Senior Director, Service Operations

Job Summary

As the Senior Director, Service Operations, you will be at the forefront of leading transformation of the Global Service Desk function, related product teams, suppliers, and managed service providers. You are expected to drive a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging innovation and the adoption of best practices across the organization. This role is integral to enhancing the customer experience for property associates, requiring a leader with strategic vision, exceptional operational excellence, deep business acumen, and a commitment to exceptional customer service in hospitality technology. The Senior Director, Service Operations ensures the efficient delivery of overall IT services, focusing on incident resolution, service requests, and access management to meet predefined quality and availability standards. The role focuses on optimizing Managed Service Provider relationships, performance as compared to expectations, and overall service delivery. Key processes include swiftly restoring services post-incident, effectively managing workflow, and establishing engagement mechanisms with SRE teams. This role will balance service reliability and cost, emphasizing continuous performance monitoring against SLAs. This ensures IT services continually align with business objectives, enhancing customer satisfaction and compliance.

Travel: 25-50%

Candidate Profile

Education and Experience

Required:

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent combination of experience, education, and certification
• 12+ years of technology, service management, or shared services leadership experience.
• 10+ years of Information Technology leadership experience with at least 3 years as manager of people.
• 10+ years' experience managing global teams and outsourced service providers. Experience to include leading managers or layered support teams.
• 7+ years' experience and expert understanding of enterprise technology support:
  • Service Management operational framework including functions, capabilities, relationships, and measures.
  • Enterprise Service Management technologies & automation techniques
  • Managed Service Provider relationship performance management at scale
  • Service Level Management development, measurement, and enforcement.
  • Security: Compliance, Risk, Information Assurance, Data Protection
• Prior leader-of-leaders experience in an enterprise service support role for a large firm
• Experience managing and forecasting an annual budget in excess of $10M.
• Demonstrated ability to build and deliver high quality business reports to all levels with high EQ and message clarity.

Preferred:

• Experience with an enterprise technology modernization transformation effort across a portfolio of comparable size.
• Familiarity with and demonstrated use of AiOps technologies and services.
• Experience in operating a global IT Support organization with engagement mechanisms to agile methodologies and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) organization design.
• Knowledge of AI/ML solutions and their application within a Service Desk or IT support organization.
• Experience leading global teams with a mix of employees, contractors, and managed service providers.
• Experience in retail and/or hospitality industries supporting complex technology environments.
• Elevated ITIL / Service Management Certifications (i.e., Expert)

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Strategic Planning

• Develop and implement a strategic vision for the Global Service Desk, aligning with Marriott International's overall business goals.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the team.
• Establish and enforce effective policies and procedures to optimize service desk operations.
• Lead change management initiatives, ensuring the team adapts to evolving business and technology environments.
• Collaborate with other senior leaders to ensure service desk strategies support overall organizational objectives.

Customer Experience Design and Continuous Improvement

• Implement customer feedback systems for identifying and addressing service improvement opportunities.
• Work collaboratively with global departments to ensure a cohesive customer experience.
• Identify opportunistic improvements and initiate projects to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Use customer interaction data to make informed decisions about service improvements.
• Identify Service Management improvement opportunities to streamline Service Support, Service Delivery, and inter-team mechanisms to drive efficiencies.

Operational Management

• Manage day-to-day operations as needed, ensuring efficient and effective issue resolution, and process & labor efficiency.
• Monitor key performance metrics. Leverage key data points to identify and address areas for improvement.
• Maintain compliance with relevant policies, procedures, security, and regulatory standards.
• Manage critical service issue responses and crisis situations effectively.

Team Development and Organizational Leadership

• Lead and mentor a high-performing service desk team. Identify and invest in high potential team members. Assist under-performers with tools, resources, and dedicated time with the goal to course-correct areas of behaviors and performance.
• Recruit, hire, and retain high performing team members.
• Conduct performance evaluations and continually support career development.
• Ensure optimal staffing and resource allocation for maintaining service levels.
• Promote a collaborative, highly diverse, and inclusive team culture across demographics and geographies.

Technology and Innovation

• Drive the adoption of advanced technologies to improve service desk efficiency.
• Stay informed about industry trends and emerging technologies.
• Collaborate with IT for robust and scalable technology solutions.
• Lead innovation projects to enhance customer service capabilities.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the primary liaison between the service desk and other organizational units.
• Regularly update senior management on service desk performance and strategic initiatives.
• Build and maintain relationships with external vendors and business partners.
• Engage with stakeholders to align service desk goals with business needs.

Additional Responsibilities

• 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.
• Attends and participates in all relevant meetings.
• 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 internal customers and department managers.
• Manages time effectively and conducts activities in an organized manner.
• Performs other reasonable duties as assigned by manager.

At Marriott International, we are dedicated to being an equal opportunity employer, welcoming all and providing access to opportunity. We actively foster an environment where the unique backgrounds of our associates are valued and celebrated. Our greatest strength lies in the rich blend of culture, talent, and experiences of our associates. We are committed to non-discrimination on any protected basis, including disability, veteran status, or other basis protected by applicable law.

All positions offer a 401(k) plan, stock purchase plan, discounts at Marriott properties, commuter benefits, employee assistance plan, and childcare discounts. Benefits are subject to terms and conditions, which may include rules regarding eligibility, enrollment, waiting period, contribution, benefit limits, election changes, benefit exclusions, and others. Click here to learn more.

Full-time positions also offer coverage for medical, dental, vision, health care flexible spending account, dependent care flexible spending account, life insurance, disability insurance, accident insurance, adoption expense reimbursements, paid parental leave and educational assistance.

Washington Applicants Only : Employees will accrue paid sick leave, 0.077 PTO balance for every hour worked and be eligible to receive a minimum of 9 holidays annually.

Marriott Headquarters (HQ) supports a hybrid work environment that helps associates Be Connected. HQ based roles are generally hybrid and require regular in-office presence at the assigned location, including for candidates who live within commuting distance of HQ for a role listed as remote. Remote roles will be clearly identified in the job posting.

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.