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Yum! Brands · 1 week ago

Sr. Manager, Design Operations

Plano, TX

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$153K/yr - $198K/yr

10+ years exp

Yum! Brands is a global leader in the restaurant industry, operating a system of over 59,000 restaurants worldwide. The Senior Manager of Design Operations will be responsible for overseeing design, research, and strategy teams, ensuring effective collaboration and operational maturity within the organization.

Food and BeverageHospitalityRestaurants

Growth Opportunities

Responsibilities

Establish and lead the team operating cadence, including regular ceremonies such as design reviews, critiques, all-hands, milestone showcases, and retrospectives

Partner with design leadership to manage team-wide communications, meeting structures, planning cadences, and operational documentation

Drive visibility and accountability across strategic initiatives, design goals, and cross-functional engagements by managing progress tracking and alignment checkpoints

Help foster a cohesive and inclusive team culture through operational rituals, team engagement strategies, and internal storytelling

Lead the consolidation and governance of Figma across the organization, including shared libraries, permission models, taxonomy, and maintenance practices

Own the strategy, configuration, and administration of core design and research tools (e.g., Figma, UserTesting, Miro, Dovetail, Jira, Confluence), ensuring reliability, scalability, and adoption

Define access protocols, system roles, and training resources for tool usage across multi-disciplinary teams

Manage vendor relationships for design and research platforms, including contracting, license procurement, renewals, and cost forecasting

Partner with Legal, Finance, Procurement, and IT to ensure tool compliance, streamline onboarding/offboarding processes, and optimize spend

Audit existing tool usage to reduce redundancy, improve ROI, and guide long-term platform strategy

Build and scale intake, prioritization, and workflow systems to support how design work is requested, resourced, tracked, and delivered across product spaces

Standardize project management practices across design pods and functions, tailoring them to meet the needs of discovery, delivery, and strategy teams

Maintain clear and current process documentation, change logs, and learning resources that support team onboarding and evolution

Serve as a key operational partner to leaders in Product, Engineering, Brand, Franchise Ops, and Research—connecting design workflows to broader planning cycles and delivery milestones

Anticipate and coordinate cross-functional dependencies and roadblocks to keep execution on track and aligned with business goals

Help shape how the design team interfaces with the broader organization through repeatable engagement models and shared accountability frameworks

Qualification

Design operationsFigma administrationVendor managementOperational planningProcess optimizationCross-functional collaborationTeam facilitationCommunication skillsStrategic thinking

Required

10+ years of relevant experience in design operations, program management, product ops, or operational leadership within creative or digital organizations

Experience driving enterprise-wide tooling consolidation (especially Figma) and managing the administration and governance of creative and research tools

Demonstrated success managing vendor relationships, procurement workflows, contracts, and licensing budgets

Strong operational planning and facilitation skills—able to lead team cadences, coordinate across functions, and translate vision into action

Deep understanding of design methodologies, product development life cycles, and how to scale human-centered design practices

Known for creating clarity, instilling structure, and enabling others to execute with excellence and autonomy

Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree or equivalent experience preferred