Director, Cybersecurity

About the role

The Director of Cybersecurity is a senior leadership role responsible for protecting Brinker International’s guests, team members, brands, and operations across a highly distributed restaurant environment. This role leads cybersecurity strategy, risk management, and incident response across corporate systems, restaurant technology, cloud platforms, third party vendors, and payment environments. The Director will drive a risk based, practical security program that supports business innovation, digital guest experiences, and operational resilience—while ensuring strong compliance with PCI DSS, SOX, privacy regulations, and internal governance standards. We are currently focused on local candidates or those open to relocating to the area at their own expense. At this time, we are unable to provide sponsorship support.

Responsibilities

• Define and continuously evolve Brinker’s enterprise cybersecurity strategy aligned to business risk, regulatory requirements, and hospitality industry threats.
• Lead security architecture, threat management, and resilience initiatives across corporate, cloud, and restaurant systems.
• Translate cyber risk into clear, actionable insights for executive leadership.
• Oversee continuous monitoring, detection, and response capabilities for enterprise and restaurant environments.
• Lead incident response planning, tabletop exercises, and real-world cyber event handling.
• Ensure disaster recovery, data protection, and business continuity plans are effective and regularly tested.
• Direct cybersecurity governance, policies, and controls aligned to PCI DSS, SOX, privacy laws, and security frameworks such as NIST or ISO 27001.
• Lead internal and third-party audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing programs.
• Own enterprise cyber risk assessments and remediation prioritization.
• Oversee security assessments of technology vendors, suppliers, and service providers supporting restaurants and corporate systems.
• Ensure contractual and technical controls appropriately mitigate third party cyber risks at scale.
• Protect point of sale, payment processing, and restaurant level technology environments.
• Ensure compliance with PCI standards and secure handling of guest payment data through training, controls, and oversight.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a cybersecurity team spanning engineering, GRC, and operations.
• Promote security awareness and role-based training for restaurant and corporate team members.
• Foster a culture where security enables—not inhibits—hospitality, innovation, and speed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Security, Computer Science, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of progressive cybersecurity experience, with at least 5 years in security leadership roles.
• Experience securing large, distributed environments (e.g., retail, hospitality, or franchise‑based operations).
• Deep knowledge of PCI DSS and payment security.
• Deep knowledge of incident response and threat detection.
• Deep knowledge