Justin Isbell

Sr. Director of Software Engineering at Jack In The Box

Engineering leader focused on building strong, small, autonomous teams that continually deliver value

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About Me

As Sr. Director of Software Engineering at Jack In The Box, I drive digital transformation initiatives that directly impact millions of customers and thousands of franchise locations. I lead cross-functional teams responsible for our mobile app, website, third-party delivery platforms, and the critical backend systems that power our restaurant operations.

My leadership philosophy centers on building high-performing, autonomous teams that scale with the business. I've successfully grown engineering organizations from the ground up, establishing engineering culture, hiring top talent, and implementing processes that enable rapid innovation while maintaining operational excellence. With deep expertise in both technical architecture and business strategy, I ensure our technology investments align with corporate objectives and drive measurable business outcomes.

Professional Experience

Sr. Director of Software Engineering

Jack in the Box November 2024 - Present

I lead our software engineering organization of ~12 teams comprising Software Engineers, Product Managers, Analysts, QA Engineers, and agile leaders. Their scope spans Ecommerce technologies (mobile app, website, order management, loyalty systems) to Back of House reporting and employee data management.

Leadership: I organized teams into domains supporting Digital, Back of House, and Reporting/Analytics. These teams maintain low downtime and high stakeholder satisfaction. Our positive culture has driven high retention among top performers.
Business Impact: We executed critical vendor transitions to more powerful, cost-effective solutions by preventing vendor lock-in and enabling quick system migrations. Digital sales grew from 7% to 20% of total sales during my tenure, despite organizational and macroeconomic headwinds.
Strategic Innovation: Partnering with our Data Team, we enhanced customer data collection while maintaining regulatory compliance and giving customers control. We developed a recommendation algorithm that measurably increased transaction values in digital/online sales, providing deeper customer insights.
Technical Impact: We transitioned from bi-weekly to on-demand releases for most teams, reducing risk and defects. We consolidated technologies to essential tools/languages/frameworks, enabling greater cross-team collaboration.
Collaboration: Working with our platform team, we built a release strategy that dramatically improved time-to-market while maintaining uptime and defect rates. We implemented DORA metrics and Cloud Cost Management to identify focus areas, making teams more effective while reducing operational costs.

Director of Digital Technology

Jack in the Box April 2022 - December 2024

I built and scaled a 5-team Digital Technology organization from zero, driving development of omnichannel platforms supporting mobile, web, and third-party delivery integrations (DoorDash, Uber Eats).

Leadership: Recruited and onboarded 50+ technical professionals across teams while designing organizational structure that mirrors business units. This alignment reduced stakeholder feedback cycles by 70% and achieved 100% on-time delivery for all major strategic initiatives.
Business Impact: Led platform transformation that scaled digital sales from 7% to 20% of total revenue, achieving consistent YOY growth while reducing operational costs. Replaced legacy third-party solutions with modern, vendor-agnostic systems enabling rapid adaptation to market changes.
Technical Excellence: Architected and delivered ground-up rebuild of mobile app, web, and backend systems, implementing fault-tolerant architecture with 99.9%+ uptime. Transformed deployment capabilities from bi-weekly to on-demand releases, minimizing vendor-related incidents across all channels.
Strategic Innovation: Established comprehensive observability and monitoring systems that proactively identify issues before customer impact. Built platforms that seamlessly integrate with major delivery partners while maintaining flexibility for future partnerships.
Operational Impact: Created scalable foundations that support explosive digital growth while maintaining operational efficiency. Implemented modern development practices that accelerated feature delivery and reduced time-to-market for strategic initiatives.

Director of Core Platform

Hagerty July 2021 - April 2022

Directed engineering and architecture for critical platform services including payments, billing, identity management, and customer account systems.

Engineering Manager

Hagerty October 2020 - July 2021

Led engineering for Billing and Payments systems handling millions in transactions, maintaining PCI and NACHA compliance standards.

Engineering Manager: Innovation Team

Compassion International September 2018 - October 2020

Built and led a 12-person engineering team creating innovative digital products for donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries worldwide.

Software Engineer

Compassion International March 2016 - September 2018

Developed marketing platforms and became lead engineer for the organization's enterprise ERP system supporting global operations.

Developer, Brand Systems

DineEquity (Applebee's & IHOP) April 2013 - March 2016

Developed enterprise restaurant management systems for Applebee's and IHOP brands, deployed to 1,500+ locations nationwide.

Experience predating 2013 available upon request.

Skills

Leadership Skills

Strategic Planning Vision Setting Change Management Executive Communication Team Building Stakeholder Management

Management Skills

People Management Performance Reviews Hiring & Retention Budget Management Project Management Agile/Scrum Conflict Resolution

Architecture and Engineering Skills

System Architecture Microservices Cloud Architecture (AWS) API Design DevOps CI/CD Pipelines Database Design Security & Compliance

Other Skills

JavaScript React TypeScript C# .NET Node.js SQL Server Docker

Education

A Note on My Education Background

Click to learn more about my non-traditional path

Executive Leadership Certification

Oxford Saïd School of Business

2020

Completed executive education program focused on strategic leadership, organizational transformation, and leading high-performing teams in complex business environments.

High School Diploma

Lawrence High School

2003 - 2006

Completed foundational education before entering the technology field.

Get In Touch

I'm always interested in new opportunities and collaborations. Feel free to reach out!

📧 justin@justinisbell.org 💼 LinkedIn Profile 📍 Colorado Springs, CO