Director, Core Digital Platforms

Job Description

Location:
Atlanta, GA Support Center (Preferred) or New York, NY Support Center
Work Model: Hybrid — 3 days in office (Tuesday–Thursday)

About Shake Shack

At Shake Shack, our secret to leading the way in hospitality is simple: we put our people first.

Our mission is to Stand For Something Good® in everything we do—from our teams and restaurants to the communities we serve. As one of the fastest-growing hospitality brands, we’re redefining what great digital and in-restaurant experiences look like. As a member of the #ShackFam, you’ll enjoy a collaborative, inclusive culture with hands-on mentorship, learning opportunities, and real impact at scale.

Join us and be part of something good.

Role Overview

The Director, Core Digital Platforms is a strategic and highly visible technology leadership role responsible for defining, operating, and scaling Shake Shack’s foundational digital platforms. These platforms include Shack Stack, Operator App, Kiosk Platform, AI Platform, and the broader technical product partner ecosystem.

Reporting to the VP, Digital Technology & AI Engineering, this role serves as the technical owner of the platforms that power Shake Shack’s digital experiences behind the scenes—ensuring reliability, scalability, security, and performance as the company grows toward 1,500+ Shacks.

This leader will shape platform investment strategy, influence vendor roadmaps, and enable new guest experiences through modular, extensible platform capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and communicate the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Shake Shack’s core digital platforms, aligned with business growth and guest experience goals.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of Technical Platform Managers overseeing systems such as Payments, OMS, Kiosk, Fraud, Identity, and Observability.
• Serve as Technical Platform Owner for AI Platforms, providing both strategic and hands-on leadership to drive reliability, innovation, and adoption.
• Own the foundational platform architecture, ensuring seamless integration across internal APIs and external partner systems.
• Manage and influence strategic vendor relationships (e.g., Okta, JTech/Sinch, Square, FreedomPay, Kount), ensuring accountability, roadmap alignment, and measurable outcomes.
• Define and drive platform reliability and resilience standards, including uptime SLAs, MTTR, incident response playbooks, error budgets, and observability frameworks.
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Digital Engineering, Restaurant Technology, and AI teams to eliminate friction across the guest journey.
• Communicate platform health, risks, performance insights, and investment decisions clearly to executive and operational stakeholders.

Leadership Expectations

• Operate with an enterprise mindset while remaining hands-on when needed.
• Communicate with executive presence and influence across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Inspire and empower teams through transparency, coaching, and development.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of technology leadership experience managing mission-critical platforms in high-scale consumer, digital commerce, or QSR environments.
• Strong technical expertise in microservices, APIs, identity, payments, fraud, and AWS-based cloud architectures.
• Proven success managing strategic vendor partnerships and influencing external product roadmaps.
• Demonstrated ability to hire, coach, and grow high-performing teams.
• Strong executive communication skills and experience leading change at scale.

Success Measures

• Greater than 99.99% uptime across guest-facing platforms
• Reduced operational incidents and platform risk
• Faster execution velocity and value-driven feature delivery
• Improved vendor accountability and SaaS cost-to-value outcomes
• A motivated, empowered, high-performing team
• Meaningful and sustainable AI adoption across platforms

Benefits at Shake Shack

We offer a supportive and inclusive work environment with benefits designed to help you thrive:

• Weekly pay and performance bonuses
• Shake Shack meal discounts
• Exclusive corporate discounts (travel, wellness, electronics, and more)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance*
• Employer-paid life and disability insurance*
• 401(k) plan with company match*
• Paid time off and paid parental leave*
• Employee Assistance Program starting Day 1
• Pre-tax commuter and parking benefits
• Flexible spending and dependent care accounts*
• Ongoing development and growth opportunities

*Eligibility criteria apply

About Us

Shake Shack began as a humble hot dog cart in Madison Square Park, founded by Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group. What started as a neighborhood initiative grew into a global brand built on quality food, genuine hospitality, and giving back to the community.