Vice President Data Science Jobs in Virginia (NOW HIRING)

Based at our office in Alexandria, VA, the Vice President – Data Analytics and Insights is a senior executive responsible for building and leading Five Guys’ enterprise analytics capability. This new role owns the strategy, team, and delivery of Business Intelligence and Reporting, Pricing and Revenue Management, Advanced Analytics and Data Science, Business Analytics, and Consumer Insights across all channels for both Company and Franchise restaurants. The VP serves as the organization’s central authority on data-driven decision-making. The role partners with Marketing, Operations, Digital, Finance, IT, Supply Chain, and Franchisees to deliver actionable insights that drive profitable growth, optimize pricing, deepen guest understanding, and improve operational performance system-wide. The VP will build a high-performing, analytically rigorous team and foster a culture where data underpins every major commercial and operational decision.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide analytical support to Marketing, Operations, Digital, and Finance teams for key questions regarding overall business performance 

Lead the development of test-and-learn frameworks, including experiment design, control group methodology, and statistical significance standards, to enable disciplined innovation across the business.

Conduct ad-hoc deep-dive analyses to answer critical business questions and support strategic planning, annual budgeting, and new-initiative business cases.

Define, govern, and evolve Five Guys’ enterprise BI and reporting strategy, including platforms, dashboards, and self-service tools, ensuring accurate, timely insights for executives, functional leaders, and field operations.

Partner with IT to ensure data infrastructure, warehousing, and pipelines are scalable, reliable, and aligned with current and future analytics needs.

Own Five Guys’ enterprise pricing strategy, developing pricing models and elasticity analyses to guide menu, promotional, delivery, and marketspecific pricing decisions.

Collaborate with Finance, Supply Chain, and Operations to assess margin impacts, vendor cost changes, and new menu initiatives, supported by a clear pricing governance framework.

Own the consumer insights function, leading qualitative and quantitative research programs (brand tracking, guest satisfaction surveys, concept testing, segmentation studies, and ethnographic/in restaurant research) to build a deep, actionable understanding of Five Guys guests and prospects.

Serve as the “voice of the guest” across the organization, synthesizing research findings into clear
narratives that inform brand strategy, menu innovation, marketing campaigns, and guest experience
improvements.

Manage relationships with external research vendors and syndicated data providers (e.g.,
Technomic, NPD / CREST, Placer.ai, or similar) and ensure the organization has access to the
competitive and industry intelligence it needs.

Build and lead the data science function, developing predictive and prescriptive models that drive
measurable business outcomes in areas such as demand forecasting, labor optimization, menu mix
optimization, guest lifetime value, churn prediction, and site selection.

Identify and prioritize high-impact analytics use cases across the business; develop a roadmap for
model development, testing, deployment, and ongoing refinement.

Build, lead, and develop a high-performing analytics organization spanning multiple disciplines (BI,
pricing, data science, business analytics, and consumer insights), attracting and retaining top talent
in a competitive market.

Establish clear team goals and performance metrics tied to business outcomes, and manage
departmental budgets including headcount, technology, vendor, and research spend.

Qualifications Guidelines:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.
The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential
functions.

Education/Experience:
Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative or business-related field required; advanced degree (MBA, M.S.,
or Ph.D.) strongly preferred.
10+ years of progressive experience in analytics, data science, pricing, consumer insights, or
business intelligence, including senior leadership of multidisciplinary teams.
Experience in multiunit, franchise, or consumerdriven industries strongly preferred.

Language Ability:
Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex analytical findings
into clear, actionable insights for executive leadership, franchise partners, and cross-functional
stakeholders.

Math Ability:
This position requires advanced business math skills.

Reasoning Ability:
The position requires exceptional analytical reasoning, intellectual curiosity, and strategic judgment. The
successful candidate will navigate ambiguity across a wide range of business problems, synthesize data
from disparate sources (POS, digital platforms, third-party marketplace data, survey research, syndicated
industry data, and financial systems), and make sound recommendations that balance short-term
performance with long-term brand and business health. Must be comfortable challenging conventional
thinking with evidence-based perspectives and managing the inherent tension between analytical precision
and the speed required in a fast-paced restaurant environment.

Computer Skills:
Excellent personal computer literacy is required, with proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet, and
other appropriate software. Strong familiarity with BI, data visualization, data warehousing, and analytics
platforms, (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker, or similar) with experience overseeing enterprise analytics
tools, data pipelines, and model development. (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, or similar).

Supervisory Responsibilities:
This position has supervisory responsibilities.

Physical Demands:
This position may require extended periods of sitting and the use of office equipment and computers.
Occasional travel to restaurant locations, franchise partner meetings, vendor offices, research facilities,
and industry conferences will be required; travel is estimated at 15–25% annually, with peak periods
around strategic planning cycles, franchise conventions, and major research initiatives.
The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position.
Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as assigned by their
supervisor, policy and company management.