experience with data analysis & visualization tools (e.g., R, SAS, JMP, SPSS)
Advanced Microsoft Office Skills
Must be able to manage multiple, simultaneously work streams
Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment
Very collaborative, highly energetic and team-oriented
To apply for this opportunity please go to the following link:
https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWebHost/home.aspx?partnerid=25516&siteid=5221
Click on “Search Openings”
Go to “Requisition Number” at bottom of form and enter: 4430BR