Sr Cybersecurity Architect
Date: Sep 6, 2026
Location: Chicago, IL, US, 60607
Company: McDonald's Corporation
Company Description:
McDonald’s growth strategy, Accelerating the Arches, encompasses all aspects of our business as the leading global omni-channel restaurant brand. As the consumer landscape shifts we are using our competitive advantages to further strengthen our brand. One of our core growth strategies is to Double Down on the 3Ds (Delivery, Digital and Drive Thru). McDonald’s will accelerate technology innovation so 65M+ customers a day will experience a fast, easy experience, whether at one of our 25,000 and growing Drive thrus, through McDelivery, dine-in or takeaway.
McDonald’s Global Technology is here to power tomorrow’s feel-good moments.
That’s why you’ll find us at the forefront of transformative technology, exploring new and innovative ways to serve our millions of customers and spread happiness one delicious Hot Fudge Sundae-dipped fry at a time. Using AI, robotics and emerging tech, we’re digitizing the Golden Arches. Combine that with our unparalleled global scale, and we’re reshaping all areas of the business, industry and every community that is home to a McDonald’s restaurant. We face complex tech challenges every day. But that’s where our diverse and talented teams come in. They’re made up of the best and brightest from all over the globe, and they thrive in the space where feel-good meets fast-paced.
Check out the McDonald’s Global Technology Technical Blog to learn how technology and our global team are directly enabling the Accelerating the Arches strategy.
Department Overview
The Global Cybersecurity (GCS) Senior Cybersecurity Solution Architect is responsible for shaping, communicating, and advancing cybersecurity requirements and security architecture across the full lifecycle of commercial products and restaurant platforms. The architect combines deep technical judgment with strong relationship-building, negotiation, and influencing skills to help teams make informed, risk-based decisions that protect confidentiality, integrity, availability, privacy and compliance. The role contributes to enterprise security standards and reusable design patterns, while documenting security requirements, design decisions, risks, exceptions, and mitigations for systems and applications.
This role partners broadly across the Commercial Products and Platforms organization, including product management, engineering, privacy, risk, and business teams. Success requires technical credibility, organizational awareness, and the ability to build trust, facilitate productive dialogue, negotiate practical security outcomes, resolve competing priorities, and influence decisions without relying on direct authority.
This role will be a part of the Global Cyber Security function and the Cyber Security Architecture and Engineering team and will report to the Senior Manager of Cyber Security Solution Architecture.
Accountabilities & Responsibilities
- Develop and advance cybersecurity strategies for commercial and restaurant platforms, and services in alignment with business priorities, company goals, and industry best practices.
- Build trusted partnerships with product, platform, engineering, architecture, operations, privacy, risk, and business leaders to embed security throughout planning, design and delivery.
- Lead collaborative architecture reviews and working sessions that identify security gaps, clarify tradeoffs, and establish pragmatic, risk-based paths forward.
- Influence stakeholders at multiple levels without direct authority by using clear reasoning, credible evidence, active listening, and an understanding of business context.
- Champion secure-by-design and secure-by-default principles and coach teams in applying them consistently across products and platforms.
- Define, review, and promote reusable architecture artifacts, security models, standards, guardrails, and design patterns that improve consistency and accelerate delivery.
- Improve visibility of business and technology risk through threat modeling, control mapping, architecture assessments, and clear documentation of decisions, risks, exceptions, and mitigations.
- Translate complex technical and risk topics into concise, audience-appropriate recommendations for executives, product leaders, engineers, and non-technical stakeholders.
- Assess alignment with applicable security and compliance frameworks, including NIST CSF, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS, and help teams translate obligations into practical design outcomes
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Cybersecurity, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 6+ years of experience in information security, including at least 2 years in a security architecture role or equivalent experience.
- Certifications such as CISSP, CISM, SABSA, or TOGAF are preferred; equivalent experience and demonstrated capability will be considered.
- Technical depth across multiple domains such as identity and access management, data protection, encryption, cloud security (AWS, Azure, or GCP), DevSecOps, application security, platform security, endpoint security, IoT, OT, network security, or zero-trust architecture.
- Knowledge of security frameworks such as NIST and ISO 27001, with the ability to translate them into practical standards, guardrails, and measurable outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to negotiate complex technical and risk decisions, find common ground, and secure commitment to practical outcomes across teams with competing priorities.
- Exceptional collaboration and relationship-building skills, including active listening, empathy, curiosity, and the ability to establish trust with technical and non-technical partners.
- Strong influencing and consulting skills, with a track record of guiding decisions and driving adoption without direct authority.
- Skilled facilitator who can bring structure to ambiguous discussions, surface assumptions, manage disagreement constructively, and lead groups toward clear decisions.
- Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, with the ability to simplify complex security topics and tailor messages for executives, product leaders, architects, engineers, and business stakeholders.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with sound judgment and the ability to evaluate information from multiple sources and recommend proportionate action.
- Demonstrated results reducing risk and security technical debt while enabling timely delivery and sustainable engineering practices.
- Comfort with ambiguity, organizational change, and evolving priorities, together with the resilience and adaptability to maintain progress.
- A coaching mindset that elevates others encourages shared ownership of security, and contributes to an inclusive, high-performing culture.
Compensation
Bonus Eligible: Yes
Long - Term Incentive: Yes
Benefits Eligible: Yes
Salary Range
The expected salary range for this role is $167,366.00 - $209,207.00 per year
The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors.
Additional Information:
Benefits eligible: This position offers health and welfare benefits, including but not limited to comprehensive health insurance, which includes medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental and vision coverage, as well as, life insurance; a 401(k) plan; adoption assistance program; educational assistance program; flexible ways of working; and time off policies (including sick leave, parental leave, and vacation/PTO). McDonald’s is an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of our workforce. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone. McDonald’s provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities as part of the application or hiring process or to perform the essential functions of their job. If you need assistance accessing or reading this job posting or otherwise feel you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please contact mcdhrbenefits@us.mcd.com. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.McDonald’s provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (including pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, disability status, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, protected military or veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.Nothing in this job posting or description should be construed as an offer or guarantee of employment.
Nearest Major Market: Chicago