Company Description:

McDonald’s is proud to be one of the most recognized brands in the world, with restaurants in over 100 countries that serve 70 million customers daily. We continue to operate from a position of strength. Our updated growth strategy is focused on staying ahead of what our customers want and realizing further growth potential. Our relentless ambition is why McDonald’s remains one of the world’s leading corporations after almost 70 years. Joining McDonald's means thinking big and preparing for a career that can have influence around the world.

At McDonald’s, we see every day as a chance to create positive impact. We lead through our values centered on inclusivity, service, integrity, community and family. From support of Ronald McDonald House Charities to our Youth Opportunity project and sustainability initiatives, our values keep us dedicated to using our scale for good: good for our customers, people, industry and planet. We also offer a broad range of outstanding benefits including a sabbatical program, tuition assistance and flexible work arrangements.

We are enjoying the flexibility of a hybrid work model, in which employees spend part of their week connecting with co-workers in our state-of-the-art headquarters. Located in the booming West Loop of downtown Chicago, it's set up to be a global hub that cultivates collaboration:

• Take a class at Hamburger University

• Sample future items in our Test Kitchen

• Utilize the latest technology to connect with your team around the globe

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of our crew members, staff, operators, and suppliers. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone.

Job Description:

Role is responsible for elevating the voice of the consumer in McDonald’s Marketing Strategy and modernizing the approach to recruiting and retaining future brand fans. The Director, Audience Strategy, will partner with Director, Brand Strategy (Daypart Leads) to embed consumer and cultural insights into foundational brand growth strategies to drive market share growth across the identified target audiences. This role will serve as a subject matter expert to the broader Marketing organization and will develop, maintain alignment, and advocacy of the audience-specific strategies with internal and external partners, including franchisees/committees, agencies (national and local), and leadership to drive collective buy-in and necessary investments to implement audience-specific strategies.   

Primary Accountabilities:  

• Consult with Director, Brand Strategy (Daypart Leads) to influence and shape the overall audience strategy and macro priorities audiences through a customer-centric lens.  

• Lead the team in translating the overall business strategy into specific marketing and audience strategies to drive market share growth for the respective audiences.  

• Drive cross-functional collaboration with InternalTeams (Consumer & Business Insights, Corp Communications, Marketing Functions) to ensure audience strategies are integrated into broader marketing efforts. Includes all stages of the go-to-marketing process, such as brief, development, execution, and success metrics for tactical plans, including optimization recommendations based on results.  

• Partner with field marketing teams to develop a local playbook for audience activation and efforts across local marketing levers in alignment with System roles & responsibilities as well as audience go-to-market best practices.  

• Develop and manage KPIs that track the effectiveness of audience strategies to achieve business goals.  

• Present performance reports to senior leadership and key stakeholders (internal and external); to share progress to date and recommended optimizations as needed 

• Serve as the primary point of contact for multicultural committees, building and maintaining strong relationships to secure advocacy for the respective audience strategy, tactical plans, and investments; lead committee meetings and agenda development while ensuring works align back to system and audience-specific priorities. 

Qualifications:

• BA / BS in Marketing, Business Administration or related field. 

• Minimum of 8-10+ years marketing strategy, audience development or related field  

• Executive leadership experience and minimum of 5+ years of team / direct people leadership  

• Experience working / influencing franchisees and owner / operators  

• Experience in developing integrated Multicultural strategies is preferred 

• Expertise in translating business/marketing strategies into audience-centric strategies 

• Strong leadership and team management skills, including cross-functional collaboration and partnership  

• Experience working with franchisees and owner/ operators and multi-agency model  

• Exceptional communication and presentation skills 

   

Additional Information:

McDonald’s is an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of our workforce. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone. McDonald’s provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities as part of the application or hiring process or to perform the essential functions of their job. If you need assistance accessing or reading this job posting or otherwise feel you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please contact mcdhrbenefits@us.mcd.com. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

McDonald’s provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (including pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, disability status, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, protected military or veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Nothing in this job posting or description should be construed as an offer or guarantee of employment.

Requsition ID: REF8196Y_744000028162506