Director, Franchising & Fleet Management

What’s Unique About You Is What Makes Us Better! Diversity is our strength and competitive advantage. Bring your flavor to the Papa John's team today!

Job Description

Director, Franchising and Fleet Management

Job Summary
The Director, Franchising and Fleet Management is responsible for identifying, recruiting, and signing qualified franchise candidates while cultivating strong relationships with existing franchisees to drive new development agreements. Success in this role is measured by achieving or exceeding annual signed Development Agreement quotas and new unit openings. The position will play a key role in shaping fleet strategy and ensuring the health of the franchisee restaurant fleet by managing restaurant transfer qualifications, right of first refusals, and approval processes. Additionally, manages the tracking and communication for domestic incentives, extensions, amendments, and terminations.

Essential Functions

• Execute sales strategies and relationship‑building initiatives to develop a strong franchise pipeline and achieve annual growth targets.
• Guide prospective franchisees through the full recruitment lifecycle—from initial outreach and disclosure through discovery and development agreement execution.
• Oversight to third-party lead generation companies.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with existing franchisees and new prospects to support brand expansion.
• Manage the collection, review, and completion of all documentation required for franchise prospect approval.
• Develop strategic plans to achieve targeted growth, profitability, and market penetration to support long‑term brand development.
• Create and implement strategies to attract high‑quality franchise candidates in key markets.
• Participate in industry trade associations to network, stay informed on market trends, and promote company development initiatives.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional development teams—including Real Estate, Design & Construction, GIS, and SMP—throughout the recruitment and approval process.
• Coordinate with internal teams across Operations, Marketing, Legal, and related functions to support the health and performance of the franchise fleet.
• Develop and refine strategies for effective fleet management across existing and future restaurant locations.
• Represents and manages development’s role in acquisitions and divestitures of existing restaurants.
• Communicates and tracks the domestic development incentive programs, agreement extensions, amendments, and terminations. Communicates decisions to franchisees.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, or a related field (preferred)
• Large multi-unit restaurant or retail industry experience (preferred)
• 5+ years of leading and maintaining a team of individuals

Functional Experience

• 5+ years of sales‑related experience (Required)
• Franchise sales experience (Required)
• Financial and Business Acumen
• Communicate effectively and candidly
• Process improvement: strive for continual improvement
• Ability to effectively communicate, inform, and influence senior leadership
• Ability to work cross-functionally on multiple initiatives with a successful record of advancing projects

Everybody loves pizza, which means they also love the people who are behind the scenes working to deliver it. This is complex and challenging work – but let’s face it – it’s also pizza! If you want a fulfilling career with a company that’s always moving forward, we’re the right place.

Papa John's is a Federal Contract employer who participates in E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility for each new team member. For more information please view the following PDFs: E-Verify Poster (English) - Right to Work Poster (English) - E-Verify Poster (Spanish) - Right to Work Poster (Spanish) Papa John's is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. For more information please click on the following PDF. See terms & conditions for site use.