Director, Operations Innovation

Director Of Operations Innovation

At CAVA we make it deliciously simple to eat well and feel good every day. We are guided by a Mediterranean heritage that's been perfecting how to eat and live for four thousand years. We prioritize authenticity, curiosity, and the pursuit of excellence in everything we do. We are working towards something big together.

We foster a culture built on five core values:

• Generosity First, Always: We lead with kindness. Our best work happens when we act in service of others.
• Constant Curiosity: We are eager to learn, grow, and explore beyond the obvious.
• Act with Agility: We welcome change; it's the only constant. We embrace, adjust, adapt.
• Passion for Positivity: We greet each day with warmth and possibility.
• Collective Ambition: We have high aspirations that are achieved when we work together with a shared purpose.

The Role

The Director of Operations Innovation sits within Ops Services and is responsible for translating culinary vision into scalable restaurant execution. Partnering closely with the Culinary team (who owns ideation), this role ensures new menu items are operationally sound, executable at volume, and ready for system-wide rollout. You will lead the testing and validation process—proving concepts in real restaurant environments before they scale across the system. This role is accountable for ensuring innovation works on the line, during peak, with real teams—balancing guest experience, throughput, labor, and food quality.

What You'll Do

• Lead Operational Testing & Validation
• Design and execute ops tests (6–8 restaurants) to validate in-store execution
• Scale successful items into market tests (20–40 restaurants) to assess performance at volume
• Define clear success metrics across incidence, labor, food cost, and guest experience
• Translate Culinary Vision into Execution
• Partner with Culinary to convert concepts into simple, repeatable builds and prep systems
• Pressure-test ideas against real kitchen constraints: station flow, equipment, staffing, and peak volume
• Ensure execution consistency across varying restaurant volumes and team capabilities
• Protect Throughput & Labor Efficiency
• Evaluate and optimize impact on speed of service, ticket times, and line complexity
• Identify and eliminate friction points before broader rollout
• Make clear tradeoffs to maintain operational simplicity at scale
• Drive Data-Informed Decisions
• Partner with Analytics to assess PMIX, labor impact, food cost, and guest feedback
• Deliver clear go / iterate / stop recommendations based on performance
• Enable Field Execution
• Partner with Training to develop clear, operator-friendly SOPs and rollout materials
• Ensure test restaurants and field teams are set up for clean execution and feedback loops
• Incorporate field insights into iteration and final recommendations
• Cross-Functional Alignment
• Partner with Supply Chain to validate ingredient readiness and operational feasibility
• Align across Culinary, Ops, and Marketing from concept through rollout
• Act as the bridge between test kitchen and restaurant reality

Who You Are

• Operator-first mindset with deep understanding of restaurant workflows
• Experience in high-volume environments and scaling execution
• Practical, decisive, and able to simplify complexity quickly
• Credible with field teams and grounded in real restaurant conditions
• Comfortable making tradeoffs to protect throughput and performance

What We're Looking For Minimum Qualifications

• 5–8+ years of experience in restaurant operations, culinary operations, or menu innovation
• Experience testing and rolling out initiatives across multi-unit restaurant systems
• Strong understanding of throughput, labor models, and station design
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives from concept through execution

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in fast-casual or QSR environments at scale
• Exposure to menu testing, pilots, or test-and-learn environments
• Strong understanding of menu economics (PMIX, COGS, labor impact)
• Experience working closely with field operations teams

Operator Accountability

This role is based out of our Washington DC Collaboration Center and accountable for ensuring new menu items are proven to work in real restaurant conditions—during peak—before national rollout.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to maintain stationary position to be able to operate a computer and other office equipment
• Must be able to identify, analyze and assess details
• For certain positions, must be able to occasionally move or transport items up to 50 pounds
• Ability to communicate with others and exchange information accurately and effectively
• Constantly positions self and move about to support ordinary restaurant or food production support or office operations, as applicable
• Ability to work in a constant state of alertness and in a safe manner

What we offer:

• Competitive salary, plus bonus and long-term incentives*
• Early Wage Access!
• Unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, plus paid opportunities to give back to the community
• Health, Dental, Vision, Telemedicine, Pet Insurance plus more!
• 401k enrollment with CAVA contribution
• Company-paid STD, LTD, Life and AD&D coverage for salaried positions*
• Free CAVA food
• Casual work environment
• The opportunity to be on the ground floor of a rapidly growing brand

*Indicates qualifying eligible positions only

CAVA – Joining "A culture, not a concept"

As an equal opportunity employer, CAVA considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, height, weight, marital status, sexual orientation, familial status, genetic information or any other characteristic or protected classes as defined by federal, state, or local law.

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We run background checks on all new hires in this position.