Job Description

Job Description:

Company Description: 

McDonald’s growth strategy, Accelerating the Arches, encompasses all aspects of our business as the leading global omni-channel restaurant brand. As the consumer landscape shifts we are using our competitive advantages to further strengthen our brand. One of our core growth strategies is to Double Down on the 3Ds (Delivery, Digital and Drive Thru). McDonald’s will accelerate technology innovation so 65M+ customers a day will experience a fast, easy experience, whether at one of our 25,000 and growing Drive thrus, through McDelivery, dine-in or takeaway.  

McDonald’s Global Technology is here to power tomorrow’s feel-good moments.  

That’s why you’ll find us at the forefront of transformative technology, exploring new and innovative ways to serve our millions of customers and spread happiness one delicious Hot Fudge Sundae-dipped fry at a time. Using AI, robotics and emerging tech, we’re digitizing the Golden Arches. Combine that with our unparalleled global scale, and we’re reshaping all areas of the business, industry and every community that is home to a McDonald’s restaurant. We face complex tech challenges every day. But that’s where our diverse and talented teams come in. They’re made up of the best and brightest from all over the globe, and they thrive in the space where feel-good meets fast-paced.  

Check out the McDonald’s Global Technology Technical Blog to learn how technology and our global team are directly enabling the Accelerating the Arches strategy.  

Department Overview

As the Sr. Manager, Database Lead, you will lead the global modernization of our enterprise data platform, including the strategic migration from AWS Redshift to Google Cloud BigQuery. In this high-impact role, you will architect and manage the implementation of a cloud-native data platform capable of supporting analytics and operations at global scale-spanning multiple regions, business units, and regulatory environments.

This position requires deep hands-on expertise in GCP (particularly BigQuery), Redshift, and large-scale data platform design, along with proven leadership in cloud migration projects. You will lead a distributed team of data engineers and cloud architects, collaborating with global stakeholders across data science, analytics, IT, and business operations to drive adoption and success.

Your mission will include building a highly performant, secure, and cost-optimized BigQuery environment that supports real-time and batch analytics, self-service BI, and machine learning use cases. The role also demands strong governance, scalability, and resiliency planning across diverse data sources and international compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, APAC standards).

Duties

Primary Responsibilities:

  • BigQuery Architecture Design
    • Design scalable, efficient, and cost-optimized BigQuery data warehouse solutions based on business and technical requirements.
    • Define data modeling standards, partitioning, clustering, and optimization strategies.
  • Data Integration and Pipeline Development
    • Lead the design and implementation of data ingestion pipelines using GCP services (e.g., Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage).
    • Work with ETL/ELT tools (e.g., Apache Beam, dbt, Airflow) to ensure smooth data movement into BigQuery.
  • Performance Tuning and Optimization
    • Monitor and tune query performance, manage slot reservations, and optimize cost efficiency in BigQuery workloads.
    • Implement caching, materialized views, and query rewriting to reduce latency and improve throughput.
  • Security and Compliance
    • Define and enforce data access policies, IAM roles, and data classification for secure BigQuery environments.
    • Ensure compliance with data governance policies, including GDPR, HIPAA, or industry-specific regulations.
  • Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
    • Collaborate with data scientists, analysts, engineers, and business stakeholders to understand data requirements.
    • Translate business needs into scalable BigQuery solutions.
  • Tooling and Automation
    • Develop tools and automation scripts for deployment, monitoring, and auditing BigQuery resources.
    • Implement CI/CD processes for data pipelines and schema changes using Cloud Build, GitOps, etc.
  • Documentation and Best Practices
    • Create and maintain documentation for data architecture, models, pipelines, and processes.
    • Establish best practices for BigQuery development, testing, and operations.
  • Training and Mentorship
    • Mentor data engineering teams and provide guidance on GCP BigQuery development.
    • Deliver internal training or knowledge-sharing sessions on GCP data tools and architecture patterns.
  • Innovation and Evaluation
    • Stay current with GCP offerings, new features in BigQuery, and evaluate emerging technologies for potential adoption.
    • Provide recommendations for technology adoption to improve data infrastructure.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of hand’s-on experience in Database Architecture, Database Management, Database Performance Tuning, with at least 5 years in a strategic leadership capacity.
  • Strong hands-on and strategic experience with database architecture.
  • 5+ years leading engagements with cloud providers for enhancing database capabilities including multi-cluster data sharing.
  • 7+ years of experience leading Global Database Architecture Teams.
  • 7+ years of experience of vendor management.
  • Hand’s-on experience in database cloud migrations including both on-premise to cloud and cloud-to-cloud.
  • Cloud platforms: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • Enterprise data warehouses such as Big Query, Redshift, and Snowflake
  • SQL
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to work across highly matrixed, global organizations.
  • Exceptional communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.
  • Bachelor’s or master’s degree in data science, Information Systems, or a related field.

Preferred Experience:

  • Experience in Retail or Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) environments with operational and real-time analytics needs.
  • Familiarity with data mesh concepts, data product ownership, and domain-based accessibility strategies.
  • Experience navigating privacy, residency, or regulatory compliance in global data environments.
  • Current GCP Professional & AWS Professional Certifications.

Compensation

Bonus Eligible: Yes

Long - Term Incentive: Yes

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Salary Range

Salary Ranges-$149,260.00 - $190,310.00

Additional Information: 

Benefits eligible: This position offers health and welfare benefits, a 401(k) plan, adoption assistance program, educational assistance program, flexible ways of working, and time off policies (including sick leave, parental leave, and vacation/PTO). Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on job classification and length of employment.  

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 committed to the diversity of our workforce. 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. 

Application Instructions

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