The Workforce Management Manager is a senior individual‑contributor leadership role responsible for shaping, driving, and continuously evolving enterprise workforce planning and headcount decision‑making across Inspire Brands’ non‑restaurant organizations. This role operates as a strategic thought partner to HR, Finance, Talent Acquisition, and business leaders, translating complex workforce dynamics into executive‑ready insights that inform near‑ and long‑term business strategy.

Operating within a highly matrixed enterprise environment, this role owns workforce planning methodologies, systems, and governance. The Workforce Management Manager is accountable for ensuring workforce plans are credible, scenario‑based, and embedded into operating rhythms. While the role does not initially include direct reports, it carries enterprise‑level accountability and influence.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own and drive enterprise workforce planning and forecasting for corporate and support center populations, including annual planning, reforecasting, and scenario‑based capacity modeling to support executive decision‑making
• Design, evolve, and govern workforce planning models and methodologies, ensuring alignment with business strategy, financial assumptions, and operating priorities.
• Act as the enterprise HR product owner for workforce planning systems and tools, accountable for roadmap direction, data integrity, governance standards, and ongoing capability enhancement.
• Synthesize complex workforce, financial, and operational data into clear, executive‑ready narratives, surfacing risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to guide leadership decisions.
• Partner with senior HR, Finance, Talent Acquisition, and business leaders on headcount planning, organizational design, spans and layers, and workforce mix decisions.
• Build enterprise workforce planning capability, including standards, governance, and data literacy across HR and key stakeholder groups.

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

• 4 Year Degree / Bachelor’s
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Finance, Analytics, Statistics, or a related field required. In lieu of a degree, a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in workforce planning, workforce management, or people analytics may be considered.

EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in workforce management, workforce planning, people analytics, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success operating in a complex, matrixed enterprise environment with cross‑functional stakeholders.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS or ABILITIES

• Demonstrated success operating as a lead workforce planning practitioner, with accountability for outcomes—not just analysis.
• Demonstrated experience leading or managing workforce planning systems (e.g., forecasting tools, planning models, HRIS‑adjacent platforms) with supporting processes, governance, and data standards to enable effective workforce planning and headcount management.
• Experience exploring and applying AI‑enabled capabilities to augment workforce planning, role evaluation, and scenario modeling while maintaining strong governance and human decision oversight.
• Advanced analytical and consulting skills with the ability to translate ambiguity and complex data into clear, actionable, executive‑level insights.
• Proven ability to operate as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, influencing workforce and headcount decisions through insight, credibility, and structured recommendations—without direct authority.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to present complex topics clearly to executive and non‑technical audiences.
• High level of comfort working with ambiguity, enterprise‑level complexity, and competing priorities.

 

Inspire is a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 33,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide.

We’re made up of some of the world’s most iconic restaurant brands, but we’re much more than just a restaurant company. We’re a team of hundreds of thousands who individually and collectively are changing the way people eat, drink, and gather around the table. We know that food is much more than a staple—it’s an experience. At Inspire, that’s our purpose: to ignite and nourish flavorful experiences.