Senior Manager, IT Programs and Projects
Cajun Operating · Georgia
Church’s Texas Chicken
Employee Job Description
Job Title: Senior Manager, IT Programs and Projects
Reports To: SVP of Technology
Department: Technology and Digital Platforms
Location: Atlanta – RSC
Revised: April 2026
Job Summary: Responsible for the hands-on management and delivery of technology programs and projects across Church’s Texas Chicken’s restaurant operations, infrastructure, and enterprise back-office portfolios, while also establishing and maintaining the project management standards, governance frameworks, and portfolio visibility practices that define how the technology organization plans, tracks, and reports on its work. This is first and foremost a delivery role — the Senior Manager is expected to be in the room, driving execution, removing obstacles, and holding teams and vendors accountable to dates and deliverables, while also elevating the overall project management capability and discipline of the IT organization.
Key Duties/Responsibilities:
- Directly manage the delivery of selected high-priority technology programs and projects spanning restaurant operations technology, IT infrastructure, and enterprise back-office systems, serving as the primary accountable owner for scope, schedule, budget, and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Apply waterfall, agile, or hybrid delivery methodologies as appropriate to the nature and context of each project, demonstrating fluency in both approaches and the judgment to select and adapt the right framework for each engagement.
- Lead project initiation activities including charter development, scope definition, stakeholder alignment, resource planning, risk identification, and establishment of governance and communication cadences.
- Maintain rigorous project tracking at the work package and task level using portfolio management tools such as Monday.com or Smartsheet, ensuring that project data is current, accurate, and actionable.
- Facilitate effective project meetings, sprint reviews, steering sessions, and working groups, driving structured agendas, clear decisions, and accountable action items that maintain project momentum.
- Manage project budgets, forecast expenditures, and report on financial performance against approved project budgets throughout the delivery lifecycle.
- Establish and lead cadence-driven project and portfolio status update processes, developing and delivering appropriate reporting for each stakeholder group.
- Serve as the organization’s go-to resource for troubled project recovery, applying a proven set of diagnostic and turnaround methods to rapidly assess root causes, stabilize delivery, and restore stakeholder confidence in at-risk or off-track initiatives.
- Conduct structured project health assessments on struggling programs, identifying scope creep, dependency failures, resource gaps, decision bottlenecks, and stakeholder misalignment as root causes and developing targeted recovery plans.
- Lead difficult project conversations with appropriate candor and professionalism, delivering honest assessments of project status and recovery requirements to leadership and business stakeholders without diminishing credibility or team morale.
- Implement recovery governance structures including accelerated reporting cadences, escalation protocols, scope triage processes, and focused workstream management that re-establish control and predictability on challenged projects.
- Build lessons learned frameworks that capture recovery insights and translate them into improved project initiation and risk management practices across the portfolio going forward.
- Develop and manage a portfolio-level view of all active technology projects across restaurant operations, infrastructure, and enterprise back office domains.
- Define and support project intake and prioritization processes that ensure new technology initiatives are properly scoped and resourced before work begins.
- Establish consistent project reporting standards including status report formats, RAG assessment criteria, milestone tracking conventions, and escalation thresholds that apply across all project teams.
- Champion the adoption and effective use of portfolio and project management tooling across the technology organization, serving as the primary owner of platforms such as Monay.com or Smartsheet.
- Develop and deliver project and portfolio status presentations for audiences ranging from senior technology leadership to operational field teams and in-store restaurant staff, translating complex project data into clear, relevant narratives for each audience.
- Build strong working relationships with cross-functional business partners.
- Engage with Franchise partners and field leadership on projects that affect restaurant operations, managing expectations, communicating change impacts, and ensuring that technology delivery timelines align with operational realities.
- Navigate difficult stakeholder conversations — including scope disputes, missed commitments, vendor performance gaps, and resource conflicts — with directness, professionalism, and a consistent focus on outcomes.
- Manage technology delivery vendors and implementation partners engaged on assigned programs and projects, holding them accountable to scope commitments, delivery milestones, and quality standards through structured performance oversight.
- Establish vendor accountability frameworks for project engagements including milestone-linked deliverable tracking, escalation protocols, and regular performance checkpoints that keep vendors aligned and delivery on track.
- Identify vendor performance risks early and escalate proactively
- Lead, develop, and mentor project management team members as applicable, setting clear performance expectations, providing regular coaching and feedback, and building individual capability in delivery methodology, stakeholder management, and tooling proficiency.
- Build team capability through structured development, cross-training across project types and methodologies, and exposure to enterprise stakeholder environments.
- Drive organizational adoption of new technologies and process changes introduced through IT programs, developing change management plans.
- Facilitate results-driven working sessions, cross-functional workshops, and alignment forums that move decision-making forward, resolve competing priorities, and build shared ownership of project outcomes across business and technology stakeholders.
- Champion a culture of delivery accountability, transparent communication, and continuous improvement across the IT project management function and the broader technology organization.
Position Requirements (Education, Qualifications, Experience):
- Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Business, Hospitality Management, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
- 5–7 years of combined restaurant business and technology experience, with a demonstrated understanding of restaurant operations, QSR workflows, and the technology systems that support them.
- Proven track record of directly managing complex technology programs and projects from initiation through closure, with demonstrated success delivering against scope, schedule, and budget commitments.
- Demonstrated experience in both waterfall and agile project delivery methodologies, with the judgment to select and adapt the appropriate approach for each project context.
- Proven methods and track record for diagnosing, stabilizing, and turning around troubled or off-track technology projects, with specific examples of recovery outcomes.
- Strong experience building and managing portfolio-level visibility across multiple concurrent projects using tools such as Monday.com, Smartsheet, or equivalent platforms.
- Demonstrated ability to develop and deliver level-appropriate project and portfolio status presentations for audiences ranging from senior leadership to operational field teams.
- Experience managing technology delivery vendors and implementation partners, including milestone tracking, performance accountability, and contract oversight.
- Strong stakeholder management and political awareness, with a proven ability to build credibility and productive relationships across business, technology, franchise, and vendor audiences.
- Experience in or significant exposure to front of house or back of house restaurant operations is a strong plus.
- PMP certification or equivalent project management credential preferred. Agile/Scrum certification (CSM, SAFe, or equivalent) also preferred.
Competencies:
- Critical Thinking –Defines and resolves a situation or problem by analyzing issues involved, weighing options, and evaluating alternatives; maintains objective attitude; approaches situations and problems systematically; uses observation, experience, reflection, and/or reasoning to drive business forward.
- Influencing Others –Convinces and persuades others in either positive or negative circumstances to accomplish goals and objectives; responds to objections successfully; uses tact when expressing ideas or opinions.
- Initiative –Acts proactively; addresses issues or opportunities without supervision; focuses on desired results and accomplishments; demonstrates clear purpose, enthusiasm, and a “can-do” attitude.
- Innovative and Creative –Looks for ways to improve oneself, the job, the project, the system, and the organization; challenges conventional practices, generates new ideas to create novel solutions to problems.
- Managing Execution –Manages multiple projects and effectively prioritizes tasks and goals; uses goals to guide actions and create detailed action plans; organizes and schedules people and tasks; utilizes resources effectively to meet goals.
- Negotiating –Presents issues or ideas in a clear and influential manner; maintains an open-minded and non-judgmental attitude; listens to others’ views and empathizes.
- Relationship Management –Initiates and develops relationships with others; demonstrates credibility; confronts conflict quickly and professionally; inspires confidence in others.
Physical Requirements:
Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.
Travel: Up to 10%
1. If you’re hungry for a career that’s fun, fast-paced and loaded with opportunity, then you’ve come to the right place. At Church's®, we’re not your typical quick service restaurant. We make real comfort food that makes a difference in peoples’ lives. And for over 60 years, our restaurant has been a place where hard-working people can get ahead and go on to do amazing things by serving others.
2. Church’s Chicken is an equal employment opportunity employer and makes hiring and employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information or any other factor prohibited by applicable law.