Director, Site Reliability Engineering

McDonald's Corporation•Chicago, IL

About The Position

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. As the global leader in the foodservice industry, our legacy of innovation and hard work continues to drive us. From drive-thru updates to delivery to mobile order and pay, we are innovating quickly and growing. 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 a positive impact. We lead through our values centered on inclusivity, service, integrity, community, and family. From the support of Ronald McDonald House Charities 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 the planet. We also offer outstanding benefits including a sabbatical program, tuition assistance, and flexible work arrangements. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of our crew members, staff, operators, and suppliers. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone. We are interested in people who enhance our company culture: Does this role interest you? We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every single requirement! Department Overview This opportunity is part of the Global Technology Infrastructure & Operations team (GTIO). Our mission is to deliver modern and relevant technology that supports how McDonald’s works. We provide outstanding foundational technology products and services. These include Global Networking, Cloud, End User Computing, and IT Service Management. Our goal is to offer an engaging, relevant, and simple experience for our customers. Reporting to the Senior Director, Global Cloud Infrastructure & Operations, and collaborating with the full technology leadership team, the GTIO Director, Global Cloud Operations & SRE, will foresee and address both strategic and tactical requirements for McDonald’s Cloud Platform Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering teams. You will engage with diverse collaborators worldwide. This is a great opportunity for an experienced technology leader to help build and champion the transformation of infrastructure practices and standards for the entire McDonald’s environment.

Requirements

Proven experience leading all aspects of technical products from unclear problem statements through goal clarification, opportunity assessment, tradeoff management, and idea evaluation using agile and creative methods with internal and external collaborators.
Experienced in managing technical priorities tied to Operations practices and driving strategic architectural initiatives.
Demonstrated success delivering SRE technology and infrastructure projects that reduce cost, improve reliability, and shorten incident response times.
Established track record of building and scaling high‑performing technical teams, including product managers, architects, and engineers.
Skilled in managing collaborator expectations, resolving conflict, and proactively addressing issues that may impact the function.
Strong analytical and quantitative abilities, using data and metrics to support assumptions, define product strategy, and measure success and value realization.
Excellent written communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to clearly convey complex ideas in business‑appropriate language.
Experience negotiating contracts and managing suppliers to deliver high‑quality products or services on time and on budget.
Highly skilled in evaluating information from multiple sources, coordinating relationships, and leading engagements with diverse global vendors and partners.
Creates environments of belonging and elevates others through engaged, high‑performing teams.
Experience managing cloud‑delivered infrastructure (IaaS) and cloud platforms (PaaS).
At least 10 years of relevant professional experience with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or technology, OR at least 3 years of relevant experience with a master’s degree.
8+ years of technology capability implementation and deployment across areas such as infrastructure leadership, service management, operations, engineering, security, and business relationship management.
5+ years in leadership positions, including managing employee teams.
Experience leading technical teams responsible for strategically important products or product suites.
Experience influencing senior executives (VP, SVP) and setting expectations for major cross‑functional initiatives.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Cloud platform build patterns, vendor platform capabilities, and deployment of cloud tools and technologies.
Proven ability to influence and collaborate across global product and platform engineering teams.
Demonstrated capability to coordinate and navigate within globally distributed organizations to drive results.
Strong background owning and delivering high‑load digital platforms and infrastructure with measurable outcomes.
Deep understanding of global market complexities and regional differences.
Experience managing chargebacks, program P&L, and developing/managing financial forecasts to communicate ROI and spend rate.

Responsibilities

Lead the Cloud Enterprise Operations and SRE teams, providing strategic vision while balancing near-term deliverables.
Mentor, manage, and hire a high-performing team of managers and engineering professionals. Set clear priorities to achieve enterprise goals and critical metrics.
Develop and deliver a cohesive vision, strategy, and roadmaps for SRE and Operations in partnership with cross-functional teams, including Cloud Security, Global Technology Risk Management, Consumer Products and Platforms, Restaurant Technology, Markets, and other external collaborators.
Effectively manage vendor selection, SLAs, and relationships with Managed Service Providers for Azure, AWS, and GCP.
Understand McDonald's current landscape of tools, processes, standards, automation, monitoring, etc., as input to the vision for the evolution of the platform.
Lead assessments and vendor selections to develop and deploy innovative platform tools and services, spanning beyond traditional technology to deliver value.
Partner with product managers passionate about technology, system designers, and developers. Use Site Reliability Engineering principles to enhance reliability. Lower incident response times and manage growing workloads while keeping support costs stable.
Supervise and ensure the accuracy, quality, security, and usability of all infrastructure platforms.
Maintain a strategic focus while retaining an appropriate level of hands-on management.
Collaborate with business leaders, professionals managing technical products, and architects to assess the long-term viability of systems/products, from business and technology standpoints.
Communicate ideas effectively, verbally and in writing, to a wide range of audiences, including Directors, Senior Directors, and VPs. Foster a constructive dialogue, harmonize discordant views, and lead the resolution of issues.
Decompose significantly sophisticated problems into straightforward solutions. Consistently bring strong, data-driven business and technical judgment to decisions.
Identify core problems or opportunities within business processes. Understand the root cause and impacts for the project and other teams.
Eliminate obstacles to allow teams to operate autonomously. Encourage team members to actively recognize gaps and opportunities (e.g., services, workflows, tooling) inside or across markets and other sections of the organization.