About the Opportunity The Senior Manager, Category Management is responsible for leading culinary and category strategies that drive product innovation, sales growth, and an elevated customer experience across Wonder's portfolio of restaurant brands. This role focuses on identifying business opportunities, developing and launching new menu items, LTOs, and full restaurant concepts, and optimizing existing menus to ensure alignment with each brand's pillars and Wonder's overall business goals.
The Senior Manager, Category Management partners closely with Culinary, Marketing, Supply Chain, Food Quality, Operations, Procurement, and Finance to bring innovative concepts to life while ensuring successful execution and operational feasibility on Wonder's platform. This is a high-ownership role on a heavy pipeline of LTOs, new restaurant launches, revamps, and category refreshes - with the opportunity to shape what millions of customers eat next.
The Impact You Will Make- Lead category and menu strategy: Own the strategic roadmap for an assigned set of Wonder restaurant brands, defining 12-18-month menu and innovation plans grounded in customer insights, sales performance, and competitive landscape.
- Drive end-to-end product development: Lead the development and optimization of culinary products from ideation through launch - across new menu items, LTOs, revamps, and net-new concepts - ensuring each is on-brand, on-strategy, and on-time.
- Identify business opportunities: Translate sales data, customer behavior, and category trends into clear opportunities for growth in AOV, AIV, frequency, and same-store sales (SSS), and build the business cases to act on them.
- Test and validate concepts: Partner with Insights and Food Quality to design product testing, sensory evaluations, and pilots that validate concept, pricing, and operational feasibility before scale.
- Manage performance post-launch: Monitor item- and category-level performance, gather cross-functional feedback, and implement data-driven adjustments to optimize the menu against GOV, margin, and customer satisfaction goals.
- Stay ahead of the market: Stay informed on culinary trends, competitive moves, and consumer behavior to inspire and inform Wonder's product development pipeline, including emerging formats like bowl-based concepts.
- Operate cross-functionally: Serve as the connective tissue between Culinary, Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, Food Quality, and Finance, ensuring concepts are not only craveable but commercially viable and operationally executable on Wonder's 1P and 3P platforms.
- Build the operating system: Improve the tools, templates, and processes that support category management at Wonder - from culinary calendar planning and LTO recap infrastructure to SSS gap-bridges and forecasting tooling.
What You Bring to the Table- 6+ years of relevant experience in category management, brand management, menu strategy, or culinary innovation, ideally within multi-unit restaurants, food-tech, or CPG.
- Proven track record leading menu or product innovation from insight to launch, including LTOs and new concept development, with measurable impact on sales and guest experience.
- Strong commercial fluency - comfortable with P&L drivers, COGS, pricing and elasticity, mix, and metrics like AOV, AIV, GOV, CAC/LTV, and same-store sales.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to make data-driven decisions; advanced Excel skills and comfort building tools (forecasts, gap bridges, trackers) from scratch. Preference for experience with Looker.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence and align cross-functional partners and senior leaders.
- Demonstrated ability to manage a heavy, fast-moving pipeline across multiple brands and project types simultaneously.
- A strong understanding of restaurant operations and how menu decisions land in the kitchen and on the platform.
- Project management experience and familiarity with business process improvement are a plus.
- Bachelor's degree required; MBA or equivalent experience a plus.
New York: $149,000 - $157,000 per year.
Our hybrid model requires 3 days a week in the office. That said, many team members choose to come in more often to take advantage of in-person collaboration and connection. You're welcome-and encouraged-to be in the office up to 5 days a week if it works for you.
#LI-Hybrid
Wonder uses geographic-specific salary structures, which means the salary offered may vary depending on where the job is located. The final salary offer will take into account various factors, such as the candidate's skills, education, training, credentials, and experience.
BenefitsThe benefits applicable to this role include a competitive compensation package with equity and a 401(k). We also offer a choice of medical, dental, and vision plans, company paid short and long term disability coverage, paid time off including flexible time off for exempt employees, paid vacation for non-exempt employees, and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable law in addition to paid parental leave, discounted meals and exclusive perks across the Wonder family of brands.
Eligibility, effective dates, and available plan options vary by employment classification and location. To learn more about benefits for this role, visit our Careers page here.
We look forward to hearing from you! We'll contact you via email or text to schedule interviews and share information about your candidacy.
