Manager, Enterprise Strategy & Business Relations

Sonesta International Hotels Corporation•Newton, MA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Enterprise Strategy & Relations serves as a strategic integrator and relationship steward across Sonesta’s corporate functions, providing visibility, structure, and clarity to how enterprise priorities are planned, tracked, and executed. The role also supports data-driven evaluation of hospitality systems, commercial opportunities, and strategic vendor and partner relationships. Reporting to the Vice President of Strategic Planning, this position plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of Sonesta’s enterprise alignment framework, ensuring that all strategic initiatives, financial priorities, and executive communications advance through a disciplined, data-informed process. This role is entrusted with access to ownership-level data, ELT materials, and cross-functional insights and operates as a direct liaison between the Strategic Planning Office, the Executive Leadership Team, and departmental leadership. The position requires the ability to work independently, represent enterprise priorities at senior levels, and surface escalation items to the Vice President of Strategic Planning for alignment or executive intervention. This role is 3 days at our Orlando, FL or Newton, MA Headquarters and 2 days remote.

Requirements

7–10 years of experience in strategic planning, business operations, or enterprise governance, ideally within hospitality, travel, or service-based industries.
Proven ability to manage cross-functional relationships and communicate with executive leadership with discretion and confidence.
Strong analytical and data management skills; proficient in Smartsheet, Power BI, and enterprise planning tools.
Demonstrated success in managing enterprise-level reporting, initiative tracking, and performance dashboards.
Working knowledge of the hospitality technology landscape, including property, central reservation, point-of-sale, payments, revenue management, guest experience, and connectivity platforms.
Experience supporting commercial evaluations and vendor or partner negotiations, including pricing analysis, benchmarking, total cost of ownership, and contract-related decision support.
Exceptional organizational and communication skills; able to simplify complexity and drive clarity across stakeholders.
Bachelor’s degree required

Nice To Haves

Master’s in Business, Strategy, or Organizational Leadership preferred.

Responsibilities

Maintain visibility into all enterprise initiatives and strategic priorities, ensuring consistent alignment to ELT directives.
Engage directly with department and functional leaders to capture updates, resolve blockers, and ensure leadership direction is translated into measurable execution.
Serve as a trusted liaison between the Vice President of Strategic Planning, ELT, and departmental stakeholders, ensuring that information flows accurately, respectfully, and efficiently.
Identify and elevate risks, dependencies, or conflicts to the Vice President of Strategic Planning for prioritization, mitigation, or executive review.
Represent the Strategic Planning Office in ELT or governance discussions as needed, maintaining discretion and professionalism with highly sensitive information.
Manage the operational cadence of Sonesta’s enterprise planning cycles, including initiative intake, quarterly reviews, and KPI reporting.
Ensure all initiatives are properly documented, funded, and aligned to corporate priorities and leadership expectations.
Oversee the preparation of executive-level materials for ELT, Board, and Ownership meetings in coordination with the Vice President of Strategic Planning and Finance.
Reinforce consistent use of enterprise templates, dashboards, and governance frameworks across departments.
Partner with Finance, IT, and Operations to ensure strategic planning aligns with capital, technology, and operational readiness.
Access and manage enterprise-level data sets tied to performance, transformation, and ownership reporting.
Validate the accuracy and consistency of information presented to the CEO, CIO, and CFO, ensuring a single source of truth across all executive communications.
Using innovation and competitive intelligence, integrate intelligence, performance, and innovation data into unified data.
Drive discipline in reporting quality, ensuring transparency and clarity across the organization.
Gather, normalize, and aggregate data from operational, financial, market, and vendor sources, with emphasis on hospitality systems, technology capabilities, commercial models, and property-level implications.
Monitor meaningful product launches, roadmap developments, pricing and packaging changes, partnerships, and market activity across key hospitality technology providers and solution categories.
Develop comparative analyses of system capabilities, integration requirements, implementation readiness, commercial terms, total cost of ownership, and enterprise or franchise value.
Translate market and vendor intelligence into concise executive summaries that explain what changed, why it matters to Sonesta, potential risks or opportunities, and recommended follow-up questions or actions.
Support and, where appropriate, lead vendor and strategic partner negotiations in coordination with Finance, Legal, IT, Operations, and other stakeholders, including development of negotiation positions, pricing benchmarks, business cases, and decision materials.
Maintain organized records of vendor proposals, pricing, contractual commitments, roadmap dependencies, negotiation outcomes, and key decisions to strengthen institutional knowledge and commercial discipline.
Build trusted, service-minded relationships across departments, reflecting Sonesta’s hospitality-first culture in all interactions.
Support the Vice President of Strategic Planning in reinforcing governance discipline and reducing informal or ad hoc escalation to ELT members.
Facilitate communication and coordination between corporate and property leadership, ensuring enterprise strategies are executable and guest-centric.
Model professionalism, discretion, and follow-through, setting the tone for how information and collaboration should flow across the enterprise.
Reinforce Sonesta’s hospitality-first culture at the corporate level by modeling respect, service, and accountability in all cross-functional engagements.
Promote behavioral alignment by ensuring clarity of ownership, communication discipline, and adherence to enterprise processes.
Support the Vice President of Strategic Planning in embedding enterprise rhythm — the structure, communication cadence, and collaboration habits that drive focus and execution.