Sr. Architect (Restaurant Infrastructure & Operations Platforms)

Company Description:

McDonald’s evolving Accelerating the Arches growth strategy puts our customers and people first, and leverages our competitive advantages to strengthen our brand.  We are recognized on lists like Fortune’s Most Admired Companies and Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.

Doubling Down on the 4Ds (Delivery, Digital, Drive Thru, and Development)

Our growth pillars emphasize the important role technology plays as the leading, global omni-channel restaurant brand. Technology enables the organization through digital technology, and improving the customer, crew and employee experience each and every day.

Global Technology forging the way

Leading the digitization of our business is the Technology organization made up of intrapreneurs who build industry defining tech using the latest innovations and platforms, like AI and edge computing to deliver on the next set of cutting-edge opportunities for the business.  At McDonald’s you get to solve technology innovation challenges at an incredible scale, and work across global teams who are always hungry for a challenge. This provides access to exciting career paths for technologists. It’s bonus points when you get to see your family and friends use the tech you build at their favorite McD restaurant.

Job Description:

This opportunity is part of the Global Technology Infrastructure & Operations team (GTIO), where our mission is to deliver modern and relevant technology that supports the way McDonald’s works. We provide best-in-class foundational technology products and services including Global Networking, Cloud, End User Computing, and IT Service Management. It’s our goal to always provide an engaging, relevant, and simple experience for our customers.

The Senior Architect reports to the Director of the Restaurant Infrastructure & Operations Platform team within Global Technology Infrastructure & Operations (GTIO). The Restaurant Infrastructure & Operations Platform team is responsible for definition and execution of the restaurant infrastructure & operations platform vision, strategy, architecture, integration, and testing. This team is also responsible for defining global restaurant standards, observability/monitoring, patching and security of these platforms, and managing hardware supply, demand, and asset lifecycle.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced technology leader to help shape the transformation of infrastructure and operations products and services to the entire McDonalds environment.

Responsibilities & Accountabilities:

• Lead the definition of future state restaurant infrastructure architecture and drive convergence, standardization, and eventualyl infrastructure as a service (IaaS) for restaurant infrastructure and operations platforms globally
• Understand current state of restaurant infrastructure and operations platforms globally, as well as edge and cloud platform capabilities
• Provide subject-matter expertise for current and future planning, technical architectures, models, and standards
• Partner with cross-functional teams, including Restaurant Hardware Solutions, Cloud Infrastructure & Operations, Service Management Office (SMO), Network Platform team, Restaurant Technology, and other external stakeholders
• Partner with the Restaurant Hardware Solutions teams to align their products with the restaurant infrastructure and operations platform blueprint
• Interpret requirements and code in a way that promotes reusability and maintainability
• Apply key security measures for cloud/edge computing in architecture designs
• Coach and mentor junior technical team members (e.g., architects and engineers) to enhance team performance
• Provide input to maintain consistent restaurant global standards
• Stay updated on evolving technology platforms and design patterns through market assessments, trend analysis, vendor seminars, and professional networks
• Simplify complex problems into practical solutions, leveraging strong data-driven business and technical judgment
• Identify core problems and opportunities in business processes, understanding their root causes and impacts.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of relevant work experience with a bachelor's degree or 8+ years of relevant work experience with a master's degree
• 7+ years of experience in application architecture design
• 3+ years of experience with cloud application architecture and deployment best practices (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP)
• 2+ years of experience with restaurant or retail hardware solutions and platforms
• Azure Solutions Architect or AWS Certified Solutions Architect certified or willingness to obtain in first year
• Demonstrated experience delivering solutions with 3rd party suppliers and offshore resources
• Experience with CI/CD pipeline integration and test automation
• Deep knowledge of persistence architecture, scalability, performance and tuning techniques
• Strong experience with containers (Docker, Kubernetes), configuration management systems, CI build tools, logging and monitoring tools
• Live McDonald’s values: Serve, Inclusion, Integrity, Community, and Family
• Experience delivering high-load digital products/infrastructure with measurable results
• Ability to define infrastructure platform architecture from ambiguous problem statements, driving clarity, opportunity assessment, and tradeoff management using design thinking and agile principles.
• Ability to think strategically and relate architectural decisions and recommendations to business needs
• Proven track record of designing and implementing successful infrastructure platform architectures at scale
• Experience managing technical priorities and driving strategic architectural initiatives
• Strong analytical skills to proactively solve complex problems
• Deep understanding of cloud solution architecture in major cloud service providers (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Proficiency in cloud concepts (e.g., IaaS, serverless architecture, containers, PaaS, storage, Infrastructure as Code, and Identity and Access Management)
• Hands-on experience with IT infrastructure and platform/cloud development including server, edge, IoT compute, virtualization, containerization, container management systems, event/messaging systems, observability systems (performance/telemetry), HA platform design and cloud/hybrid/hyperconvergence environments
• Strong knowledge and application of product development methodologies, including agile and waterfall
• Collaboration with engineering teams to deliver high-quality products
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously with attention to detail and commitment to producing high-quality work.
• Enthusiasm for emerging technology and real-world applications.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills to gain trust by senior stakeholders
• Customer-centric mindset in leading product development

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
• Proficiency in edge and cloud platform design patterns and deployment of edge or cloud tools and technologies
• A strong understanding of vendor platform capabilities
• Ability to effectively influence and partner across product and platform teams within a global engineering organization
• Experience managing infrastructure platforms that address global complexities and regional differences
• Track record of managing program P&L, including financial forecasting to communicate ROI and spend rate

Additional Information:

McDonald’s is committed to providing qualified individuals with reasonable accommodations to perform the essential functions of their jobs. Additionally, if you (or another applicant of whom you are aware) require assistance accessing or reading this job posting or otherwise seek assistance in the application process, please contact recruiting.supportteam@us.mcd.com

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.