Director of Design
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Job Description
Director of Design shaping Mendocino Farms’ restaurant prototypes, standards, and guest environments. Leading design delivery, partners, and operational improvements across new locations, remodels, and refreshes.
Responsibilities:
- Lead, coach, and develop internal designers and external design resources
- Align design resources to the development pipeline and identify when specialized expertise is needed
- Serve as senior design leader for complex, high-visibility, or high-risk projects and decisions
- Own and evolve the restaurant prototype, design standards, material palettes, finishes, furniture, fixtures, lighting, equipment integration, and reusable design details
- Ensure restaurants deliver a recognizable Mendo experience while adapting to site conditions, market needs, and business priorities
- Set and elevate the creative design point of view by translating brand strategy into memorable, functional restaurant environments
- Maintain design standards prioritizing guest flow, ordering and pickup, digital and delivery activity, seating, accessibility, storage, serviceability, and daily operations
- Partner with Operations, Culinary, Facilities, Construction, and equipment vendors to improve kitchen planning, back-of-house flow, equipment integration, ergonomics, throughput, food safety, and maintainability
- Incorporate post-opening learning into future layouts, prototypes, and specifications
- Oversee design delivery for new restaurants, remodels, and refresh programs from feasibility test fits and concepts through permit-ready documentation and construction support
- Establish design QA/QC and phase-gate practices for complete, coordinated, code-aware, and timely deliverables
- Lead cross-functional reviews, translate stakeholder input into direction, and surface risks and tradeoffs early
- Partner with Construction to protect design intent, improve constructability, and reduce rework, RFIs, and change orders
- Select, brief, manage, and evaluate architects, interior designers, engineers, and specialty vendors
- Partner with Construction and Real Estate on design cost drivers and value-engineering recommendations
- Balance brand expression, operating performance, durability, cost, schedule, and long-term unit economics
- Track design-function performance, capacity, risks, and priorities; use post-project reviews to improve standards, tools, and partner performance
- Develop the annual design operating plan with Real Estate, including capacity, priorities, budget needs, and key risks; provide regular delivery updates
- Report to the VP, Design & Construction
Requirements:
- 10+ years of progressive experience in restaurant, retail, hospitality, architecture, interior design, or another related built-environment discipline
- Experience leading a design team, studio, function, or substantial network of external design partners in a fast-moving, multi-project environment
- Significant hands-on experience with restaurant or similarly operationally intensive commercial design, including prototype development, new-unit growth, remodels, and site-specific adaptation
- Strong command of restaurant operations and design, including FOH/BOH flow, kitchen equipment, labor and ergonomics, guest circulation and accessibility, pickup/delivery, food safety, storage, and maintainability
- Experience managing architects, interior designers, engineers, and specialty vendors against quality, schedule, scope, and budget expectations
- Working knowledge of construction documentation, design QA/QC, permitting, building and health codes, design detailing, accessibility, shop-drawing review, and constructability
- Financial fluency with design budgets, cost drivers, value engineering, specification tradeoffs, lifecycle durability, and unit economics
- Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Interior Design, Environmental Design, Product Design, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered
- Proficiency with Bluebeam Revu, Excel, PowerPoint, and project-management platforms
- Working knowledge of AutoCAD and/or Revit and SketchUp is preferred
- Exceptional written, verbal, and visual communication skills, including the ability to develop concise recommendations and executive-ready presentations
- Ability to travel occasionally for market visits, project milestones, and team meetings
- Must be able to lift 25 pounds
- Sitting/standing 6–8 hours
- Hand use: single grasping, fine manipulation, pushing and pulling
- Ability to bend, twist, squat, and reach
Benefits:
- Competitive salary
- Meal privileges
- Health benefits
- 401k Plan
- Paid Vacation
- Occasional travel for market visits, project milestones, and team meetings
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