Job Description

What’s Unique About You Is What Makes Us Better! Diversity is our strength and competitive advantage. Bring your flavor to the Papa John's team today!

The Director, Strategy is responsible for driving enterprise-wide strategic planning, competitive insight development, and rigorous evaluation of strategic initiatives and investments. This role partners closely with Finance, FP&A, Consumer Insights, and cross-functional business leaders to translate market intelligence and financial analysis into clear strategic recommendations for senior leadership, the CEO, and the Board of Directors.

The Director is responsible for combining structured problem solving, financial modeling, and strategic storytelling to inform decision-making at the highest levels of the organization. This position plays a critical role in shaping the annual and multi-year strategic agenda and ensuring disciplined execution across strategic initiatives.

Duties & Responsibilities (Other duties as assigned)

Enterprise & Corporate Strategy

• Monitor the competitive landscape and track industry trends, synthesizing insights to inform enterprise strategic direction and key leadership decisions.
• Support the annual and multi-year strategic planning process, including defining strategic priorities, sequencing initiatives, and aligning enterprise resources with long-term objectives.
• Develop fact-based strategic recommendations, scenarios, and tradeoff analyses to address complex, ambiguous business questions.

Financial Modeling & Business Case Development

• Build, evaluate, and pressure-test financial models and business cases to assess strategic options, growth initiatives, and capital investments.
• Partner with FP&A and Finance to ensure alignment between strategy, financial forecasts, and capital allocation decisions.
• Translate financial outputs into clear, executive-level narratives and recommendations.

Executive & Board-Level Communication

• Prepare strategic recommendations, progress updates, and decision materials for senior leadership, the CEO, and the Board of Directors.
• Facilitate executive discussions to drive alignment, decision-making, and commitment to strategic priorities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership, providing objective, data-driven perspectives.

Consumer, Market & Insight Partnership

• Partner closely with Consumer Insights and Analytics teams to identify research needs that deepen understanding of customer behaviors, preferences, and emerging trends.
• Integrate market, customer, and financial insights into cohesive strategic perspectives.

Strategic Initiative Planning & Governance

• Lead or support end-to-end planning for strategic initiatives, including defining scope, success metrics, timelines, and resource requirements.
• Drive alignment across functions and business units, managing interdependencies and ensuring clear accountability.
• Hold initiative owners accountable to milestones and outcomes, escalating risks and issues as needed.
• Identify, manage, and mitigate strategic and execution risks through disciplined governance practices.

Education, Experience & Certifications

• 7+ years of experience in strategy, consulting, corporate finance, private equity, investment banking, or related fields
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, or related discipline required
• MBA or equivalent graduate degree preferred
• Experience in consumer-facing, retail, restaurant, or CPG environments preferred
• Proven experience influencing senior leaders without direct authority

Functional Skills & Capabilities

• Enterprise & corporate strategy development
• Financial & business acumen; advanced modeling and analytical skills
• Strategic problem solving and structured thinking
• Executive communication and storytelling
• Planning, prioritization, and cross-functional execution leadership
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment

Our Values

• EVERYONE BELONGS – We believe connectedness and belonging are the essential ingredients to our success.
• DO THE RIGHT THING –We are relentlessly focused on quality and integrity and make the right choices, even when it's difficult.
• PEOPLE FIRST – To craft positive experiences for our customers, we take care of each other first.
• INNOVATE TO WIN – We champion and challenge for a better way in all we do.
• HAVE FUN – We find joy, create meaningful impact and celebrate the journey together

Our Core Competencies

• CUSTOMER CENTRIC - We leverage data and insights to craft a customer experience that builds relationships, cultivates trust, and delivers excellence
• RESULTS DRIVEN – We focus on measurable outcomes by remaining optimistic, tenacious, and persistent even in the face of challenges.
• CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT –We champion for better through strategic risk taking, experimentation and challenging the status quo.
• BIAS FOR ACTION – We courageously lead, drive towards decisions, and maintain agility to meet the demands of our dynamic industry.
• WINNING TOGETHER – We work together to unlock our full potential by actively collaborating and contributing in a cross-functional capacity

Papa Johns is an equal opportunity employer.

Papa Johns is a federal contractor that participates in the E-Verify program to confirm employment eligibility for each new team member. We also comply with all Right to Work requirements. Official E-Verify and Right to Work notices are available for applicants to review in both English and Spanish.

Everybody loves pizza, which means they also love the people who are behind the scenes working to deliver it. This is complex and challenging work – but let’s face it – it’s also pizza! If you want a fulfilling career with a company that’s always moving forward, we’re the right place.

Papa John's is a Federal Contract employer who participates in E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility for each new team member. For more information please view the following PDFs: E-Verify Poster (English) - Right to Work Poster (English) - E-Verify Poster (Spanish) - Right to Work Poster (Spanish) Papa John's is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. For more information please click on the following PDF See terms & conditions for site use.