Manager, Mds Product Owner

Job Number 24003951
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

 

This position is responsible for managing the business aspects of digital website product management as a part of the Marriott Digital Services Product Operations & Strategy team. They will be responsible for managing the ongoing evolution and day-to-day management of MDS web products in partnership with our technical partners on the MDS Platforms team. This person will also be responsible for driving the product strategy for the products under their purview in partnership with MDS vendors and partners.  The Manager, MDS Product Owner will work closely with the MDS Platform Strategy team, MDS Product Operations teams, Content and SEO, MDS Customer Success and MDS Global Client Services to ensure successful product and operations management for clients. 

 

The Manager, MDS Product Operations serves as the primary point of contact for all product related aspects of current and future web products MDS may develop for hotels, this includes any related vendor management. This individual strategizes, plans, directs and coordinates activities and communications across multiple digital workstreams to ensure product enhancements are communicated to bring clients more value and meet business objectives, while also ensuring fit with larger product strategy. The Manager, MDS Product Operations is responsible for supporting communications, escalations, and day-to-day prioritization of MDS Product, including facilitating pilots, prioritizing bugs and enhancements with the MDS Platforms team, supporting communications plans and content strategy for MDS Product Operations. They will be responsible for testing fixes and enhancements as well as running pilots in partnership with various stakeholders. Their role is to continuously enhance products to provide more value to customers and find new areas of opportunity to expand the business. This individual will also be responsible for reviewing reporting to determine trends and events that will determine larger product strategy. 

 

This individual is tasked with staying up to date on industry tools, best practices, and Marriott initiatives. The Manager, MDS Product Operations will also work cross-functionally with MDS Global Client Services and within MDS to promote scalable solutions across the organization. This individual will also proactively partner with other teams across Digital, GBAM, Marriott Bonvoy and more to deliver quality products at scale. This position reports to the Director, MDS Operations.

 

Marriott Digital Services (MDS) is an in-house digital services team. MDS provides hotels with a variety of digital and marketing services, and functions as an agency-like model within the Global Digital organization.

 

CANDIDATE PROFILE 

 

Education and Experience 

• BS/BA degree in product, marketing, or related field, or equivalent experience/certification
• 4 years of relevant work experience (digital marketing, project management, product management, content management, communications, etc.)
• Experience with excel is a required
• Experience with content management systems is a plus
• Agile experience is a plus
• Experience with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a plus

 

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES 

 

Managing Work, Products, and Policies 

• Managers day to day prioritization of bugs, enhancements with the MDS Platforms team
• Contributes to the development of new products or integrations for new initiatives and existing products. 
• Responsible for schedules and status for all projects, and reports updates as needed to internal and external stakeholders. 
• Develops requirements for new and existing products, components and integrations and inputs in Jira.
• Employs a laser focus on scalability and cost recovery when launching new and revising existing products and strategies.   
• Develops specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish work for MDS products. 
• Contributes to annual budgeting and forecasting; responsible for vendor and resource volume estimates and projections. 
• Provides content guardrails to MDS Product Operations teams and MDS Guides to maintain products with the field. 
• Participates in resource staffing activities, contributes to staffing models as needed. 
• Works cross functionally with other MDS departments as needed to align on product enhancement and prioritization.
• Maintains a product roadmap for each product that this role manages and ongoing product enhancement process in Salesforce and Jira.
• Provides data insights on performance of products and makes recommendations on case studies and tactics for hotels with the MDS Guides and MDS Operations teams. 
• Analyzes data, customer feedback, reporting to determine and prioritize product enhancements.
• Runs pilots on an as needed basis to ensure product success and operational scalability. 
• Works with UX Design to deliver compliant, user friendly product design.
• Works regularly with vendors and agencies to leverage capabilities and extend scale to execute Digital projects.

 

Manages deliverables within expected timelines

• Coordinates with MDS Platforms, MDS Customer Success and MDS Product Operations to guarantee product enhancement and bug management and delivery.
• Makes strategic recommendations for additional product enhancements and integrations to meet goals and drive more value to clients.
• Engages in frequent, active engagement with corporate Digital team(s) to ensure alignment, pull-through, and two-way communication about the status, performance, opportunities, and issues related to digital products and initiatives and also potential integrations.

 

Managing Team 

• Directs relevant project work and priorities of FLEX staffers, contractors, and vendors as needed. 
• Establish priorities for executing work across all applicable programs, stages, etc. and monitors bandwidth of team across projects.
• Monitors the work of contractors and vendor teams to ensure it is completed on time and meets expectations.
• Facilitates hiring activities and new associate onboarding/training as needed. 
• Represents team in resolving situations.
• Manages the flow of questions and directs questions.

 

Owning Relationships 

• Works cross functionally with new and existing corporate teams and relationships to advance products and performance.
• Identifies and builds new cross functional partnerships and relationships with Marriott Digital, Global Operations, and other teams. Builds mutually beneficial relationships to advance scalable product solutions and enhancements for hotels. 
• Serves as a key point of contact between other MDS teams and Enterprise-level Marriott projects and business owners.
• Proactively works with teams across Digital and corporate to promote products and determine areas of opportunity for integration or partnership. 

 

Project & Process Management

• Manages and tracks project workflows, schedules, enhancements in project management tools (Jira, Salesforce, etc.) as needed to reflect needs of ever-evolving product roadmaps.
• Proactively reviews product roadmap and enhancement process, advances revisions to improve execution efficiency and cost effectiveness while remaining within budget.
• Procures access to necessary project management tools and resources for vendors and contractors.
• Meets changes to business priorities and strategies by determining impacted areas, processes with problem-solution mindset.
• Works across MDS Platforms and MDS Operations to put sustainable work processes and systems in place that support the execution of the strategy.

 

Measurement and Accountability 

• Regularly reviews and refines approach and quality of work standards in partnership to ensure all projects continue to support overarching Marriott Digital strategies, goals and project timelines.
• Contributes to monthly Enterprise Services status deck by providing data and analysis on project status, timelines, wins and challenges. Provides Analysis and context to educate and inform executive stakeholders on project status and direction. 
• Holds vendors accountable; provides actionable recommendations for change and develops vendor improvement plan should vendor not execute work to MDS standards. 
• Collaborates with proxy agencies to ensure Enterprise Services projects meet quality and workflow standards, and SLA expectations. 
• Revises process for vendors, Operations and external teams as needed.
• Establishes and maintains complete and up-to-date information to ensure accurate reporting.
• Maintains all systems related to product managements in partnership with MDS Platforms. 

 

Ensures effective client communication

• Serves a main point of contact for escalations.
• Helps route customer inquiries and questions.
• Ensures appropriate documentation is delivered throughout program engagement.
• Monitors the impact of the program versus goals and proactively communicates with clients and leadership about need for changes in strategic direction.
• Works hand in hand with the MDS Customer Success team to support communications related to product updates, launches, issues, etc. 

 

Vendor Management

• Manages agency/vendor participation across projects in order to meet quality and workflow standards, and SLA expectations. 
• Manages vendor training, documentation, and billing. 
• Manages vendor relationships and development of vendor KPI scorecards.

 

Demonstrating and Applying Discipline Knowledge 

• Serves as MDS product SME (Subject Matter Expert) to MDS associates, answers questions, trains and supports team as needed. 
• On-boards and manages new vendors and agencies, to bring additional scale and capabilities to MDS, serves as main point of contact.
• Manages development of training plans and project documentation, partnering with MDS Client Relations team as necessary.
• Partners with external Marriott teams on project deliverable status and process. Leads efforts to streamline and create increased efficiencies between teams. 
• Supports collateral and communications related to products.

 

Additional Responsibilities 

• Contributes posts to MDS blog, client newsletter and/or client educational webinars.
• Oversees billing and invoice processing on behalf of Digital Services, partners with Business Support team as needed. 
• Continual education and self-growth through reading industry blogs, social media, white papers, cases studies, research briefs, etc. 
• Attends relevant industry conferences, training and seminars.
• Performs other reasonable duties, such as special projects, as assigned by manager and MDS Leadership Team. 
• Presents ideas, expectations and information in a concise, organized manner.
• Uses problem solving methodology for decision making and follow up.
• Maintains positive working relations with direct reports, department managers, and external teams.
• Manages time effectively and conducts activities in an organized manner.
• Informs, updates, and provides information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person in a timely manner.
• Manages and implements work and projects as assigned.
• Generates and provides accurate and timely results in the form of reports, presentations, etc.
• Analyzes information and evaluates results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Provides timely, accurate, and detailed status reports as requested.

 

MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES 

Leadership

• Adaptability - Maintains performance level under pressure or when experiencing changes or challenges in the workplace. 
• Communication - Conveys information and ideas to others in a convincing and engaging manner through a variety of methods.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making - Identifies and understands issues, problems, and opportunities; obtains and compares information from different sources to draw conclusions, develops and evaluates alternatives and solutions, solves problems, and chooses a course of action.
• Professional Demeanor - Exhibits behavioral styles that convey confidence and command respect from others; makes a good first impression and represents the company in alignment with its values. 

Managing Execution

• Building and Contributing to Teams - Participates as a member of a team to move toward the completion of common goals while fostering cohesion and collaboration among team members.
• Driving for Results - Sets high standards of performance for self and/or others; assumes responsibility for work objectives; initiates, focuses, and monitors the efforts of self and/or others toward the accomplishment goals; proactively takes action and goes beyond what is required.
• Planning and Organizing - Gathers information and resources required to set a plan of action for self and/or others; prioritizes and arranges work requirements to accomplish goals and ensure work is completed.

Building Relationships

• Coworker Relationships - Interacts with others in a way that builds openness, trust, and confidence in the pursuit of organizational goals and lasting relationships. 
• Customer Relationships - Develops and sustains relationships based on an understanding of customer/stakeholder needs and actions consistent with the company's service standards.
• Global Mindset - Supports employees and business partners with diverse styles, abilities, motivations, and/or cultural perspectives; utilizes differences to drive innovation, engagement and enhance business results; and ensures employees are given the opportunity to contribute to their full potential.