Senior Manager, Food Operations, Innovation & Support

Sr. Manager, Food Operations, Innovation & Support

The Sr. Manager, Food Operations, Innovation & Support will manage a portfolio of New Product Development and projects, from ideation through deployment, by leveraging core project management, knowledge of Panera operations, collaboration with our Culinary team in the Boston Culinary Center, and creative problem solving skills to ensure new food products are fully vetted for national deployment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Integral part of the team that contributes to accuracy and operational readiness of products and programs that lead to successful Celebration and off-Celebration introductions.
• Partner with our Culinary team in the Boston Culinary Center to understand operational complexity and impacts of new products during the Development phase.
• Manage tests for new food products, ensuring projects are delivered on time, fully vetted, ready for national deployment, and adhere to high quality standards and meeting customer expectations.
• Ability to communicate, collaborate, and build partnerships across the organization to as a conduit between several support center departments, facilitating rollout efforts for new products, smallwares, and strategic company initiatives.
• Responsible for assembling project plans, identifying resource needs, performing quality reviews, and escalating issues appropriately.
• Ability to brainstorm and bring ideas to life, apply judgement on which ideas/suggestions will work within Panera’s framework and manage through the innovation process.
• Provide influence and leadership skills needed in order to work with project team members and resolve issues to ensure project goals and requirements are met.
• Provide timely, accurate status updates to team members and stakeholders.
• Responsible for tracking key project milestones and adjusting project plans and/or resources to meet the needs of customers.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent preferred.
• 3 years’ experience in restaurant operations environment needed, Panera operations optimal.
• Experience in project management or project planning.
• Detail-orientated and curious, able to quickly evaluate inter-dependencies between projects and programs, and use analytics and creative problem-solving skills to identify a clear pathway to best solutions.
• Ability to multitask, prioritize and balance varying workloads to ensure delivery of high-quality results.
• Elevated performance in a fast-paced, time-sensitive environment with demonstrated ability to complete projects on time based on scope, people/resources and business value.
• Outstanding communication and cross-departmental team building skills with the ability to effectively persuade through oral and written means.
• Strong Microsoft Office skills (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.)
• Outstanding communication skills with the ability to effectively persuade through oral and written means.
• Detail-orientated, possess strong analytics and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time depending on project needs.

What Panera Offers:

• We offer an energetic and colorful place to work where you can be your authentic self and are surrounded by other people who want to be here.
• You will have a clear impact on operations by playing a key role in decisions made to enable operators to deliver world class service.
• You will learn a lot about what is required to: introduce change into an organization, incorporate it into everyday operations, and ensure it is sustained over time.
• You get to play hard, have fun at work, and participate in our culture of helping those around you.
• The chance to join a passionate, collaborative, fast growing team.

Salary: $104,942 - $146,918

Equal Opportunity Employer: Disabled/Veterans

The actual pay offered will be determined by multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, and geographical location. Individual compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

Newton Support Center