Director Restaurants Technology

Job Purpose : The Director of Restaurant Technology is responsible for defining and leading the end-to-end technology strategy that powers Americana's restaurant / QSR ecosystem across 2,600+ restaurants in 12 countries. This role provides strategic direction, governance, and execution oversight for all restaurant-facing technologies across dine-in, delivery, drive-thru, and pickup channels including POS systems, kitchen automation, digital menu boards, kiosks, handheld ordering, drive-thru technology, and transactional cost-control platforms. The Director is accountable for ensuring that all technologies deployed within the restaurants are stable, secure, scalable, and aligned with brand, market, and operational requirements. The role partners closely with Operations, IT, Digital, Procurement, and vendor ecosystems to ensure technology delivers measurable value, improves customer experience, and enhances operational efficiency. A core responsibility of this role is to lead the IT Service Management capability for all restaurant technologies. The Director builds and governs an ITIL-aligned support framework, ensuring disciplined, structured processes across : Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Release & Deployment Management, Service Request & Knowledge Management, Vendor, SLA & Compliance Management. The role ensures that all restaurants receive consistent, high-performing technology support, both onsite and remotely, enabling store managers and frontline teams to operate efficiently and deliver an exceptional customer experience. This leader continuously evaluates innovative and fit-for-purpose solutions that support Americana's growth, operational excellence, and customer-centric mission. Scope : Restaurants Division Across All Markets. Key Responsibilities : As the largest restaurant operator in the MENA region, Americana Restaurants runs 2,600+ restaurants across 12 countries, representing world-leading brands including KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee's, Krispy Kreme, TGI Fridays, Wimpy, Peet's Coffee, and several proprietary brands. Define and lead the Restaurant Technology strategy in alignment with executive leadership. Serve as the primary architect of restaurant technology innovation across all Americana ME markets. Collaborate with Group Technology teams to ensure restaurant-specific requirements are seamlessly delivered. Design, enhance, and customize technology systems that elevate customer experience and empower restaurant employees across all dine-in, drive-thru, delivery, and pickup channels. Select and govern the right technologies to support multi-brand, multi-country operations. Oversee the planning, implementation, pilot phases, and full deployment of all new restaurant systems. Own end-to-end rollout governance including testing cycles, cutover planning, migration, training, documentation, and hyper care. Partner with Brand Leadership, Operations Excellence, Supply Chain, Finance, Digital, and Market GMs to ensure technology solutions meet business needs. Approve the procurement of technology hardware, software, and services. Build and maintain strong partnerships with global and regional vendors. Establish and enforce ITIL-driven processes for Incident, Problem, Change & Release Management, Service Request Fulfillment, Knowledge & Configuration Management. Lead continuous service improvement initiatives. Build and optimize a high-performing Restaurant Technology team with an operating model that combines in-house capabilities with strategic outsourcing. Stay ahead of global QSR and retail technology trends and continuously evaluate advancements that can be piloted and scaled. Education : Bachelor's degree in information technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is required. A master's in technology, Computer Science, or an MBA is strongly preferred and considered a significant advantage. Additional certifications in ITIL, Cloud Technologies, POS Systems are desirable. Experience : 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in a large multi-market and/or multi-brand Quick Service Restaurant companies. Proven experience managing large, geographically distributed teams across multiple countries or regions. Demonstrated capability in leading major transformation initiatives within a retail or restaurant technology ecosystem. Extensive experience working within a franchise-driven operating model of comparable size and complexity to Americana. Strong background in designing, architecting, and implementing restaurant IT systems, including POS, kitchen automation, kiosks, drive-thru, digital menu boards, handheld ordering, and related store technologies. Deep experience in end-to-end IT implementation lifecycle including strategy, design, development, rollout, testing, UAT, deployment, and hyper care. Hands-on experience collaborating with cross-functional teams and global vendors, managing SLAs, and driving service excellence in a high-pressure operational environment. Knowledge : Strong knowledge and work experience with POS NCR Aloha or close equivalent is a must. Excellent knowledge of Restaurant Technology systems and infrastructure, knowledge of NCR Skills. Superior analytical and problem-solving capabilities. A strong strategic and business mindset. Excellent organizational and leadership skills. Outstanding communication and interpersonal abilities. Has the ability to extract and distill requirements, and know how to turn these into reality using technology. Strong business relationship management skills and stakeholder management. Attention to detail and excellent time management skills. Ability to work effectively in a fast paced, dynamic environment – ability to deal with ambiguity and think outside the box. Strong vendor management skills. This is a relocation role to the UAE — please apply only if interested. #J-18808-Ljbffr