Shift Leader

Shift Leader

Pay: $15–$22/hr (all-in average — base + cash tips + credit card tips + secret shopper bonuses combined)

Schedule: Doors open 11am, close 10pm — 7 days a week. Open availability required (7am-10pm, any day, including weekends and holidays). Some shifts start earlier for prep; closing shifts wrap after doors close.

Job Type: Full-time, Part-time

If you've worked the line and you're ready to lead a shift instead of just join one — read on.

Five Guys is one of the few quick-service spots that's still actually fresh. No frozen patties. Hand-cut fries. Hand-prepped to order. We're hiring Shift Leaders at our location.

What The Work Actually Looks Like

You're the ideal crew member — the one who knows every station, sets the pace on the floor, and your team looks to when the rush hits. You'll work every station yourself (grill, fries, dressing, register) AND lead the crew on shift: training new hires, calling shots during the rush, handling shift change, keeping the dining room clean and the line moving. Lunch and dinner rushes are when this role earns its stripes — full kitchen, full dining room, your crew looking to you to keep it tight.

What You'll Do

- Set the standard your crew follows — how you work the line is how your shift runs

- Run pre-shift huddles to align the team on the rush, the focus, and the day's specifics

- Run quality control — every burger off the grill, every fry out of the basket, every line setup meets the standard

- Train new crew on every station

- Work every station yourself when needed — you don't sit behind a counter

- Open or close the store on your assigned shifts

- Communicate clearly with Shift Managers and the GM about how the shift ran

Who You Are

- 1+ year of food service or crew member experience preferred

- Open availability required — including weekends, mornings, and closing shifts

- You show up on time, every shift, and your team can count on it

- You're comfortable correcting a crew member when something needs fixing

- Stamina to stand a full shift and lift up to 50 lbs occasionally

What You Earn

- Cash and credit card tips, paid weekly, split among crew on shift

- Secret shopper bonuses — when your team scores a perfect customer experience, every employee on that shift gets paid extra on their next paycheck

- One week of paid vacation per year

- Free Five Guys meal every shift

- Referral bonus when you bring in someone who gets hired

Where This Goes

This is the first management track. Most of our Shift Managers and Assistant Managers came up through Shift Leader. Your General Manager isn't a corporate trainee passing through — they're invested in this store and in your career here. We also run three locally-owned Five Guys stores in the Lexington area, so if your situation changes, you can transfer to a different location instead of starting over somewhere new.

Apply now. We're hiring year-round.

Company Introduction

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is one of America's most successful hamburger concepts, not just for its food, ranked the #1 burger in America by the Zagat survey, but also because of its employees. We have a unique work environment where you're trained to work every position in the restaurant. From the register, to the grill, to morning prep and evening close, our crew members become a team working in all aspects of the restaurant. We also have a unique crew bonus program that provides the opportunity to earn cash bonuses two times per week giving our crew members the opportunity to earn much higher incomes. We have an open kitchen experience so it's fun and it's loud with lots of team communication. The crew's burger creation is part of the customer experience.