Director - 3rd Party Research Programs

JOB SUMMARY

The Director, Market Research Platforms manages market research and tracking programs and vendors used to generate key Customer and Competitive Insights. This position is responsible for managing Consumer Insight programs associated with evaluating and tracking the effectiveness of Marriott's brands and businesses, monitoring competitor moves, and other programmatic efforts to gather and disseminate insight related to broader business needs. This position works closely with peers on Research teams to develop and improve ways to provide insights in a timely manner, with attention to the speed of project turnaround and need to tailor and manage expectations for work with global implications. In addition, the Director must be able to connect the needs of business users/internal clients to core Consumer Insight programs and help support the efforts of the D&AI team.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education and Experience

• 8+ years of professional experience, demonstrating progressive career growth and a pattern of exceptional performance in consumer research and/or project/program management positions.
• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in a discipline with a rigorous emphasis on consumer research methods and statistics (e.g. psychometrics, consumer marketing research, operations research, economics, statistics, social psychology, consumer psychology).
• Master's degree in a research-related discipline preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in customer research methods (e.g. survey design, statistics, sampling theory, in cross-cultural settings - highly desirable).
• Extensive experience leading complex, high profile, multi-brand research initiatives and programs
• Outstanding vendor negotiation and project management skills
• Highly effective oral/written communication abilities; and excellent presentation skills
• Innovative thinker with broad business view; can balance strategic and financial perspectives

Key Skills and Experience

• Demonstrated expertise in customer research methods (e.g. survey design, statistics, sampling theory, in cross-cultural settings - highly desirable).
• Extensive experience leading complex, high profile, multi-brand research initiatives and programs
• Outstanding vendor negotiation and project management skills
• Highly effective oral/written communication abilities; and excellent presentation skills
• Innovative thinker with broad business view; can balance strategic and financial perspectives.

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

• Responsible for development and sustainment of key Consumer Insight platforms and analysis, including foundational research programs the competitive intelligence platform, and other key programmatic efforts that support understanding and monitoring of Consumer sentiment and industry trends.
• Collaborating with the Senior Director, Brand & Lodging Products, oversees the management of vendor support in the areas of brand and program tracking, survey and other insight-gathering platforms (e.g. trend scanning, 3rd party research data), and consultants used for broader enterprise, cross-cultural, or portfolio-level insight gathering.
• Development of actionable insights from research data and analysis into concrete storylines catered to stakeholder key questions and major initiatives.
• Works with key stakeholders within the GLP & D&AI teams, and business users, to understand and define the needs for Marriott's Consumer Insight platforms, and continuously evaluate the effectiveness of service offerings against those needs.
• Leads development and sustainment of Marriott's self-service insights portals and dashboards
• Collaborates across D&AI team to understand needs, develop approaches, and identify vendors (as necessary) to address key insight needs across business users; continuously evaluate the effectiveness of service offerings against those needs.
• Supports the broader D&AI team in their need to provide insights, understanding, and actionable recommendation to key stakeholder groups.

Managing Projects and Priorities

• Functions as a strategic senior technical expert within the department.
• Develops specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work.
• Champions leaders' vision for product and service delivery.
• Makes and executes the necessary decisions to keep moving forward toward achievement of goals.
• Provides direction and assistance to other teams regarding projects.
• Determines priorities, schedules, plans and necessary resources to promote completion of any projects on schedule.
• Analyzes information and evaluates results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Reviews vendor proposals and selects appropriate vendor for services/technologies/hardware.
• Thinks creatively and practically to develop, execute, and implement new project plans.
• Generates and provides accurate and timely results in the form of reports, presentations, etc.
• Plans, develops, implements, and evaluates the quality of operations.

Delivering on the Needs of Key Stakeholders

• Understands and meets the needs of key stakeholders.
• Communicates concepts in a clear and persuasive manner that is easy to understand.
• Demonstrates an understanding of business priorities.
• Supports achievement of performance goals, budget goals, team goals, etc.

Providing Technical Support and Consultation

• Provides technical expertise and technical leadership within own and other teams.
• Provides recommendations to improve the effectiveness of processes and programs.
• Demonstrates advanced knowledge of job-relevant issues, products, systems, and processes.
• Demonstrates advanced knowledge of function-specific procedures.
• Applies knowledge/judgment to achieve business goals.
• Foresees, identifies, and resolves problems.
• Keeps up-to-date technically and applies new knowledge to job.
• Performs other reasonable duties as required for this position.

MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES

Leadership

• Communication - Conveys information and ideas to others in a convincing and engaging manner through a variety of methods.
• Leading Through Vision and Values - Keeps the organization's vision and values at the forefront of employee decision making and action.
• Managing Change - Initiates and/or manages the change process and energizes it on an ongoing basis, taking steps to remove barriers or accelerate its pace; serves as role model for how to handle change by maintaining composure and performance level under pressure or when experiencing challenges.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making - Identifies and understands issues, problems, and opportunities; obtains and compares information from different sources to draw conclusions, develops and evaluates alternatives and solutions, solves problems, and chooses a course of action.
• Professional Demeanor - Exhibits behavioral styles that convey confidence and command respect from others; makes a good first impression and represents the company in alignment with its values.
• Strategy Development - Develops business plans by exploring and systematically evaluating opportunities with the greatest potential for producing positive results; ensures successful preparation and execution of business plans through effective planning, organizing, and on-going evaluation processes.

Managing Execution

• Building a Successful Team - Uses an effective interpersonal style to build a cohesive team; inspires and sustains team cohesion and engagement by focusing the team on its mission and importance to the organization.
• Strategy Execution - Ensures successful execution across of business plans designed to maximize customer satisfaction, profitability, and market share through effective planning, organizing, and on-going evaluation processes.
• Driving for Results - Sets high standards of performance for self and/or others; assumes responsibility for work objectives; initiates, focuses, and monitors the efforts of self and/or others toward the accomplishment goals; proactively takes action and goes beyond what is required.

Building Relationships

• Customer Relationships - Develops and sustains relationships based on an understanding of customer/stakeholder needs and actions consistent with the company's service standards.
• Global Mindset - Supports employees and business partners with diverse styles, abilities, motivations, and/or cultural perspectives; utilizes differences to drive innovation, engagement and enhance business results; and ensures employees are given the opportunity to contribute to their full potential.
• Strategic Partnerships - Develops collaborative relationships with fellow employees and business partners by making them feel valued, appreciated, and included; explores partnership opportunities with other people in and outside the organization; influences and leverages corporate and continental shared services and/or discipline leaders (e.g., HR, Sales & Marketing, Finance, Revenue Management) to achieve objectives; maintains effective external relations with government, business and industry in respective countries; performs effectively as a liaison between locations, disciplines, and corporate to ensure needed resources are received and corporate strategies are understood and executed.

Generating Talent and Organizational Capability

• Developing Others - Supports the development of other's skills and capabilities so that they can fulfill current or future job/role responsibilities more effectively.
• Organizational Capability - Evaluates and adapts the structure of assignments and work processes to best fit the needs and/or support the goals of an organizational unit.

Learning and Applying Professional Expertise

• Continuous Learning - Actively identifies new areas for learning; regularly creates and takes advantage of learning opportunities; uses newly gained knowledge and skill on the job and learns through their application.
• Technical Acumen - Expertly understands and utilizes professional skills and knowledge in a specific functional area to conduct and manage everyday business operations, generate innovative solutions to approach function-specific work challenges, and function as a thought leader in his or her area of expertise.
• Business Acumen - Understands and utilizes business information to manage everyday operations and generate innovative solutions to approach business and administrative challenges.
• Basic Competencies - Fundamental competencies required for accomplishing basic work activities.
• Basic Computer Skills - Uses basic computer hardware and software (e.g., personal computers, word processing software, Internet browsers, etc.).
• Mathematical Reasoning - Adds, subtracts, multiplies, or divides quickly, correctly, and in a way that allows one to solve work-related issues.
• Oral Comprehension - Listens to and understands information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Reading Comprehension - Understands written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Writing - Communicates effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer. We believe in hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive, people-first culture. We are committed to non-discrimination on any protected basis, such as disability and veteran status, or any other basis covered under applicable law.

All positions offer a 401(k) plan, stock purchase plan, discounts at Marriott properties, commuter benefits, employee assistance plan, and childcare discounts. Benefits are subject to terms and conditions, which may include rules regarding eligibility, enrollment, waiting period, contribution, benefit limits, election changes, benefit exclusions, and others. Click here to learn more.

Full-time positions also offer coverage for medical, dental, vision, health care flexible spending account, dependent care flexible spending account, life insurance, disability insurance, accident insurance, adoption expense reimbursements, paid parental leave and educational assistance.

Washington Applicants Only: Employees will accrue paid sick leave, 0.077 PTO balance for every hour worked and be eligible to receive a minimum of 9 holidays annually.

Marriott HQ is committed to a hybrid work environment that enables associates to Be connected. Headquarters-based positions are considered hybrid, for candidates within a commuting distance to Bethesda, MD; candidates outside of commuting distance to Bethesda, MD will be considered for Remote positions.