Job Description

The Senior Manager, Digital + Tech Transformation Hotel Engagement & Escalations, CALA plays an essential role within the Digital and Technology Transformation (D+TT) team in CALA, reporting to the Implementation Director, Deployment. Over the coming years, the D+TT CALA team will develop and implement tools and systems as part of Marriott's multi-year D+TT initiative, which aims to upgrade Marriott’s technology and business processes to help achieve the company’s goal of becoming the world’s preferred travel brand. The team is tasked with accelerating these advancements through innovative strategies in planning, program management, change management, user experience and business process design, cross-region coordination, and solution deployment.

The Senior Manager, Digital + Tech Transformation Hotel Engagement & Escalations will partner with the Implementation Director, Deployment to facilitate webinars with hotels, track hotel engagement during deployment, and manage outreach to hotels that are not engaged. This role partners closely with colleagues across the D+TT program, including (but not limited to) Global Change Management, Communications, Deployment, Associate Experience, Learning, and CALA discipline stakeholders. Success in this role requires strong communication and presentation skills, attention to detail, accurate recordkeeping, and a willingness to deliver on difficult and time-sensitive requests.

Key responsibilities include:

Strategic Planning:

• Contribute to the development of deployment plans by supporting the creation and execution of the deployment implementation strategy and approach; work closely with the Implementation Director and external service provider to document and refine plans leading up to implementation.
• Contribute to onboarding, training, and standard business processes for Implementation Managers in partnership with the service provider.
• Support the deployment team to define and refine property preparation, readiness, and cutover task lists, and to identify tasks likely to require Implementation Manager support.

• Support the deployment team with sequencing and scheduling community waves of hotels for deployment.

Leadership & Management:

• Provide strong support to Implementation Managers (IMs) and guide them in effectively supporting hotels through the transformation process.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performance team culture.
• Develop and maintain detailed implementation manager support schedules, ensuring timely execution.
• Establish clear communication channels with internal teams, external partners, and hotel management, including leading virtual and/or on-site briefings with hotel teams; facilitate Q&A, capture risks and feedback, coordinate follow-up communications and escalations, and proactively keep immediate supervisor informed of status or items flagged for further discussion.
• Collaborate with the Change Management and Learning teams to integrate change initiatives and training seamlessly into implementation manager onboarding, training, and business processes and ensure change and learning plan adjustments are successfully pulled through during deployment.

Stakeholder Collaboration:

• Collaborate with above-property teams to understand and address complex property issues, partnering with peers within the communications team to respond to stakeholder questions in the program inbox.
• Serve as a liaison between hotels and various teams within the organization, collaborating with key stakeholders on cross-functional engagement and escalation efforts.
• Collaborate with regional teams to tailor implementation support to local needs.
• Work closely with the command center to monitor and respond to real-time deployment challenges.
• Collaborate on decision-making and adjustments to deployment plans as needed.
• Engage with external partners to ensure alignment and execution of deployment goals and objectives.
• Foster positive relationships and effective collaboration with vendors and service providers.

• Build reporting and weekly/status updates as needed to support effective communication and deployment results, maintaining accurate tracking and records (including outreach/call history) and providing clear next steps.

Issue Resolution & Escalations:

• Creatively and proactively resolve issues that may arise during deployment, acting as an escalation point for complex property issues.
• Serve as a primary escalation point for issues requiring above property leadership attention.
• Oversee Implementation Manager hotel portfolios; monitoring KPI and readiness progress against due dates, identifying trends, proactively mitigating issues, and escalating delinquent, non-performing, or otherwise at-risk properties, as needed.
• Guide the team through the implementation and use of the enterprise-wide on-property program deployment scorecard, ensuring timely and accurate inputs into deployment measurement and reporting tools.

Hotel Engagement, Outreach & Communications:

• Proactively call properties to validate contact information and/or re-engage in deployment.
• Update systems of record with new contact information obtained during hotel outreach.
• Register properties for deployment webinars.
• Support distribution of email communications to re-engage properties using Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Training and Team Development:

• Design, test, and refine the implementation manager onboarding process in partnership with the service provider.
• Provide initial training and ongoing development opportunities for Implementation Managers.
• Foster a learning environment and encourage continuous improvement within the team.

Candidate Profile

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience in hotel operations and/or program management required.
• 5+ years of progressively responsible work experience in the lodging industry leading operations disciplines, with proven outstanding customer relations skills.
• Demonstrated experience across Franchising, Operations, Reporting & Analysis, and Project Management, with a strong ability to navigate cross-functional priorities.
• Fluent Spanish required.
• Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills with the ability to adjust according to audience including executive level.
• Proven ability to build strong relationships to leverage information and insights across key groups and drive results.
• Prior experience with the Digital and Technology Transformation, preferred.
• Experience providing direction and delivering results through influence.
• Proven success in introducing major change to complex organizations.
• Ability to persuade and influence others, including those at senior organizational levels.
• Ability to monitor results on an ongoing basis against pre-determined metrics.
• Strong analytical skills for planning, estimating, budgeting, and monitoring program/project work.
• Ability to enlist and motivate individuals and secure resources without direct authority.
• Experience using MS Office Suite, Smartsheet, Salesforce and other CRM products.

At Marriott International, we are dedicated to being an equal opportunity employer, welcoming all and providing access to opportunity. We actively foster an environment where the unique backgrounds of our associates are valued and celebrated. Our greatest strength lies in the rich blend of culture, talent, and experiences of our associates.  We are committed to non-discrimination on any protected basis, including disability, veteran status, or other basis protected by applicable law.