Sr. Manager, Guest Relations & Brand Performance
Qdoba Restaurant, San Diego, California, United States, 92189
The Senior Manager of Guest Relations is a strategic, insight-driven leader responsible for designing and delivering a best-in-class Guest Relations experience acrossQDOBA’s enterprise. This role oversees the end-to-end Guest Relations ecosystem, leading two highly integrated support functions that collectively elevate Guest satisfaction, strengthen restaurant performance, and protect brand trust.
Guest Relations – Consumer Support Provides direct support to Guests, resolving inquiries, concerns, and escalations with empathy, consistency, and speed.
Brand Performance Support – Field Support Partners with restaurant leaders to resolve operational questions, navigate systems and platforms, and address issues that impact day-to-day execution and the Guest experience.
This role operates at the intersection of experience, insight, and strategy— leveraging Guest data, service platforms, AI-enabled tools, and advanced reporting to identify trends, uncover root causes, and translate insights into clear, actionable improvement plans . The Senior Manager ensures support operations consistently meet or exceed performance expectations, including meeting or exceeding Service Level Agreements ,
while continuously raising the bar on quality and effectiveness.
As a senior leader and trusted advisor, this role serves as the voice of the Guest and restaurant leader’s partner,
synthesizing qualitative and quantitative insights into executive-ready recommendations. The Senior Manager proactively communicates performance, emerging risks, and strategic opportunities to leadership, driving informed decision-making and measurable improvements in the Guest and Restaurant experience.
Key Duties/Responsibilities Proactive Leadership
Lead and develop two Guest Relations teams: Consumer Guest Support and Operational Support, ensuring clear role definition, accountability, and collaboration.
Set performance expectations, coach managers and team members to deliver consistent, top-of-the-line brand-aligned experiences.
Foster a positive, inclusive, and high-performance culture focused on service excellence and continuous improvement.
Service Level Management
Establish and maintain service level agreements with ticket response and resolution standards, ensuring timely, accurate, and empathetic support.
Monitor queue health, escalation trends, and workload distribution to proactively address service risks.
Continuously refine workflows, escalation paths, and routing logic to improve speed and quality of resolution.
Lead with making it right for every guest.
Technology & Platforms Optimization
Own and optimize Guest Relations technology platforms, including ticketing systems, CRM tools, knowledge bases, and reporting dashboards.
Partner in the design, implementation, and optimization of automated support solutions to improve self-service, reduce ticket volume, and enhance experience.
Evaluate and implement new tools, software, and third-party solutions to advance Guest Relations capabilities.
Manage third-party vendors, including performance oversight, contracts, and service quality.
Reporting & Executive Communication
Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for both guest and franchise support functions.
Deliver clear, actionable reporting to Leadership, highlighting trends, root causes, risks, and opportunities.
Translate data and feedback into insights that influence cross-functional decision-making and experience improvements.
Act as a trusted advisor to field leadership and corporate partners on Guest Relations trends and insights.
Process, Quality & Continuous Improvement
Ensure high-quality, on-brand responses through regular quality audits, coaching, and process refinement.
Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for workflows, policies, and support procedures.
Proactively identify systemic issues and partner cross-functionally to drive long-term solutions.
Voice of the Guest & Operations Support
Analyze Guest and Restaurant feedback across channels to identify patterns and opportunities.
Measure and report the impact of new initiatives and operational changes.
Qualifications Education
Bachelor’s degree required
Experience
5+ years Guest support experience within a large, complex, or nationally recognized brand
Emphasis on high-volume, SLA-driven environments
3+ years people leadership experience
Experience managing SLA-driven operations for large brand
Skills / Knowledge / Abilities
CRM, automation and analytics expertise
Strong executive communication and strategic thinking
Knowledge of Guest support processes, systems and software.
Ability to analyze high volume of Guest feedback to produce fact-based, actionable insights.
Strategic thinker, able to clearly synthesize information and challenge others to think differently in a constructive way.
Strong oral and written communication skills, interpersonal skills, and presentation skills.
Strong project management capabilities.
Ability to juggle multiple projects in parallel and work effectively in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities and a diverse team.
Ability to be detail oriented while keeping a big-picture orientation.
Ability to lead and supervise others to execute projects.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office software products (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and Microsoft Teams.
Ability to work well across all levels of the organization and deal constructively with conflict.
Demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior.
Physical Requirements
Ability to speak/hear clearly in person and on the telephone. Ability to operate a computer keyboard.
Travel
Ability to travel as business needs arise typically 10% – 15% of the time and sometimes during weekends.
Reasonable Accommodation Qdoba and its affiliates will make reasonable accommodations to allow a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities and to perform the essential functions of the job. This position description should be applied accordingly.
Benefits
Medical, Dental, Vision, & 401k
PTO (including vacation and sick)
Tuition reimbursement
Pay Range: $103,200 - $121,300
CA Notice of Collection https://www.qdoba.com/notice-of-collection-for-california-employees
Privacy Policy https://www.qdoba.com/privacy
QDOBA takes pride in carefully selecting talented people and mixing them together to discover amazing flavors. We value the diversity that all our employees bring to the table and the new flavors they bring to our team. Employment decisions and rewards recognize job accountabilities, business needs, and performance merit without regard to age, gender, race, religious affiliation, Veteran status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected classification recognized by applicable federal, state, or local law.
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Guest Relations – Consumer Support Provides direct support to Guests, resolving inquiries, concerns, and escalations with empathy, consistency, and speed.
Brand Performance Support – Field Support Partners with restaurant leaders to resolve operational questions, navigate systems and platforms, and address issues that impact day-to-day execution and the Guest experience.
This role operates at the intersection of experience, insight, and strategy— leveraging Guest data, service platforms, AI-enabled tools, and advanced reporting to identify trends, uncover root causes, and translate insights into clear, actionable improvement plans . The Senior Manager ensures support operations consistently meet or exceed performance expectations, including meeting or exceeding Service Level Agreements ,
while continuously raising the bar on quality and effectiveness.
As a senior leader and trusted advisor, this role serves as the voice of the Guest and restaurant leader’s partner,
synthesizing qualitative and quantitative insights into executive-ready recommendations. The Senior Manager proactively communicates performance, emerging risks, and strategic opportunities to leadership, driving informed decision-making and measurable improvements in the Guest and Restaurant experience.
Key Duties/Responsibilities Proactive Leadership
Lead and develop two Guest Relations teams: Consumer Guest Support and Operational Support, ensuring clear role definition, accountability, and collaboration.
Set performance expectations, coach managers and team members to deliver consistent, top-of-the-line brand-aligned experiences.
Foster a positive, inclusive, and high-performance culture focused on service excellence and continuous improvement.
Service Level Management
Establish and maintain service level agreements with ticket response and resolution standards, ensuring timely, accurate, and empathetic support.
Monitor queue health, escalation trends, and workload distribution to proactively address service risks.
Continuously refine workflows, escalation paths, and routing logic to improve speed and quality of resolution.
Lead with making it right for every guest.
Technology & Platforms Optimization
Own and optimize Guest Relations technology platforms, including ticketing systems, CRM tools, knowledge bases, and reporting dashboards.
Partner in the design, implementation, and optimization of automated support solutions to improve self-service, reduce ticket volume, and enhance experience.
Evaluate and implement new tools, software, and third-party solutions to advance Guest Relations capabilities.
Manage third-party vendors, including performance oversight, contracts, and service quality.
Reporting & Executive Communication
Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for both guest and franchise support functions.
Deliver clear, actionable reporting to Leadership, highlighting trends, root causes, risks, and opportunities.
Translate data and feedback into insights that influence cross-functional decision-making and experience improvements.
Act as a trusted advisor to field leadership and corporate partners on Guest Relations trends and insights.
Process, Quality & Continuous Improvement
Ensure high-quality, on-brand responses through regular quality audits, coaching, and process refinement.
Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for workflows, policies, and support procedures.
Proactively identify systemic issues and partner cross-functionally to drive long-term solutions.
Voice of the Guest & Operations Support
Analyze Guest and Restaurant feedback across channels to identify patterns and opportunities.
Measure and report the impact of new initiatives and operational changes.
Qualifications Education
Bachelor’s degree required
Experience
5+ years Guest support experience within a large, complex, or nationally recognized brand
Emphasis on high-volume, SLA-driven environments
3+ years people leadership experience
Experience managing SLA-driven operations for large brand
Skills / Knowledge / Abilities
CRM, automation and analytics expertise
Strong executive communication and strategic thinking
Knowledge of Guest support processes, systems and software.
Ability to analyze high volume of Guest feedback to produce fact-based, actionable insights.
Strategic thinker, able to clearly synthesize information and challenge others to think differently in a constructive way.
Strong oral and written communication skills, interpersonal skills, and presentation skills.
Strong project management capabilities.
Ability to juggle multiple projects in parallel and work effectively in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities and a diverse team.
Ability to be detail oriented while keeping a big-picture orientation.
Ability to lead and supervise others to execute projects.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office software products (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and Microsoft Teams.
Ability to work well across all levels of the organization and deal constructively with conflict.
Demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior.
Physical Requirements
Ability to speak/hear clearly in person and on the telephone. Ability to operate a computer keyboard.
Travel
Ability to travel as business needs arise typically 10% – 15% of the time and sometimes during weekends.
Reasonable Accommodation Qdoba and its affiliates will make reasonable accommodations to allow a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities and to perform the essential functions of the job. This position description should be applied accordingly.
Benefits
Medical, Dental, Vision, & 401k
PTO (including vacation and sick)
Tuition reimbursement
Pay Range: $103,200 - $121,300
CA Notice of Collection https://www.qdoba.com/notice-of-collection-for-california-employees
Privacy Policy https://www.qdoba.com/privacy
QDOBA takes pride in carefully selecting talented people and mixing them together to discover amazing flavors. We value the diversity that all our employees bring to the table and the new flavors they bring to our team. Employment decisions and rewards recognize job accountabilities, business needs, and performance merit without regard to age, gender, race, religious affiliation, Veteran status, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected classification recognized by applicable federal, state, or local law.
#J-18808-Ljbffr