Lead Engineer - Agentic AI Systems

When our square shaped burgers made their first sizzle on the scene more than 50 years ago, people knew our approach wasn’t like any other. Same goes for the way we support our employees. Our culture of openness, flexibility, and inclusiveness allows everybody to flourish in their own way. If you’re looking for a career where you can be part of the action as we continue to grow our iconic brand – We got you! 

This Lead Engineer – AgenticAI Systems establishes the enterprise strategy, hardware roadmap, and system architecture for AI compute platforms, edge device deployments, and high-performance inference networks. This strategic role owns the reliability, cost optimization, security compliance, and long-term technical direction for all AI infrastructure powering store operations, drive-thru automation, and enterprise analytics. This role is to simplify and improve operations by leading the design of the infrastructure and platform that AI, machine learning, and agentic solutions run on. The primary focus is to lead the design and development of scalable model serving and MLOps/LLMOps systems, direct analysis to right-size and secure infrastructure, and build high quality AI systems that enhance business operations.

Another key element of the role is to contribute towards best practices and frameworks to deliver a scalable AI platform using newer tools and technology, while leading a cross-functional team and setting technical direction across multiple concurrent initiatives.

• Define enterprise technical strategy, hardware roadmaps, and deployment architectures for distributed AI compute infrastructure, cloud platforms, and store-level edge fleets
• Establish enterprise system standards for reliability , disaster recovery, hardware security , and compute cost governance.
• Lead architectural spikes, capacity planning, and system benchmarking for next-generation AI workloads, multimodal models, and local edge inference.
• Partner with Enterprise IT, Security and cross function teams, and Hardware Vendors to design network topologies, edge hardware specifications, and secure API gateways
• Drive technical evaluations, vendor selection, and SLA negotiations for cloud infrastructure providers, GPU vendors, and edge hardware manufacturers
• Provide overall technical oversight, architectural review, and engineering mentorship across infrastructure and AI teams.

• BS in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science with 5+ years of systems engineering, cloud architecture, and infrastructure leadership.
• Master’s degree in computer science or a related field is preferred.
• Previous experience in the food service or related industry is preferred.
• Demonstrated success architecting multi-region cloud infrastructures, hybrid edge-cloud networks, and large-scale Kubernetes/GKE deployment fleets.
• Exceptional track record of directing complex engineering initiatives, setting technical vision, and negotiating multi-million-dollar technology investments.
• Mastery of heterogeneous compute topologies (GPU/NPU/TPU), low-latency networking, distributed storage, and inference acceleration runtimes.
• Proficient in the use of a variety of software applications including Python, Kubernetes/containerization tools, and cloud technologies (GCP, Azure, or AWS).

Expected Work Location (Remote): It is expected that you will primarily perform work remotely. You may be asked to travel, as needed, to the Wendy's Restaurant Support Center (RSC) (1 Dave Thomas Blvd, Dublin, OH 43017), or to other location(s) as designated by the Company. Changes to work location arrangements are subject to managerial approval and business needs. #LI-Remote 

Wendy’s was built on the premise, "Quality is our Recipe®," which remains the guidepost of the Wendy's system. Today, Wendy's and its franchisees employ hundreds of thousands of people across more than 7,000 restaurants worldwide with a vision of becoming the world's most thriving and beloved restaurant brand. 

The base pay range for this position is listed below. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and budget for the open position and also may vary depending on the candidate’s job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other relevant factors. This range does not include an estimated value for any benefits, bonus, or other incentives that may be applicable based on position. The target annual bonus for this role is 20% of annualized base salary, based on actual company and personal performance. 

Our square burgers make us different and so do our benefits! Our restaurant support roles are eligible for a wide array of benefits, including things such as parental leave, free EAP sessions, company 401k match and other great offerings. For more details about our benefits, including an overview of eligibility and terms for certain benefits, please visit our benefits website, www.wendysbenefits.com. 

NOTE: Wendy’s benefits, bonus, and other incentives are governed by the applicable legal plans and policies and, where appropriate, may be subject to Board approval an individual award agreement terms. Those documents supersede all other information regarding Wendy’s benefits, bonus, and other incentives. Wendy’s retains the right to amend or terminate its plans and policies at its sole discretion, in accordance with applicable plans, policies and laws.