Senior Director - AI Transformation

Wingstop Restaurants Inc.; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited paid time off for exempt

One paid volunteer day of your choice

Competitive bonus structure

Team member stock purchase plan

Health savings or flexible spending

Job summary

Wingstop Restaurants Inc. in Dallas, TX, seeks a Senior Director of AI Transformation to lead how AI changes the way our business operates across Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Technology, Finance, and Restaurant Support.

You will translate business needs into credible technical scopes, build and lead an AI transformation team, and stay hands-on in process maps, tools, and in rooms where real work changes. This role is based at the Global Support Center in Dallas.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, CS, IE, Economics or related field.
• MBA or advanced degree is a plus.
• Lean Six Sigma, PMP, or change management certification is a plus.
• Cloud or AI certifications (AWS preferred) are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise AI transformation roadmap, sequencing changes and value.
• Lead process discovery, map current state and quantify baseline cost/time/quality.
• Identify, size, and prioritize AI use cases by value, feasibility and change effort.
• Translate business requirements into clear technical specs for eng, data science, and product teams.
• Partner with AI & Data Science to scope, pilot, and scale solutions.
• Design future-state process, redefine roles, handoffs, controls, and SOPs.
• Build business cases and track realized value post go-live.
• Lead change management across GSC teams, brand partners, and restaurant teams.
• Establish operating model for AI delivery, intake, stage gates, post-launch metrics.

Skills

Executive presence

Business-technical translation

Change management

Stakeholder management

Process mapping

AI / LLMs familiarity

SQL

Cloud platforms

Leadership

Product/engineering collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA preferred

Tools

SQL

AWS

ERP

CRM

Low-code platforms

Job description

Who We Are

We’re not in the wing business. We’re in the flavor business. It’s been our mission to Serve the World Flavor since we first opened in 1994, and we’re just getting started. 1997 saw the opening of our first brand partner operated Wingstop location, and by 2002 we had served the world one billion wings. It’s flavor that defines us and has made Wingstop one of the fastest growing brands in the restaurant industry.

Who We Are

We’re not in the wing business. We’re in the flavor business. It’s been our mission to Serve the World Flavor since we first opened in 1994, and we’re just getting started. 1997 saw the opening of our first brand partner operated Wingstop location, and by 2002 we had served the world one billion wings. It’s flavor that defines us and has made Wingstop one of the fastest growing brands in the restaurant industry. Above all else – our success is largely due to our people and our core values, or what we call The Wingstop Way of being entrepreneurial, service-minded, fun, and authentic. We believe having a strong people foundation centered on these collective values creates a crave-worthy culture and talented team, as well as ensures our brand is poised for accelerated growth. We all win together.

What We’ll Need

Wingstop is seeking a Senior Director of AI Transformation to lead how AI changes the way our business actually works. This is not a strategy-deck role. You will map how work gets done across Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Technology, Finance, and Restaurant Support, find where AI creates real leverage, and then drive the redesign and adoption end to end. You will be the translation layer between business and technical teams, fluent enough in the business to know which processes matter, and technical enough to scope solutions credibly with engineering and data science partners. You will build and lead a growing AI transformation team while staying hands on yourself: in the process maps, in the tools, and in the rooms where the work actually changes. This role is based at the Global Support Center in Dallas, TX.

Role Responsibilities

• Own the enterprise AI transformation roadmap, the sequenced view of which processes we change, in what order, and what value each change delivers
• Lead process discovery and mapping across business functions; document current state and quantify baseline cost, cycle time, and quality
• Identify, size, and prioritize AI use cases against business value, technical feasibility, and change effort
• Translate business requirements into clear, well-scoped technical specifications for engineering, data science, and product teams
• Partner with Applied AI & Data Science and Technology to scope, pilot, and scale solutions, staying close enough to the build to make real tradeoffs
• Design the future-state process, not just the tool, redefine roles, handoffs, controls, and SOPs so the solution sticks after launch
• Build the business case for each initiative and track realized value against it
• Lead change management and adoption: stakeholder alignment, training, communications, and enablement across GSC teams, brand partners, and restaurant teams
• Establish the operating model for AI delivery, intake, prioritization, stage gates, and post-launch measurement
• Set standards for responsible and secure AI use in partnership with Legal, Information Security, and Data Governance
• Hire, develop, and lead a growing team of transformation and process leads while carrying your own workstreams
• Stay current on the AI landscape with models, agents, and tooling. Bring a clear point of view on what is real and what is hype
• Report progress, risks, and value to executive leadership and the Board as needed

What You’ll Need

Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, Industrial Engineering, Economics, or a related field
• MBA or advanced degree is a plus

Certifications

• Lean Six Sigma, PMP, or change management certification ( Prosci) is a plus
• Cloud or AI certifications (AWS preferred) are a plus

Tools & Technical Experience

• 10+ years spanning enterprise transformation, business operations, or technology delivery, including 3+ years leading teams
• Demonstrated ownership of at least one large-scale enterprise transformation from diagnosis through realized value
• Deep process mapping and redesign experience across multiple business functions (value stream mapping, current/future state, SIPOC, capability modeling)
• Strong working knowledge of modern AI, LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, agents, and intelligent automation, and judgment about where each is and is not the right tool
• Hands-on proficiency with AI tooling: frontier model assistants, agentic workflows, prompt and context design, and low-code automation platforms
• Technical depth sufficient to read a solution architecture, question a data model, scope an integration, and hold your own with engineers
• Comfort with SQL and data analysis with able to build your own view of the numbers rather than wait for one
• Experience with cloud data platforms and enterprise systems (ERP, POS, CRM, workforce management, supply chain)
• Track record of building business cases and measuring realized benefit after go-live
• Experience in restaurant, retail, franchise, or other multi-unit operating models is a plus
• Experience standing up an AI or automation center of excellence is a plus

People Skills

• Exceptional translator with ability to take a messy business problem and translate to technical teams a clear requirement
• Credible with a brand partner and a staff engineer on the same day
• Executive presence; communicates crisply in writing and in the room
• Influences without authority across functions and levels of seniority
• Builder’s bias - ships pilots, learns, and iterates instead of perfecting the plan
• Leads through change with patience and conviction; expects resistance and works it
• Develops people and raises the capability of everyone around them

Who You Are

No job is too small. You recognize that the real work happens in the restaurants, and everything we do should support their success. You stay humble, roll up your sleeves, and always look for ways to help. You learn from others and contribute wherever you can.

You care deeply about doing great work and driving results. You’re curious, ask questions, and seek out opportunities to improve. You don’t just point out problems—you bring solutions, ideas, and perspectives that move the team forward.

You take full responsibility for your work and see things through to completion. You aren’t afraid to fail because you know that failure is a part of learning and growth. You take action, move fast, and keep pushing forward.

You lead with empathy, respect, and emotional intelligence. You collaborate effectively, fostering a culture of trust and constructive feedback. You understand the importance of teamwork and ensure that your actions build others up rather than break them down.

You push yourself and others to be better. You embrace healthy conflict, knowing that great ideas and strong teams emerge from honest, constructive conversations. You believe that leaders create leaders and are committed to fostering a culture of growth, challenge, and continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Unlimited paid time off for exempt employees
• One paid volunteer day of your choice
• Competitive bonus structure for eligible roles
• Team member stock purchase plan
• Health savings or flexible spending account options
• 401k – (dollar for dollar on the first 3% and then 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2% for team member contributions up to 5% of eligible compensation)
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Basic life and AD&D insurance provided
• Pet insurance
• Education Assistance
• Wellness reimbursement program
• Paid maternity and paternity leave

Fun Is The Best Flavor

• Lunch provided every Tuesday and Thursday in office
• Discount on Wingstop gift cards
• Onsite game room

Wingstop provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.