Principal Design Lead - Environments

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Job description

Overview:
The Principal Design Lead in Restaurant Design is a corporate professional position responsible for providing strategies, systems and design solutions that align with enterprise business initiatives and drive the future of our restaurant designs. Given the explosive growth of mobile, along with the changing, complex demands of our business and customers, the Principal Design Lead will play a key role in Chick-fil-A's effort to build scalable and differentiated environments & experiences.

As a Principal Design Lead on the Restaurant Design Team, you will be responsible for leading a design-thinking approach to human-centered design to create experiences and environments that are industry-leading and relevant to our guests, team members, and Operators. Human-centered design is both a mindset and an iterative process for understanding people's motivations and needs and responding to those needs through the development of creative solutions that provide value to both them and the business.

As part of a multidisciplinary team, you will tackle all aspects of the design process from defining the opportunity to solve, imagining a range of ideas/solutions, physical and/or digital prototyping and validating design solutions for our restaurant chain. You must be able to clearly define project goals and parameters in an ambiguous state of imagining future needs of the business. You must be an ambitious problem solver, flexible, and able to succeed within a cross-functional environment. The ideal candidate for this position will be at ease combining business strategy with design methodologies to execute ideas into solid designs and experiences that meet the needs of our business, as well as translating the design process and resulting solution for multiple audiences inside and outside of the organization.

This role will provide Design expertise within the area of Environment (Inside Guest Experience, Interiors and Exterior Brand Expression) initiatives that will have a broad impact across the organization:

Develop and communicate the vision & strategy of restaurant environments for a growing portfolio of existing and new building designs

Provide guidance on how various organizational initiatives will impact the environment design of New Restaurants, Existing Restaurants, and Custom Projects

Create design solutions and experiences that focus on elevating and connecting with our Guests while also creating growth opportunities for Operators

Lead the development of future restaurant environments focused on future drivers of change such as digital sales channels, sustainability and personalized connection.

Ensure innovation process includes various approvals/inputs from key stakeholder such as Operators, Field Operations, Marketing, Brand, Risk Management and Restaurant Development teams

Leverage key insights from Operators, Team Members, Guests, and industry trends to identify future design solutions

Consult across the business on expert knowledge of environment design principles

Build and manage appropriate cross-functional teams and partners from across the business to ensure successful design solutions

Collaborate with brand strategists, graphic designers, architects, construction, service & hospitality and digital experience designers to enhance environments and create holistic design solutions

Our Flexible Future model offers a healthy mix of working in person and virtually, strengthening key elements of the Chick-fil-A culture by fostering collaboration and community.

Responsibilities:
Lead development of the project plans including:
Scope

Project Team - internal staff, consultants, agencies, and vendors

Master Service Agreements, Scope of Work documents

Timelines

Budgets

Oversee and be accountable for Design Innovation consultants, contractors, and vendors. Specifically, responsible for building and managing outsourcing/agency strategy for various workstreams

Provide initiative report outs to executive leadership

Identify a communication plan to keep key stakeholders informed

Lead the design of all innovation phases of a project, from translating themes into visual concepts, through design development and refinement

Lead the selection of interior and exterior furniture, fixtures, finish palettes, and interior and exterior lighting that is aligned with our brand strategy for multiple restaurant programs

Lead Operator and Team Member innovation sessions to vet new design solutions

Create and manage both low and high-fidelity design deliverables for testing

Lead development of working drawings for field installs and/or test simulations

Lead role during test simulations to gain insights on design solutions thru research and observation

Manage documentation of learnings, creation of guidelines and development of design criteria

Deliver final design guidelines to Integration / Standards team

Collaborate with Integration / Standards team to ensure design intent is met during the development and consult with execution team to confirm communication of solution guidelines can deliver the design intent to the field

Minimum Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in design (Service Design, Industrial Design, Architecture, Interior Design, etc.) or Design Management

6 + years' of experience in restaurant design, customer experience or innovation management

Understanding of the interplay of Brand - Design - Communication

Current knowledge of industry trends in retail store and restaurant design including furniture and finishes

Experience managing external architectural and/or design team

Ability to communicate design with hand sketches/drawings

Skilled in the visual, written and verbal communication of design ideas

Strong computer skills with proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Suite,

Preferred Qualifications:
Master's degree

8 years of experience in restaurant design, customer experience or innovation management

Chick-fil-A corporate or Chick-fil-A Restaurant experience

Innovative conceptualizer, yet has disciplined approaches to accomplishing work

Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills

Experience managing external architectural and/or design consultants

Ability to work in a highly collaborative environment within a team approach to accomplishing objectives

Ability to adapt and flex within the context of changing priorities

Ability to simultaneously manage multiple priorities/projects in various stages of completion

Strong computer skills with proficiency Bluebeam, Miro, and other applicable design software to convey an idea or design

Minimum Years of Experience:
6

Travel Requirements:
25%

Required Level of Education:
Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Level of Education:
Master's Degree

Major/Concentration:
Design (Service Design, Industrial Design, Architecture, Interior Design, etc.) or Design Management

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