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.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Innovation, or a related field
- 12+ years of experience in marketing, brand strategy, innovation, or related fields
- Track record of leading end-to-end initiatives from insight generation through execution and scaling
- Strong experience with marketing analytics and insights platforms such as Tableau, Adobe Analytics, or Google Analytics
- Experience with test-and-learn frameworks, A/B testing tools, and experimentation platforms
- Familiarity with CRM and digital marketing ecosystems, including Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or paid media platforms
- Experience with qualitative and quantitative consumer research tools and methodologies
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office and presentation tools, including PowerPoint
- Strong strategic thinking, cross-functional influence, storytelling, communication, collaboration, and project management skills
- MBA or advanced degree, especially in strategy, innovation, or consumer insights
- Experience in QSR, restaurant, retail, or consumer packaged goods industries
- Certification in Design Thinking, Agile Marketing, or innovation methodologies such as IDEO, Scrum, or Lean Startup
Wingstop Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Wingstop and has not been reviewed or approved by Wingstop.
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Healthcare Strength — Corporate-owned locations and corporate roles include medical, dental, and vision coverage for eligible employees. Some franchise and management postings also note access to health insurance.
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Retirement Support — Managers and corporate roles can access a 401(k) and, in some cases, a team member stock purchase program. These options provide retirement savings pathways where offered.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing programming includes wellness events or reimbursements and 24/7 mental-health support for eligible employees. Restaurant roles commonly include a free shift meal and food discounts.
Wingstop Insights
What We Do
Sure, we’re The Wing Experts, but it’s our flavor that defines us. You taste it in our 12 signature sauces, you see it through our bold TV commercials, and you feel it when you walk through our doors. It’s what we like to call a flavor experience, and since the opening of our first restaurant in 1994 in Garland, Texas, it’s been our mission to Serve the World Flavor. Fast forward over 30 years and we’ve done just that. With more than 3000 locations globally, we’ve established ourselves as one of the fastest growing restaurant brands in the industry. Our fresh wings satisfy your hunger in a way nothing else can, and we’d like to think our workplace is just as unique as our made-from-scratch ranch dressing. We’ve got the opportunity you’ve been craving whether you’re looking for something at our restaurant support center in Dallas, or in the field supporting our team members in-restaurant. For people who demand flavor in everything from their food to their career, Wingstop is the answer. We’re a brand that can’t be duplicated, with a momentum that can’t be slowed – let us show you what Team Wing is all about! Visit www.wingstop.com/careers for more information and follow our page to stay updated with all things Wingstop.
