Manager, Site Reliability Engineering

The Manager, Site Reliability Engineering for KFC US leads the engineering team responsible for the reliability and day-to-day operation of key infrastructure supporting KFC US restaurant technology, including cloud infrastructure, restaurant connectivity and in-store edge systems. The role has a particular focus on in-store edge infrastructure and restaurant connectivity, leading delivery, operational excellence and continuous improvement in partnership with KFC US technology leadership and Global Reliability Engineering. The leader develops engineers, strengthens documentation and cross-training, and helps ensure the platform is reliable, secure, supportable and scalable.

Responsibilities

Platform direction and architecture - Contribute to the technical roadmap for KFC US infrastructure across cloud, networking, systems and in-store infrastructure, aligned with KFC US and Global Reliability Engineering strategy. Gather requirements from KFC US digital, product, back-of-house and restaurant operations partners and translate them into infrastructure and reliability requirements. Participate in architecture and design reviews and ensure solutions meet established standards for scalability, resilience, security and operability. Evaluate emerging technologies and provide recommendations to engineering leadership.

In-store edge infrastructure and restaurant connectivity (the deep spike) - Lead engineering and operational execution for the in-store compute and connectivity platform across KFC US restaurants, including device management, image and configuration management, hardware lifecycle and fleet rollout. Lead implementation and ongoing improvement of restaurant network configurations and support practices within established PCI, SOX and enterprise standards. Partner with enterprise platform engineering teams to adopt and implement shared in-store patterns across KFC US.

Cloud and systems engineering - Lead the implementation and operation of cloud infrastructure for KFC US workloads using infrastructure as code and automated delivery pipelines. Support sizing, capacity planning and configuration decisions for software and equipment acquisitions. Implement and maintain patching and maintenance plans aligned with enterprise standards.

Reliability and operations - Lead day-to-day reliability and operational performance of the platform, including service level objectives, monitoring and observability, incident response and post-incident reviews. Manage a sustainable on-call model and identify opportunities to reduce after-hours support burden. Drive automation that reduces operational toil, improves reliability and makes restaurant technology deployments safer and more repeatable. Track recurring reliability issues and ensure corrective actions are completed.

Security and compliance - Implement established security practices across cloud and in-store infrastructure, including identity and access, secrets, certificates and network segmentation. Partner with Yum Cyber Security to identify vulnerabilities and coordinate remediation. Ensure platform changes follow established audit, security and compliance requirements.

Vendor and third-party management - Participate in technical evaluations of third-party cloud, software, hardware and connectivity solutions. Manage day-to-day vendor and contractor relationships supporting the platform, including delivery oversight and technical coordination. Monitor third-party service performance and escalate issues when service commitments are not being met.

Team leadership - Lead and develop the existing KFC US engineering team, including coaching, performance management, cross-training and onboarding. Build documentation and cross-training so critical platform knowledge is shared across the team. Set team priorities based on direction established with KFC US and Global Reliability Engineering leadership. Communicate delivery, operational risks and priorities to stakeholders. Lead with the Yum! behaviors of People Grower, Influencer and Results-Focused.

Qualifications

Education and certifications - BS in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent professional experience - Cloud, networking or security certifications desirable

Experience - 8+ years in infrastructure, platform or reliability engineering, including 2+ years leading or mentoring engineers. Strong experience across cloud infrastructure, networking, systems or delivery pipelines, with depth in at least one area; in-store edge and restaurant connectivity preferred. Experience designing or operating production workloads in a major public cloud using infrastructure as code and configuration automation. Experience with restaurant, retail or other distributed in-store/edge technology is strongly preferred. Working knowledge of network infrastructure, PCI and related security requirements. Practical experience with reliability engineering, including monitoring, incident management, runbooks and on-call operations. Experience working with vendors or engineering contractors. Experience supporting business-critical production systems

Skills - Strong written and verbal communication; consults with senior leaders within the brand and across Yum! - Recognized leader who mentors and grows less experienced engineers - Scripting and automation in a general-purpose language; working knowledge of identity and access management and single sign-on - Platform breadth, meaning real range across disciplines and not expertise in one area at the expense of others - Service orientation: treats engineering teams and restaurant operations as customers of the platform - Clear prioritization communication: stakeholders always understand what is being built, what is not, and why

Bonus skills and experience - Experience converging a brand-specific platform onto a shared enterprise platform - Experience with observability platforms and security compliance frameworks - Experience in a multi-brand or multi-region enterprise engineering environment

Salary Range: $148,900 to $205,400 annually + bonus eligibility. This is the expected salary range for this position. Ultimately, in determining pay, we'll consider the successful candidate’s location, experience, and other job-related factors.