Director - 3rd Party Research Programs

Marriott•Bethesda, MD

10d•$118,900 - $204,700•Hybrid

About The Position

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.

Requirements

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).
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.
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.
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.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in a research-related discipline preferred.

Responsibilities

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.
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.
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.
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.