Director, Customer Insights

Company Description:

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. We continue to operate from a position of strength. Our updated growth strategy is focused on staying ahead of what our customers want and realizing further growth potential. Our relentless ambition is why McDonald’s remains one of the world’s leading corporations after almost 70 years. 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 positive impact. We lead through our values centered on inclusivity, service, integrity, community and family. From support of Ronald McDonald House 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 planet. We also offer a broad range of outstanding benefits including a sabbatical program, tuition assistance and flexible work arrangements.

Department Overview

The Director, Innovation Insights & Strategy will lead the consumer insights and strategic thinking that helps shape the future of the McDonald’s U.S. business.

This leader is responsible for bringing the voice of the customer into all up-stream work across the business, including strategy, menu and experience innovation.

The role will partner closely with Innovation, Marketing, Menu Strategy, Operations, and cross-functional leadership to ensure strategy and innovation begins with a deep understanding of the consumer and stays grounded in consumer needs throughout development.

Importantly, this role goes beyond researching ideas once they have been developed. The Director will help define where McDonald’s should innovate, what consumer problems are most important to solve, and how individual ideas build toward a coherent long-term growth strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Bring the Voice of the Customer to Enterprise Strategy

Partner with functions across the business to identify key customer jobs to be done for the organization.

Conduct foundational research that identifies whitespace and unmet needs for the consumer and help the organization identify where to play and how to win.

Maintain a steady pulse on consumer sentiment and how it ties back to the business.

Shape the Innovation Strategy

Develop a consumer-led perspective on where McDonald’s should innovate (across menu, value platforms and experience) and why, identifying priority opportunity spaces based on consumer needs, behaviors, cultural shifts, and business opportunities.

Translate consumer learning into clear innovation territories, strategic choices, and implications for the innovation pipeline.

Partner with Menu Strategy, Culinary, Supply Chain and Marketing teams to connect near-term innovation priorities with longer-term growth opportunities.

Bring an integrated consumer perspective to portfolio decisions, helping leaders understand where innovation can create incremental demand versus simply shifting existing customer behavior.

Identify emerging behaviors and changing expectations before they become fully established trends.

Embed insights at the earliest stages of innovation, before concepts and solutions have been predetermined.

Ensure Innovation Connects with our Customers

Help teams move from broad opportunity spaces to compelling and concrete propositions, concepts, and experiences.

Conduct concept testing and product tests to ensure that ideas and product tests to ensure that innovation ideas and products resonate with our customers.

Inform future optimizations and evolutions to better land ideas and products with customers and restaurants.

Build Strategic Acumen

Develop a holistic view of what McDonald’s is learning across innovation initiatives rather than evaluating individual ideas in isolation.

Identify common consumer themes, emerging opportunities, and potential gaps across the pipeline.

Connect innovation learning with broader Customer Insights work, including brand, value, menu architecture, segmentation, and customer behavior.

Help organization build muscle-memory on the things that work and don’t work in innovation.

Lead and Develop a High-Performing Insights Team

Lead and develop a high-performing insights team of 4 individuals.

Build organizational capability in applying insights and behavioral science to business decisions.

Foster a culture of curiosity, transparency, and impact.

Continue to advance tools and capabilities to adapt to the future needs of the business and customer

Qualifications

Required

10+ years in consumer insights, innovation strategy, brand strategy, marketing strategy, or related disciplines, ideally within consumer-facing businesses.

Demonstrated experience shaping innovation from opportunity identification through concept or proposition development and commercialization.

Strong command of qualitative and quantitative consumer research approaches.

Ability to synthesize consumer, cultural, marketplace, and business information into actionable strategies.

Exceptional storytelling and executive communication skills.

Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams.

Experience leading complex, highly visible initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.

Strong strategic judgment and ability to distinguish an interesting consumer observation from a meaningful business opportunity.

Strongly in-tune to new and innovative practices in consumer insights.

Experience leading and developing high-performing teams.

Must live in Chicago area.

Preferred

Experience within QSR, restaurants, CPG, retail, or another high-frequency consumer business.

Experience with food, beverage, or menu innovation.

Familiarity with emerging approaches to innovation research, experimentation, and agile learning.

Experience managing external insights, strategy, or innovation partners.

Compensation

Bonus Eligible: -

Long - Term Incentive: Yes

Benefits Eligible: Yes

The position offers health and welfare benefits, including but not limited to comprehensive health insurance, which includes medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental and vision coverage, as well as, life insurance.

Salary Range

The expected salary range for this role is $178,121.00 - $222,651.00 per year

The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors.

Additional Information:

Benefits eligible: This position offers health and welfare benefits, including but not limited to comprehensive health insurance, which includes medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental and vision coverage, as well as, life insurance.

Bonus eligible: This position is eligible for a bonus, calculated based on individual and company performance.

Long term Incentive eligible: This position is eligible for stock or other equity grants pursuant to McDonald’s long-term incentive plan.

McDonald’s is an equal opportunity employer. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone. McDonald’s provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities as part of the application or hiring process or to perform the essential functions of their job. If you need assistance accessing or reading this job posting or otherwise feel you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please contact mcdhrbenefits@us.mcd.com. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

McDonald’s provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (including pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, disability status, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, protected military or veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Nothing in this job posting or description should be construed as an offer or guarantee of employment.