Market Director - KFC

Restaurant Brands Ltd NZ; Auckland; On-site; NZD 220,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Restaurant Brands NZ is seeking a Market Director for KFC New Zealand to lead the operations of a nationally recognised brand.

You will own full NZ P&L, shape market strategy, lead a high-performing leadership team and collaborate across marketing, IS, finance, and supply chain to drive growth and exceptional customer experiences.

Reporting to the President - New Zealand, you will steer profitability and customer obsession while navigating a multi-site network.

Qualifications

• Senior leadership with full P&L accountability.
• Experience running large, geographically dispersed operations.
• Ability to translate strategy into actionable plans and measurable outcomes.
• Strong commercial mindset with data-driven decision making.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead full New Zealand P&L for a market-leading brand.
• Develop and execute strategic growth initiatives to drive revenue and profitability.
• Champion innovation, customer experience and operational excellence across a multi-site environment.
• Build, mentor and inspire a high-performing leadership team with succession planning.
• Act as senior custodian of the KFC brand in New Zealand, influencing stakeholders.

Skills

P&L ownership

Distributed Ops

Strategy execution

Commercial acumen

Customer experience

Stakeholder management

Talent development

Change management

Job description

Restaurant Brands purpose is to be a thriving business built on brands that employees and customers love and trust. We have amazing global brands; KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Carl’s Jr and have over 250 restaurants in NZ, employing over 4,500 staff in NZ and serve over 60,000 customers a day! Globally Restaurant Brands also operates in Australia with over 70 stores under either the KFC or Taco Bell brand, together with KFC and Taco Bell operations in California and Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.

Lead the Operations of one of New Zealand's Most Recognisable and Loved Brands - KFC

This is a rare opportunity to take the helm of one of New Zealand's most iconic quick service restaurant brands and drive its next phase of growth.

In this newly created position of Market Director, KFC New Zealand, you will be the senior business leader responsible for the overall operations performance, profitability and long-term success of the KFC business across New Zealand, leading a large-scale, nationally recognised operation with significant commercial responsibility and market influence.

Reporting to the President - New Zealand, this leadership role combines strategic vision with operational excellence. You will shape market strategy, lead a high-performing operations leadership team, influence enterprise-wide decisions, and ensure exceptional customer experiences are delivered consistently across the national restaurant network.

The Opportunity:

This role offers the opportunity to:

• Own and lead the full New Zealand P&L for a market-leading consumer brand.
• Develop and execute strategic growth initiatives that drive revenue, profitability and long-term sustainability.
• Champion innovation, customer experience and operational excellence across a complex, multi-site environment.
• Build, mentor and inspire a high-performing leadership team while strengthening succession pipelines across the business.
• Act as the senior custodian of the KFC brand within New Zealand, influencing key stakeholders internally and externally.
• Collaborate with cross-functional leaders across marketing, operations, IS, finance, supply chain, people and development to accelerate growth opportunities and support future expansion.

About You

You are an accomplished senior leader with a proven track record of delivering commercial success within large-scale, customer-focused and operationally complex businesses.

What you will bring to the role:

• Significant senior leadership experience with full P&L accountability.
• Proven success leading large, geographically dispersed operations.
• Strong capability in translating strategy into execution and measurable business outcomes.
• Exceptional commercial acumen and a data-driven approach to decision making.
• Experience driving operational performance, customer satisfaction and profitable growth simultaneously.
• Highly developed stakeholder management and influencing skills across corporate, franchise, supplier and executive environments.
• A passion for developing talent, building high-performing teams and creating strong organisational culture.
• The ability to anticipate market trends, identify growth opportunities and successfully navigate change.

Why This Role?

This is more than a leadership position. It is an opportunity to influence the future of a household-name brand, and drive the experience of millions of customers, and leave a lasting legacy on one of New Zealand's largest QSR businesses.

You’ll join a business that values innovation, operational excellence, customer obsession and people leadership while providing the platform, scale and autonomy to make a meaningful impact.

Lead the market. Inspire high performance. Shape the future of KFC New Zealand.