Director, Global Restaurant Experience Design

What You Will Be Serving Up:

Lead the design and evolution of KFC’s global restaurant experience by translating brand vision into iconic, contemporary and operationally efficient environments. The role bridges brand, concept innovation, development and operations to deliver the next generation of KFC restaurants and ensure design excellence across the global system.

Here's How You Will Spice Things Up:

Restaurant Experience & Concept Design

• Translate KFC’s brand and concept vision into physical restaurant environments.
• Lead the design translation of KFC’s next generation restaurant vision into scalable restaurant formats.
• Ensure restaurants deliver strong emotional connection, brand storytelling and contemporary cultural relevance.
• Partner with Marketing, Brand and Operations teams to integrate product rituals, storytelling and guest experience into the restaurant environment.

Global Design System & Brand Standards

• Own and evolve KFC’s global restaurant design standards and asset platforms.
• Maintain and update the Design Reference Manual and brand standards library.
• Ensure consistency and quality of design expression across markets while enabling local flexibility.
• Lead design review and approval processes for new units and remodel programs.

Innovation & Next Generation Prototypes

• Develop next generation restaurant prototypes and new asset platforms.
• Explore innovative formats including small footprint, inline, urban and non-traditional venues.
• Lead flagship and breakthrough restaurant projects that demonstrate the future of the KFC experience.
• Identify opportunities to improve guest flow, operational efficiency and asset productivity through design innovation.

Franchise Development Partnership

• Support franchisees and markets in executing development and remodel programs.
• Identify and remove design or development barriers impacting new unit growth.
• Provide guidance on value engineering, cost management and asset productivity.
• Ensure alignment between brand ambition, operational realities and investment returns.

Future Asset Strategy & Sustainability

• Develop sustainability strategies for KFC restaurant assets.
• Partner with Yum and KFC Global teams on design best practices and benchmarking.
• Monitor retail, hospitality and restaurant design trends to inform future asset evolution.

Team Leadership

• Build and develop internal design capability.
• Manage third‑party architecture and design partners.
• Create a strong ecosystem of agencies and partners supporting restaurant innovation.

What You Bring to the Table:

Education / Certifications

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Design, Engineering or related field.
• Preferred: Master’s degree in Architecture, Design or MBA.

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in architecture, design, retail or restaurant development environments.
• Strong understanding of restaurant operations and franchise systems.
• Proven ability to translate brand vision into physical environments.
• Strong project management and stakeholder influence skills.
• Experience leading cross‑functional initiatives and managing external partners.

What’s In It for You:

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Opportunity to innovate within a global brand and make a significant impact.
• Collaborative, fast-paced work environment with a focus on professional growth and development.

Salary Range: $184,500 – $200,000 annually + bonus eligibility. This is the expected salary range for this position. Ultimately, in determining pay, we'll consider the successful candidate’s location, experience, and other job-related factors.

Who is KFC?

KFC, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM.), is a global chicken restaurant brand with a rich, decades-long history of success and innovation. It all started with one cook, Colonel Harland Sanders, who believed in doing things “the hard way,” because nothing ever got done right by cutting corners. Hard work, hospitality and integrity are still core to our brand today.

While we’re grounded in our heritage, we’re always looking forward to the future and evolving to make it easier for our customers to enjoy our chicken. Through digital innovation, our goal is to make KFC available everywhere, implementing a frictionless & friendly experience leveraging scalable technology stack and standards and accelerating rollouts via multiple channels. And we’re growing… a new KFC restaurant opens somewhere in the world every six hours.

As we grow, KFC is committed to doing so responsibly through commitments like our 2025 global plastic packaging goal and the KFC Harvest program, which to date has donated over 82 million pounds of food to our local communities around the world. Our purposes is feeding people’s potential, whether that means helping team members get through school, turn their passion for fried chicken into a career, or being a positive force in our communities. We fight inequality and believe in all people. Everyone has a seat at our table: from millionaires to truck drivers, to our more than 800,000 Team Members, to our customers around the world, KFC treats everyone like family. 

Our people are what make us distinctively KFC, and we value every opportunity to celebrate the unique perspectives and backgrounds they bring to our company. To learn more about KFC Global, check out our company page here.