Job DescriptionThis role will lead Yum!'s enterprise-wide AI strategy, driving adoption, innovation, and transformation across brands and functions. This leader will oversee the AI Academy, advance AI-first enablement, and guide the development of scalable AI solutions that enhance productivity, operational efficiency, and business performance. Working closely with executive leadership and cross-functional teams, this role will shape AI investment priorities, champion responsible AI adoption, and deliver measurable business impact.
ResponsibilitiesKey ResponsibilitiesDrive AI Academy & Enterprise AI Adoption- Lead Yum!'s enterprise-wide AI Academy, expanding it from a training program into a strategic transformation engine that elevates AI readiness, maturity, and capability across all brands and functions.
- Own the strategy, design, and evolution of Yum!'s AI curriculum, ensuring it drives measurable behavior change, productivity uplift, and enterprise value creation.
- Direct the roadmap and execution of the AI learning platform in partnership with engineering and design teams, delivering a scalable, intuitive, and gamified ecosystem for ongoing AI proficiency development.
- Establish and evolve Yum!'s analytics architecture for AI adoption-including measurement standards, enterprise dashboards, and KPIs that inform executive decisions on AI investment and capability building.
- Drive enterprise-wide AI adoption targets for Above Restaurant Leaders (ARLs), holding direct accountability for outcomes that influence operational performance and transformation readiness.
- Build and lead a global community of AI champions and practitioners, enabling high-capillarity change management across diverse markets and functions.
- Partner closely with Learning, AI, Data, Analytics, and brand leadership to embed AI tools and workflows into operations, ensuring adoption is sustained and value-generating.
- Manage and develop three direct reports, ensuring the AI Adoption team delivers strategic and operational excellence.
Lead Enterprise AI-First Enablement- Continuously evaluate emerging AI technologies, model releases, platform capabilities, and ecosystem shifts to identify high-value opportunities for enterprise transformation.
- Own the enterprise AI enablement roadmap, aligning emerging technology opportunities with Yum!'s strategic priorities, business needs, and brand-specific requirements.
- Shape the enterprise agent strategy and operating model, enabling business and technology teams to build, deploy and reuse agentic AI solutions across brands and functions.
- Lead Yum!'s cross-functional rapid-enablement engine-including cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, legal, engineering, and AI-to accelerate secure, compliant activation of new AI features and capabilities.
- Define and govern standardized frameworks for assessing feasibility, risk, compliance, business impact, and readiness for new AI technologies.
- Drive an "AI-first" culture across the organization by equipping leaders with the guidance, guardrails, and tools necessary to deploy new AI capabilities safely and quickly.
- Hold accountability for enterprise technology risk related to AI enablement, ensuring alignment with Yum!'s global security, governance, and compliance standards.
Lead Enterprise AI Development Initiatives- Lead multidisciplinary teams (product, engineering, design, data science, operations) to develop proprietary autonomous agents and AI-driven automation systems that transform mission-critical workflows.
- Own the strategy for internally built AI solutions that drive operational efficiency, margin expansion, improved decision quality, and enterprise speed.
- Identify and prioritize high-value enterprise workflows and pain points in partnership with executive and functional leaders, translating them into scalable AI products.
- Partner with functional leaders to develop AI transformation roadmaps, redesign priority workflows and coordinate implementation with clear ownership and productivity targets.
- Define success metrics, monitor business impact, and continuously optimize proprietary AI systems to maximize enterprise value creation.
- Provide high-judgment leadership in balancing innovation with risk, guiding the development of systems that operate safely within Yum!'s global technology and compliance environment.
Enterprise Leadership & Executive Influence- Own Yum!'s enterprise AI strategy and annual and multiyear roadmaps, aligning priorities across brands and functions and guiding investment decisions.
- Lead the enterprise C-level agenda for AI, partnering directly with executive leadership to shape long-term AI strategy, investment priorities, transformation milestones, and governance.
- Serve as a principal advisor to the CTO, CIO, and CDO on AI innovation, enterprise adoption maturity, enablement challenges, and opportunities for competitive advantage.
- Deliver executive-level storytelling, insights, and recommendations that guide decision-making across Yum!'s brands and corporate teams.
- Act as Yum!'s senior internal expert on AI transformation, ensuring alignment across technology, operations, finance, brand leadership, and global digital strategy.
- Represent the enterprise AI function in high-stakes decision forums, shaping policies, risk posture, and operational readiness for AI adoption at scale.
QualificationsQualifications- 10+ years of experience in AI, digital transformation, product leadership, or related fields.
- Demonstrated ability to lead enterprise-scale transformation programs with high complexity, ambiguity, and cross-functional interdependencies.
- Experience managing and developing teams, including direct leadership responsibility.
- Strong capability to define strategy, structure complex problems, and execute at scale through diverse cross-functional teams.
- Expertise in evaluating AI technologies, governing risk, and driving safe, responsible AI adoption.
- Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with a proven ability to engage C-suite leaders and guide strategic decision-making.
- Deep understanding of AI platforms, emerging technologies, enterprise security, and compliance frameworks.
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
- Nice to have: Experience building enablement programs, learning platforms, or automation systems.
Salary Range: $195,200 - $243,900 annually + bonus eligibility and stock-based compensation.
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. 
