Third-Party Delivery Strategy & Optimization Lead (Cleveland)

Based in Cleveland, OH and reporting to the VP of Business Insights and Marketing, the Lead of Third-Party Delivery Strategy & Optimization will lead Flynn Group’s efforts to maximize performance, profitability, and growth across third-party delivery platforms. This role will serve as a central thought partner across Flynn’s brands, partnering closely with Operations, Marketing, Finance, Analytics, IT, and external delivery partners to improve store-level execution, optimize marketing investment, and ensure the channel delivers profitable, sustainable growth.

Third-party delivery is one of Flynn’s most complex and rapidly evolving channels – this role will better deploy a wealth of information across our brands, translate insights into action, and create a scalable playbook for how Flynn manages, funds, measures, and negotiates within this channel. This role will have high visibility across the organization and direct exposure to senior leadership across the brands and Flynn Group.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as Flynn’s central leader for third-party delivery strategy, helping define how we optimize the channel across operations, marketing, financial performance, and vendor partnerships.
• Partner with brand and operations leaders to improve store-level 3PD execution, including order accuracy, OSAT, customer feedback, driver wait time, and overall operational readiness.
• Develop a clear framework for deploying 3PD operational insights to field teams, partnering with our Brand Presidents to identify what information should be shared, how operators should use it, and how teams should be held accountable for improvement.
• Leverage store-level data to identify execution gaps, prioritize opportunities, and develop scalable best practices across brands and dayparts.
• Evaluate AI, automation, and emerging technology solutions that could improve 3PD execution, such as tools to reduce order accuracy issues, flag declining OSAT during a shift, analyze customer sentiment, or identify stores at risk of operational breakdowns.
• Lead the strategy for third-party delivery marketing investment across platforms, including sponsored listings, promotions, markup reductions, banners and other evolving platform capabilities.
• Build a granular approach to optimizing 3PD marketing funds by store, daypart, customer segment, and platform, ensuring spend is deployed where it creates the greatest incremental value.
• Determine whether Flynn should build or buy tools that enable more sophisticated optimization of 3PD marketing spend and performance measurement, then oversee deployment and go-forward execution.
• Develop financial frameworks to evaluate the ROI and profitability of 3PD programs, including the impact of promotions, discounts, platform fees, markup reductions, incremental sales, cannibalization, and operational costs.
• Partner with Finance, Analytics, and Marketing to clarify how the full 3PD channel flows through the P&L and determine whether certain investments are better deployed on third-party platforms or within native digital channels.
• Lead cross-brand analysis to identify which 3PD programs are most profitable, why they work, and how Flynn can use data, AI, and automation to improve investment decisions over time.
• Partner with Finance and Analytics to continue enhancing our error charge and cancellation recovery programs.
• Support negotiations with third-party delivery providers, including recommendations on commission structure, co-funding, marketing commitments, operational improvement tradeoffs, and whether Flynn should negotiate across the full enterprise or by individual brand.
• Create simple, actionable reporting and executive-ready narratives that translate complex platform, operational, and financial data into clear decisions and next steps.
• Build strong relationships with third-party delivery partners, internal brand teams, field leaders, Finance, Analytics, IT, and senior stakeholders to drive alignment and execution.

Desired Skills and Experience

• 6+ years of experience in strategy, analytics, marketing, operations, finance, consulting, revenue management, digital commerce, restaurant technology, or a related field; experience with third-party delivery preferred.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen, with the ability to evaluate ROI, profitability, incrementality, and tradeoffs across complex business decisions.
• Experience translating large amounts of operational, customer, marketing, and financial data into simple, actionable insights for business leaders.
• Strong commercial mindset with experience optimizing marketing spend, promotional investments, vendor partnerships, or digital channel performance.
• Ability to partner effectively across multiple functions, including Operations, Marketing, Finance, Analytics, IT, and external vendors.
• Strong project leadership skills, including the ability to build structure around ambiguous problems, prioritize high-value opportunities, and drive cross-functional execution.
• Comfort working with data and reporting tools; strong Excel and PowerPoint skills required, with exposure to Power BI, Tableau, SQL, or advanced analytics tools preferred.
• Understanding of AI, automation, and emerging technology applications preferred, especially as they relate to operational improvement, marketing optimization, customer sentiment, and decision support.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present complex topics clearly and credibly to senior leadership.
• Proven ability to get up to speed quickly on new industries, business models, platforms, and vendor ecosystems
• Curious, strategic, and action-oriented, with a natural tendency to ask the “so what?” and translate insights into measurable business impact.
• Above all else, a self-starter with a positive, team-oriented attitude who is motivated to continuously improve the channel, the team, and the business.

Flynn Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.