The posting
Job Description
WHO WE ARE
We’re not in the wing business. We’re in the flavor business. It’s been our mission to Serve the World Flavor since we first opened in 1994, and we’re just getting started. 1997 saw the opening of our first brand partner operated Wingstop location, and by 2002 we had served the world one billion wings. It’s flavor that defines us and has made Wingstop one of the fastest growing brands in the restaurant industry.
Above all else – our success is largely due to our people and our core values, or what we call The Wingstop Way of being entrepreneurial, service-minded, fun, and authentic. We believe having a strong people foundation centered on these collective values creates a crave-worthy culture and talented team, as well as ensures our brand is poised for accelerated growth. We all win together.
WHAT WE’LL NEED
The Senior Director, Growth Innovation is responsible for defining and leading Wingstop's innovation strategy to drive sustainable, profitable growth while strengthening the brand's relevance with consumers. This role oversees a diversified portfolio of growth initiatives spanning menu innovation, national value strategy, guest occasions, packaging, and experience innovation, ensuring Wingstop continues to evolve in ways that are culturally relevant, operationally executable, financially impactful, and true to the brand.
As the leader of Wingstop's growth innovation capability, this role will build and operate a high-performing innovation engine that transforms consumer insights, cultural trends, and business opportunities into scalable growth platforms. Working cross-functionally across Brand, Culinary, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, and Analytics, the Senior Director will establish the processes, governance, and strategic roadmap that accelerate innovation from idea to commercialization.
Success in this role requires balancing long-term strategic thinking with disciplined execution—building a healthy pipeline of innovations that drive measurable business results, strengthen brand relevance, deepen guest engagement, and reinforce Wingstop's competitive advantage.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
Growth Innovation Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
- Develop and lead Wingstop's enterprise growth innovation strategy aligned to long-term business objectives.
- Own a balanced innovation portfolio across menu, flavors, national value, guest occasions, packaging, and experience innovation.
- Identify future growth opportunities through consumer insights, market trends, competitive intelligence, and cultural signals.
- Prioritize investments across short-term wins, mid-term growth initiatives, and long-term innovation platforms.
Innovation Pipeline & Commercialization
- Own the end-to-end innovation pipeline from opportunity identification through testing, commercialization, national launch, and post-launch optimization.
- Establish a repeatable innovation operating model that enables speed, disciplined decision making, and cross-functional alignment.
- Ensure every initiative has a clear business case, revenue hypothesis, and defined success metrics tied to traffic, sales, margin, and guest engagement.
Test, Learn & Scale
- Lead a structured test-and-learn agenda across products, value architecture, guest occasions, packaging, and experience innovations.
- Define clear success criteria and decision frameworks to scale, iterate, or discontinue initiatives.
- Translate insights into action by rapidly iterating based on guest feedback, operational feasibility, and business performance.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner across Brand Marketing, Partnerships, Culinary, Operations, Supply Chain, Digital, Finance, Consumer Insights, and Analytics to deliver innovation initiatives successfully.
- Balance consumer desirability with operational feasibility and franchise profitability.
- Influence senior leadership and build alignment around innovation priorities and investment decisions.
Performance & Continuous Improvement
- Measure innovation performance through portfolio scorecards and post-launch evaluations.
- Optimize the innovation portfolio based on financial performance, guest adoption, operational execution, and strategic impact.
- Continuously improve innovation processes, governance, and capabilities to strengthen Wingstop's long-term growth engine.
Team Leadership
- Build and develop a high-performing innovation team that fosters curiosity, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Champion a culture of consumer-centric thinking, disciplined experimentation, and data-driven decision making across the organization.
Success Measures
Success in this role will be measured by:
- Incremental sales, traffic, and profitability generated through innovation.
- Strength and health of the growth innovation pipeline.
- Speed from concept to commercialization.
- Innovation portfolio ROI and test-to-scale conversion.
- Growth in brand relevance, cultural resonance, and guest engagement through innovation.
- Guest adoption, repeat purchase, and frequency.
- Franchisee satisfaction and operational execution.
- Development of sustainable enterprise innovation capabilities that position Wingstop for long-term growth.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Innovation, or a related field required
- MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred, especially with a focus on strategy, innovation, or consumer insights
- 12+ years of experience in marketing, brand strategy, innovation, or related fields
- Experience within QSR, restaurant, retail, or consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries strongly preferred
- Demonstrated track record of leading end-to-end initiatives—from insight generation through execution and scaling
- Preferred (not required): certifications in Design Thinking, Agile Marketing, or Innovation methodologies (e.g., IDEO, Scrum, Lean Startup) People skills
- Strong experience with marketing analytics and insights platforms (e.g., Tableau, Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics)
- Experience with test-and-learn frameworks, A/B testing tools, and experimentation platforms
- Familiarity with CRM and digital marketing ecosystems (e.g., Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, paid media platforms)
- Comfort working with consumer research tools and methodologies (qualitative and quantitative)
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office and presentation tools (PowerPoint) to synthesize and communicate ideas clearly
- Strong strategic thinking with the ability to connect consumer insights to business outcomes
- Highly collaborative with proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority
- Excellent storytelling and communication skills—able to sell ideas and bring stakeholders along the journey
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity and leading through change in a fast-paced environment
- High level of curiosity, creativity, and willingness to challenge the status quo
- Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously
WHO YOU ARE
No job is too small. You recognize that the real work happens in the restaurants, and everything we do should support their success. You stay humble, roll up your sleeves, and always look for ways to help. You learn from others and contribute wherever you can.
You care deeply about doing great work and driving results. You’re curious, ask questions, and seek out opportunities to improve. You don’t just point out problems—you bring solutions, ideas, and perspectives that move the team forward.
You take full responsibility for your work and see things through to completion. You aren’t afraid to fail because you know that failure is a part of learning and growth. You take action, move fast, and keep pushing forward.
You lead with empathy, respect, and emotional intelligence. You collaborate effectively, fostering a culture of trust and constructive feedback. You understand the importance of teamwork and ensure that your actions build others up rather than break them down.
You push yourself and others to be better. You embrace healthy conflict, knowing that great ideas and strong teams emerge from honest, constructive conversations. You believe that leaders create leaders and are committed to fostering a culture of growth, challenge, and continuous improvement.
BENEFITS
FLAVOR PERKS:
- Unlimited paid time off for exempt employees
- One paid volunteer day of your choice
- Competitive bonus structure for eligible roles
- Team member stock purchase plan
- Health savings or flexible spending account options
- 401k – (dollar for dollar on the first 3% and then 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2% for team member contributions up to 5% of eligible compensation)
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
- Basic life and AD&D insurance provided
- Pet insurance
- Education Assistance
- Wellness reimbursement program
- Paid maternity and paternity leave
FUN IS THE BEST FLAVOR:
- Lunch provided every Tuesday and Thursday in office
- Discount on Wingstop gift cards
- Onsite game room
Wingstop provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.
