Strategy & Program Manager

SARKU JAPAN; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation and benefits

Job summary

Sarku Japan in Phoenix, AZ seeks a Strategy & Program Manager to act as an internal builder for the enterprise, driving high-priority initiatives from concept through stable handoff. Build the processes and operating cadence to enable scale and long-term ownership across functions.

Your first major program will develop a new-store openings playbook with critical path planning, milestones, accountability, and readiness for grand openings, then extend to other initiatives.

Qualifications

• 4-7 years in management consulting, program management, strategy and operations, restaurant or retail development, or a similarly fast-paced, cross-functional environment.
• Ability to build structure in ambiguity - you’ve created systems from scratch.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; you can size an opportunity, structure the work, and defend your logic.
• Excellent communicator who can drive accountability across teams without creating friction, and who can brief an executive in two minutes or two pages.
• Proficiency with project management tools (Smartsheet, Asana, Monday.com, or similar) and Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Teams).
• High ownership mentality: you operate like it’s your business, not your task list.
• Restaurant, retail, hospitality, or multi-unit operations experience is a plus but not required

Responsibilities

• Lead high-priority, cross-functional initiatives from concept through implementation
• Design scalable processes, governance models, and standardized playbooks from scratch
• Incubate new programs until ownership, processes, and operating models are established, then transition them to functional leaders
• Develop comprehensive program plans: timelines, milestones, dependencies, budgets, risks, and success metrics

Skills

Program management

Strategic planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Problem solving

Tools

Smartsheet

Asana

Monday.com

Microsoft Office

Job description

Sarku Japan is the largest Japanese quick-service restaurant chain in the United States, with 150+ locations across the country. Backed by Garnett Station Partners, we're entering an accelerated phase of growth and transformation - and building the operating infrastructure to match.

The Opportunity

Most program management roles maintain existing systems. This one builds them.

As Strategy & Program Manager, you'll operate as an internal builder for the enterprise: taking on high-priority initiatives that don't yet have a natural home, designing the processes and operating models to make them work, running them until they're stable, and then transitioning ownership to a functional leader so you can move to the next thing. Think of it as a rotating portfolio of the company's most important unsolved problems.

Your first major program is new store development. We have an active pipeline of openings and need someone to build the end-to-end playbook: critical path planning, milestone tracking, cross-functional accountability, and grand opening readiness. Once that machine is running and handed off, you'll move to the next initiative - which could span operations, technology, supply chain, finance, people, or brand.

You'll work directly with the Chief of Staff and executive leadership, with real visibility into how a PE-backed growth company sets priorities and executes against them.

How This Role Works

The operating model is deliberate:

• Take on a high-priority initiative that doesn't naturally reside within an existing function
• Design the processes, governance, tools, and operating cadence needed to execute
• Run the program hands-on, driving milestones, surfacing risks, and holding cross-functional teams accountable
• Transition ownership to a functional leader once a sustainable operating structure is in place
• Move on to the next initiative, leaving behind a playbook that outlasts you

Success in this role is measured not just by delivery, but by how cleanly programs hand off and how well the processes you build hold up without you.

What You'll Do

Build and incubate programs

• Lead high-priority, cross-functional initiatives from concept through implementation
• Design scalable processes, governance models, and standardized playbooks from scratch
• Incubate new programs until ownership, processes, and operating models are established, then transition them to functional leaders

Drive execution and accountability

• Develop comprehensive program plans: timelines, milestones, dependencies, budgets, risks, and success metrics
• Actively manage cross-functional commitments, surfacing blockers early and driving resolution
• Coordinate resources and priorities across stakeholders with competing business needs

Own enterprise visibility

• Build and maintain dashboards and reporting that give leadership a centralized view of program status, risks, resource needs, and decisions required
• Prepare executive and board-level reporting; facilitate program review cadences
• Build the end-to-end process for new restaurant openings: critical path planning, readiness tracking, and launch support
• Drive operating cadence across real estate, construction, operations, marketing, supply chain, IT, and HR
• Coordinate grand opening readiness and run post-opening reviews to improve each successive launch

What We're Looking For

• 4-7 years in management consulting, program management, strategy and operations, restaurant or retail development, or a similarly fast-paced, cross-functional environment
• Demonstrated ability to build structure in ambiguity - you've created systems from scratch, not just managed existing ones
• Comfort letting go: you build things to hand them off, and you take pride in a clean transition
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; you can size an opportunity, structure the work, and defend your logic
• Excellent communicator who can drive accountability across teams without creating friction, and who can brief an executive in two minutes or two pages
• Proficiency with project management tools (Smartsheet, Asana, Monday.com, or similar) and Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Teams)
• High ownership mentality: you operate like it's your business, not your task list
• Restaurant, retail, hospitality, or multi-unit operations experience is a plus but not required

Why This Role

• Direct exposure to executive leadership and PE-backed company operations
• A rotating portfolio of the company's most important initiatives - you'll never be doing the same thing for long
• Ownership of mission-critical work from day one, starting with new store development
• Broad experience across operations, development, technology, finance, people, and brand
• A clear path to expanded responsibility as the company scales
• Competitive compensation and benefits

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Sarku Japan strongly supports equal employment opportunity for all applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law.