Product Operations Lead

Product Operations Lead at Yum! Brands (Taco Bell) bridges restaurant operations, business strategy, and product development, translating operational challenges into actionable product direction and partnering with TPMs to drive labor-management improvements.

Responsibilities

• Develop deep expertise in restaurant labor operations, covering scheduling, staffing, compliance, and labor cost management
• Identify and prioritize high-impact operational pain points through field engagement, data analysis, and stakeholder input
• Translate ambiguous operational challenges into clearly defined problem statements with measurable success criteria
• Define the strategic vision for labor management capabilities aligned with goals such as margin improvement, efficiency, and scalability
• Partner with TPMs to shape product roadmaps based on business value, ROI, and operational impact
• Establish guardrails and principles for product solutions, balancing flexibility with control and automation with manual workflows
• Act as the primary liaison between operations, business leadership, and technical product teams
• Provide operational context and validation during product design and development
• Partner with TPMs to ensure solutions account for real-world complexity, edge cases, and adoption risks
• Foster trusted partnerships across franchise leaders and home office teams to align on evolving business needs and expectations for product solutions
• Define rollout strategies and oversee change management in collaboration with operations and product teams
• Collaborate with franchise leadership and corporate teams to plan, execute, and evaluate solutions with clear objectives, timelines, risks, and outcomes
• Champion franchise engagement throughout the innovation lifecycle to maximize field input, testing, and adoption impact
• Align incentives, processes, and expectations to accelerate product adoption
• Measure and monitor business impact on labor allocation, productivity, schedule accuracy, compliance, and usability
• Travel to test markets (approximately 15 to 25 percent) to collect feedback, measure impact, and inform prioritization
• Iterate on strategy based on performance data and stakeholder feedback
• Leverage data to quantify problems, validate hypotheses, and assess product impact
• Partner with analytics teams to define key metrics and reporting frameworks
• Promote a culture of outcome-based decision making over feature-driven delivery

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• At least 8 years in product management and strategic decision making, with experience in influencing and presenting to stakeholders; proficient in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Adobe
• Experience performing data analysis and developing business cases
• Self-motivated and adaptable to change, capable of quick, effective decisions, and open to feedback
• Ability to work independently and lead conversations and projects with minimal guidance
• Strong communication skills
• Process-driven problem solver with the ability to analyze complex scenarios and make key decisions

Technologies

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• Adobe

Benefits

• Hybrid work schedule with onsite Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, plus a Friday flex day
• Onsite childcare through Bright Horizons
• Onsite dining center and game room
• Onsite dry cleaning, laundry services, and car wash
• Onsite gym with fitness classes and personal trainer sessions
• Up to 4 weeks of vacation per year, plus holidays and time off for volunteering
• Generous parental leave and adoption assistance program
• 401(k) with 6% matching contribution and immediate vesting
• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage including prescription benefits and 100% preventive care
• Discounts, free food, swag, and other additional employee perks

Compensation

• Annual salary range: USD 121,600 – 142,900
• Bonus eligibility and benefits included

Work authorization

We do not provide visa sponsorship or immigration support for this position. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time, permanent basis without sponsorship.