Infinite Kitchen Operations Specialist
We're looking for an operationally-minded Infinite Kitchen (IK) Operations Specialist to support Sweetgreen's growing Infinite Kitchen (IK) portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of IK technology, restaurant operations, and cross-functional Support Center teams. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable walking a restaurant with a GM and presenting a recommendation to senior leadership. This is a role for someone who can earn operator trust, push back on assumptions, and translate field reality into decisions that get made at the Support Center. You're the person who ensures adoption of processes and new initiatives at IK’s and that the voice of operators and guests informs the future of IK’s.
You'll partner closely with Operations, Facilities, Technology, and People teams to drive operational improvements across the IK fleet, lead in-restaurant pilots, and provide field coordination for new IK openings. This role is based in our Los Angeles Support Center, with 15–30% travel to IK restaurants.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Infinite Kitchen (IK) Operations & Testing
- Serve as the primary IK field voice, representing operator perspectives to Technology, People, Facilities, and Operations leadership. Own and refine feedback loop between support team and IK Operators
- Inform test and launch decisions by ensuring cross-functional partners account for operator capacity, training implications, and execution realities before initiatives go live. When something won't work in IK operations, you're the person who says so and helps shape the fix.
- Own a portfolio of operational improvement projects across the IK fleet, including but not limited to high-impact initiatives like the IK Bump Screen, IK Lane Assignments for menu launches, IK Restaurant Planograms, IK Deployment Plays, and IK Experience
- Surface inefficiencies through field feedback. Partner with Operations leadership to scope scalable solutions, and own implementation end-to-end through to operator adoption.
- Lead testing of new operational programs, menu items, and product categories — from designing pilot protocols to gathering structured field feedback and producing clear go/no-go recommendations.
- Identify opportunities and implement solutions to improve IK P&L’s, team member experience, and guest experience
IK NRO Coordination & Field Support
- Lead the IK NRO Ramp Calls process, ensuring new IK openings have the operational coordination they need to hit ramp targets successfully.
- Facilitate field-level escalations during restaurant operating hours, partnering with the Wonder team, Facilities, and Technology to resolve issues quickly.
- Carry forward and continuously refine the IK Head Coach Playbook.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Restaurant industry experience is required — either as an in-restaurant operator (GM, multi-unit ops, ops lead) or in a corporate/ops services role at a multi-unit restaurant brand.
- Experience with in-restaurant automation and robotic technology
- Strong data and analytics fluency — comfortable building your own analysis in Excel, reading dashboards, and pressure-testing decisions with data.
- Modern analytical toolkit, including comfort using AI tools to work fast and efficiently.
- Demonstrated ability to drive cross-functional initiatives without direct org chart authority.
- Experience with kitchen automation, robotics, or other restaurant tech platforms is a strong plus, but not a requirement.
WHAT YOU'LL BRING
- The ability to walk into a restaurant and earn operator trust quickly — operators feel heard, and you leave with field insight that influences Support Center decisions.
- Cross-functional influence: you bring sharp field perspective into Support Center conversations — campaigns, tech rollouts, process changes — giving cross-functional partners the operator-level visibility they need to design initiatives that work in IK restaurants from day one.
- Structured problem-solving in ambiguous spaces — you can build a framework where none exists, move with imperfect information when needed, and know when to wait.
- Natural curiosity paired with follow-through — you carry projects through to operator adoption, not just hand-off, and stay with a problem until the answer holds up.
- Comfort using AI and analytical tools to accelerate your own thinking and decision-making, not just produce outputs.
- Clear communication across audiences — you can translate field complexity into the business framing senior leadership needs to make decisions, and reframe Support Center decisions into clear, executable direction for operators.
WHAT YOU'LL GET
- Highly competitive pay + bonus plan
- Three different medical plans to suit your and your family's needs
- Dental and Vision insurance
- Flexible PTO plan
- 401k program
- Employee HSA and FSA
- Complimentary greens
- An opportunity to make a real impact on the people around you, both by growing them and by connecting them to real food
- To live the sweetlife and celebrate your passion + purpose
- A collaborative team of people who live our core values and have your back
- A clear career path with opportunities for development, both personally and professionally
- Free sweetgreen swag
Come join the sweetlife!
About sweetgreen
Sweetgreen is a national restaurant brand dedicated to building healthier communities by connecting people to real food. Since 2007, Sweetgreen has reimagined fast food to be fresh, flavorful, and rooted in relationships with farmers and communities. As we grow, we are committed to developing our people in our restaurants and at our support center, so that everyone can be part of the movement. When you join Sweetgreen, you not only invest in your own future but help create spaces where food, people, and purpose come together.