Director of Design

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Texas.

📋 Description

• Lead, mentor, and develop both internal designers and external design partners.

• Align internal and external design resources with the development pipeline.

• Act as the senior design leader for complex, high-visibility, or high-risk projects and decisions.

• Own and enhance Mendo’s restaurant prototype, design standards, material palettes, finishes, furniture, fixtures, lighting, equipment integration, and reusable design details.

• Ensure restaurants offer a recognizable Mendo experience while adapting to site conditions, market demands, and business priorities.

• Set and elevate Mendo’s creative design perspective.

• Maintain and advance design standards that support guest flow, ordering and pickup, digital and delivery activities, seating, accessibility, storage, serviceability, and operations.

• Collaborate with Operations, Culinary, Facilities, Construction, and equipment vendors to enhance kitchen planning, back-of-house flow, equipment integration, ergonomics, throughput, food safety, and maintainability.

• Incorporate post-opening insights into future layouts, prototypes, and specifications.

• Oversee design delivery for new restaurants, remodels, and refresh programs from feasibility test fits and concepts to permit-ready documentation and construction support.

• Establish design QA/QC and phase-gate practices.

• Lead cross-functional reviews and translate stakeholder feedback into clear directives.

• Partner with Construction to uphold design intent, enhance constructability, and minimize rework, RFIs, and change orders.

• Select, brief, manage, and assess architects, interior designers, engineers, and specialty vendors.

• Provide value-engineering recommendations while balancing brand expression, operational performance, durability, cost, schedule, and long-term unit economics.

• Monitor design-function performance, capacity, risks, and priorities.

• Develop the annual design operating plan with Real Estate and provide regular updates regarding design delivery.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of progressive experience in restaurant, retail, hospitality, architecture, interior design, or a related built-environment discipline.

• Experience leading a design team, studio, function, or a significant network of external design partners in a fast-paced, multi-project environment.

• Substantial hands-on experience with restaurant or similarly operationally intensive commercial design, including prototype development, new-unit growth, remodels, and site-specific adaptations.

• Strong understanding 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 in alignment with 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 regarding 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.

• Proficient in Bluebeam Revu, Excel, PowerPoint, and project management platforms.

• Willingness to travel occasionally for market visits, project milestones, and team meetings.

• Must be capable of lifting 25 pounds.

• Ability to sit or stand for 6-8 hours.

• Hand use includes single grasping, fine manipulation, pushing, and pulling.

• Job requires bending, twisting, squatting, and reaching.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary.

• Meal privileges.

• Health benefits.

• 401k Plan.

• Paid Vacation.