Senior Director, The Ritz-Carlton & Ritz-Carlton Reserve Brand

Job Number 23208473

Job Category Sales & Marketing

Location Marriott International HQ, 7750 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, United States VIEW ON MAP

Schedule Full-Time

Located Remotely? N

Relocation? N

Position Type Management

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Director, The Ritz-Carlton & Ritz-Carlton Reserve is an integral member of Marriott International’s upper-luxury brand organization. This role is critical in developing and driving the brand strategy for The Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve with an emphasis on the branded guest experience, differentiated brand programming and global brand marketing. The Senior Director will be instrumental in the development and socialization of on-property guest programming, collaborating with multiple teams. With the expansion of Ritz-Carlton Reserve, this role will be critical to the on-going development of new resorts, providing guidance globally to ensure the success of on-brand product and guest experiences. This leader will act as a brand ambassador, ensuring the strategic direction and growth of the brands aligns with the overall vision, while driving adherence to strategic and business objectives. The Sr. Director must understand the value of and how to drive and sustain brand culture. In addition, this role manages the team, resources and budget allocation.

The Senior Director leads efforts in defining and enhancing the guest experience in a way that is consistent with the brand business models and drives brand relevance, awareness, and perception. This experience ranges from building brand preference for both customers, owners and investors, to on-site product and service touchpoints. In addition, this role oversees the global marketing strategy, working with cross-discipline teams and agencies to ensure a differentiated go-to-market plan that meets annual objectives and drives brand health. To support these efforts, the Senior Director will focus on supporting the strategic direction and execution of the brand strategy and multi-year planning efforts, directing the execution of the brand priorities by cross-functional resources, and driving brand performance. This role will be instrumental in driving collaboration with the Continent Brand teams and ensuring pull through in the regions, with a more hands-on focus on the US/Canada region.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education and Experience Required:

10+ years’ experience in the hospitality industry, demonstrating progressive career growth and a pattern of exceptional performance AND

4-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Hospitality Management, or related major

OR

12+ years of relevant professional experience in related function, demonstrating progressive career growth and pattern of exceptional performance.

A minimum of three years of experience in luxury

Relevant marketing and brand experience

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Brand Strategy & Multi-Year Planning

Develops a compelling and differentiated brand and marketing strategy, leveraging the brands’ consumer, competitive, and other stakeholder profiles and needs.

Defines the guest experience for The Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve, taking through the lens of brand positioning and trends as well as operational considerations. Collaborates closely with operations and in-continent luxury teams on concepts and roll-out.

Owns the brand positioning, develops and manages the Brand’s visual identity, and develops communication tools and templates to ensure consistent execution by broader organization and hotels.

Partners with the marketing team to drive the Global Brand Marketing and Messaging Strategy with a top funnel focus and owned channel focus. Supports global campaign efforts.

Elevates brand aesthetic and ensures on-property pull-through of marketing and visual identity that shapes both the guest experience and brand perception by developing and deployingActivation Toolkits (PR, Social, Experiential, Digital, etc.).

Deeply understands the target audience, especially next-gen, and its nuances as relates to opportunities for brand marketing and programming. Conducts a regular pulse-check on the consumer and uses insights to inform presentation materials and go-to-market strategies.

Oversees the creation of strategic brand business plan, inclusive of a viable economic strategy, product and service model, brand positioning, value proposition definition, competitive strategies (for product, service, talent & culture, growth, demand generation)

Supports Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve growth through development of on-strategy materials for development, continent teams, and other partners. Ensures the success of new openings and support through brand marketing.

Develops, socializes, and executes a marketing framework to create awareness of both Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve and its collection of hotels.

Identifies and develops a roadmap for executing new initiatives and projects for the brand from initiation to completion. Identifies internal and external partners, as appropriate, to ensure success.

Creates project plans, guides, and engages respective project teams throughout the project from kick off to implementation.

Informs business strategies, plans and initiatives with relevant luxury, industry, and market data.

Identifies and executes new initiatives, marketing strategies, partnerships, and projects for the brand.Develops a compelling and differentiated brand and marketing strategy, leveraging the brands’ consumer, competitive, and other stakeholder profiles and needs.

Strategy Execution

Acts as an ambassador representing the brands in a variety of forums with internal and external stakeholders including brand immersion, owner meetings, development meetings, new hotel openings, General Manager webinars and conferences, continent team meetings and other internal settings.

Partners with internal insights team to spot trends, innovative ideas, and practices relevant for the brand sharing key findings with brand and extended teams.

Sets direction for initiatives that improve brand performance and oversee brand standards review and approval process. Partners with larger brand and continent luxury teams, as appropriate, on those initiatives.

Serves as brand advocate by helping resources and extended teams understand the brand direction.

Shares the brand vision for marketing and collaborates with VP of Luxury Marketing and content marketing teams.

Ensures a luxury lens on all presentations, marketing materials and toolkits, working with team to ensure a keen understanding of brand direction

Identifies pilot hotels and partners to test and learn on key brand marketing and programming initiatives.

Develops materials to support guest programming and collaborates on ways to drive press for those initiatives.

Collaborates with the brand and MILUX partnerships to identify opportunities and potential partners to enliven the guest experience and marketing strategy.

Acts as a liaison and resource for the Global Design team to execute specific, differentiated brand design foundations and supporting design standards and guidelines.

Drives new GM onboarding, as appropriate, and plans and executes new GM immersion meetings in partnership with broader brand and continent teams.

Leads brand experience projects to drive brand differentiation and preference. Directs the development of brand proof points and related resources in partnership with the global operations team.

Collaborates with Development and Global Design teams to ensure on-strategy growth and renovations for the brand, including site visits, owner presentations and pitches and development of materials to support Development.

Provides guidance to opening teams to ensure branded critical path document for openings and conversions are developed and maintained.

Business Model & Brand Performance

Acts as brand champion to stakeholders – owners, consumers, guests, executives and employees within HQ and market

Builds strong relationships with continent teams and hotels to ensure the brand culture comes to life on property, driving pull-through of the brand promise.

Educates and communicates on brand strategy, framework, positioning, voice and strategic pillars, brand standards and competitive environment,

Helps develop and drive execution of communication strategies associated with launching tactics/deliverables in support of the brand strategies and stated performance goals.

Defines brand performance metrics and recommend performance targets

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. Marriott International is the world’s largest hotel company, with more brands, more hotels and more opportunities for associates to grow and succeed. Be where you can do your best work, begin your purpose, belong to an amazing global team, and become the best version of you.