Director, Deployment and Support, Business Transformation Office, Chinese Mainland (Contractor)

JOB SUMMARY

The Director, Deployment and Support, Business Transformation Office, plays an essential role within the Digital & Technology Transformation Team and reports to the Senior Director, Business Transformation Office (BTO) Chinese Mainland. The team will develop and implement tools and systems as part of Marriott's multi-year Digital and Technical Transformation (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, managing programs, handling change, designing user experiences and business processes, coordinating across regions, and deploying solutions.

As Director of Deployment and Support, the person in this position oversees the creation and execution of D+TT deployment plans for hotels in Chinese Mainland. This role enhances deployment expertise by directing activities across the hotel portfolio throughout the transformation. The person would lead a team of Implementation Managers (third-party), who act as the main contacts for hotels during the rollout. Each manager supports a specific group of hotels through all deployment stages, from the start until two months after the cutover date when operations stabilize. Additionally, the Director of Deployment Support acts as a contact point for complex property issues and communicates with senior management, both within the company and with external partners. Collaboration with teams focused on change management, staff training and experience, global technology, the command center, and other partner organizations is vital. Key skills for the position include leading teams, overseeing projects, working well with management, communicating effectively, offering support, and creatively resolving problems.

Prior experience with Digital and Tech Transformation or other large-scale project deployments experiences is preferred.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Planning & Project Management:

· Contribute to the development of deployment plans; supporting the creation and execution of the project and implementation strategy and approach; working closely with the Sr. Director of BTO and external service provider to memorialize and refine leading up to implementation.

· Support and contribute to the development of project plans; supporting the creation of projects charters, project governance and tracking frameworks.

· Contribute to the onboarding, training, and standard business processes for Implementation Managers in partnership with service provider.

· Support the deployment team to define and refine property preparation, readiness, and cutover task lists and to identify tasks that will benefit from or are likely to require IM support.

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

Leadership & Management:

· Provide strong leadership to a dedicated team of Implementation Managers (IMs) and guide them in effectively supporting hotels through the transformation process.

· Foster a collaborative and high-performance team culture.

· Oversee and manage the end-to-end deployment support of a team of 5 to 10 IMs (~75 to 150 hotels).

· Develop and maintain detailed implementation manager support schedules, ensuring timely execution.

· Establish clear communication channels with internal teams, external partners, and hotel management and ensure transparent and effective communication throughout the deployment lifecycle.

· 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.

· Support Command Center Operations during cutover period based on the area of responsibilities assigned.

Stakeholder Collaboration:

· Collaborate with above-property teams to understand and address complex property issues.

· Serve as a liaison between hotels and various teams within the organization.

· 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.

Tracking, Analytics & Issue Resolution:

· 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 progress, identifying trends, proactively mitigating issues and escalating against delinquent, non-performing, or otherwise at-risk properties, as needed.

· Guide team through the implementation and usage of enterprise-wide on-property program deployment scorecard; including ensuing timely and accurate inputs into deployment measurement and reporting tools.

· Report out project progress to various stakeholders, including the senior leadership team and area leaders on a regular basis.

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 leading large teams preferred

· 5+ years of solid program/project management experience supporting hotel reservations, sales, revenue management and/or 8+ years in hotel sales & marketing or room operations disciplines.

· Prior experience with the Digital and Technology Transformation, preferred.

· Expertise and proven record of accomplishment in managing complex, multifunctional initiatives.

· Experience in providing direction and performing responsibilities via influence ability.

· Proven success in introducing major change to complex organizations.

· Exceptional project/program management competence and skills.

· Ability to distribute, assign and ensure completion of work throughout various teams with and without direct management authority.

· Ability to persuade and influence others, including those at senior organizational levels.

· Ability to develop and enforce program governance.

· Monitor results on an ongoing basis against pre-determined metrics.

· Communicate results, issues, and accomplishments clearly and effectively to Program Leaders.

· Confirm that all efforts have the required transparency and sponsorship to proceed.

· Strong analytical skills for planning, estimating, budgeting, and monitoring program/project work.

· Ability to enlist and motivate individuals and secure resources without direct authority.

· Ability to form and foster high performing teams.

· Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills with the ability to adjust according to audience including executive level.

· Experience using MS Office Suite, Smartsheet, Salesforce and other CRM products.