Senior Manager, Menu Planning & Development

Disney Disney · Media · Glendale, CA +1

This role is for a Senior Manager of Menu Planning & Development at Walt Disney Imagineering. The primary focus is on developing strategies for new experiences, translating business priorities and consumer needs into a forward-looking menu plan. The role involves strategic analysis, creative vision, and innovation, with a partnership with WDI R&D and other stakeholders to define the future of Disney experiences.

What you'd actually do

  1. Develop menu plan strategies that connect business objectives, audience insights, and experience solutions, influencing new concepts and formats.
  2. Define scalable experience typologies aligned to consumer needs, capacity opportunities, and portfolio strategy, while evolving the menu as a framework to guide long-term investment.
  3. Identify and test new experience formats through hypothesis-driven pilots with a path from single-site validation to global scalability, while prioritizing scalability, modularity, and cost-efficiency.
  4. Translate complex inputs into decision frameworks aimed at evolving into a more holistic value framework that incorporates guest experience, design performance, ops productivity, and financial return.
  5. Develop concepts for new formats and experience categories that enable continuous guest engagement across digital and physical environments.

Skills

Required

  • strategic planning
  • portfolio/program management
  • new experience development
  • leading complex, cross-functional initiatives
  • analytical skills
  • problem-solving skills
  • communication skills
  • balancing creative ambition with operational and financial considerations

Nice to have

  • experience design
  • themed entertainment
  • digital platforms
  • innovation-driven environments
  • integrating emerging technologies
  • new business models
  • WDI creative development process
  • Disney Parks organization

What the JD emphasized

  • 7+ years of experience in strategic planning, portfolio/program management, or new experience development
  • Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives in a global or matrixed environment
  • Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
  • Proven ability to balance creative ambition with operational and financial considerations