Senior Manager, Design Commerce
Bethesda, MD

Job Description

Marriott International is the world's largest hotel company, with more brands, more hotels and more opportunities for associates to grow and succeed. We believe a great career is a journey of discovery and exploration. So, we ask, where will your journey take you?

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Experience Designer supports a vision for how experiences should be designed and contributes a set of advanced user experience skills, working directly with counterparts in product management, application development, user research, and testing to help create successful products for users across all of Marriott's digital guest services. The ideal candidate for the Sr. Manager role is skilled at visual design and prototyping -- and can see work from concept through execution. This associate will have experience that is rooted in empathetic understanding of both the consumer's physical and digital environments.

In 2019, we are taking Marriott International's User Centered Design group to a new level of excellence to expectations for our guests and for the company. As Senior Manager within the newly formed Commerce team, you will bring a high level of experience to contribute to the advancement and elevation of this consumer-obsessed design team.

The Senior Manager of Design will report to and work closely with the Sr. Director of Commerce and primarily be focused on leading and executing to achieve the design vision and digital strategy for Marriott's customer journey. You will collaborate with other functions within the team to strive for excellence in design and build experiences that solve complex interactions with elegance and simplicity. You will develop and design original concepts aligned to business and product objectives, distribute the creative in uniquely parsed ways across the globe, and measure and optimize the creative execution based on results.

The ideal candidate will be a major contributor within the strategic Commerce team and will be responsible for delivering experiences that are measurable and that drive higher conversion and satisfaction across all our digital products. This role will be responsible for both leadership and execution. You will help to define the design vision for our users/guests, make data-driven decisions and execute on those results.

Collaboration is key - you will be both a leader and a "doer", contributing to and executing any and all design efforts through an omni-channel lens, focusing on image design, voice, digital and on-site experiences. Additionally, this position will be responsible for working across the Digital group both and with external teams of interaction and visual designers, copywriters, and agency partners to evolve our user experiences across multiple devices and platforms. Additionally, this position will be responsible for collaborating with both internal and external teams of interaction and visual designers, copywriters, and agency partners. A combination of agency and brand experience is ideal.

A strong portfolio is critical for this role. Your portfolio should showcase experience in UX and interaction design, particularly where simplicity and ease-of-use were a major concern. Diversity of projects is equally as important as focus on curation and quality to choose a solid collection of outcomes and design intermediaries and deliverables (especially flows, mockups, and prototypes). Examples should demonstrate the design and thought process behind each image.

Team mentality is not a consideration in this position, it is mandatory in order to achieve and push for continued success as the global leader in hospitality. Our guests come first as we strive to achieve seamless on-property and digital experiences worldwide.

* Working collaboratively with your manager to develop the experience design practice, promoting best practices and design approaches that align with the Marriott culture and needs
* Supporting Marriott Digital Products leadership by articulating design strategies and service design
* Championing the creation and iteration of design strategies that help Marriott Digital Products leadership visualize a long-term organizational direction
* Working on one or more product lines, where your decisions will align with high-level organizational strategies and KPIs, while working with other team leaders to translate these into team and personal goals
* Collaborating with and managing relationships for agency/vendor partners to help the enterprise achieve scale for strategic and production initiatives
* Promoting a culture where critique and feedback are central to the work we do, and ensuring that team members have regular opportunities to critique and have work critiqued
* Staying focused on continuously improving and re-evaluating best practices
* Valuing emotional safety, keeping team members focused on celebrating failures and highlighting lessons learned from those failures
* Keeping co-workers grounded on the idea that our focus is on delivery rather than deliverables, and solutions rather than documents
* Working in a collaborative environment with people who have a variety of skills - like user experience design, research, product management and front/back-end development - collectively contributing to the end product

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education and Experience

* 4-year degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in design or technology discipline
* 5 years of experience in digital design as a creative, UX, CD, or visual designer
* Demonstrated ability to deliver results under challenging conditions, taking complexity and breaking it down to understandable chunks, taking ambiguity and bringing it into focus
* Ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects and effectively collaborate with retained agencies
* Exceptional time management, interpersonal skills, and abilities to multi-task are a must
* Thrives in a fast-paced environment, while maintaining a level of corporate diligence
* Demonstrates self-confidence, energy, and enthusiasm in influencing teams
* Possess a positive, professional, and roll-up-your-sleeves attitude
* Working experience with Sketch, Adobe CS, and InVision
* Demonstrated experience delivering concepts, personas, user journeys, storyboards, user flows, wireframes, prototypes, etc.
* Possess a strong digital portfolio that demonstrates compelling visual design expertise across a variety of digital formats

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Commerce Experience

You're a master of key design principles of world class ecommerce sites, and can't wait to wow us with a portfolio that shows it. Also:

* You design how systems respond to the actions of users, with the goal of optimizing the satisfaction of those users' specific goals
* You can think through an interaction and communicate it to potential users, your team and stakeholders through sketches, wireframes or prototypes
* You can see all of the edge cases an experience may spawn, but balance this through judicious use of the 80/20 rule
* You have strong awareness of common interaction patterns used by competitors and the general industry, and know how to apply them

Graphic Design

You're a master of basic techniques of graphic design, and can walk us through a portfolio that shows it.

* You structure visual elements as a way to satisfy the specific goals of well-defined users
* You use contrast, color, tone and proximity of elements to help users move through information, functionality and interactions
* You educate non-designers about how your design solutions address the user goals specific to the project, aligning your tactics with the product's driving strategies
* You simplify the volume and interplay of visual elements, bringing clarity without sacrificing the power of visual design

Mobile Applications

You have led the design of mobile releases (native, web or hybrid), and been responsible for the planning and execution of significant aspects of those releases. You have also been responsible for coordinating distribution through and between varieties of devices. Also:

* You are able to take advantage of responsive/adaptive web design best practices without carrying over solutions, patterns or concepts inappropriate for use with mobile devices
* You have mastered iOS and Android design standards, but base your work first on a solid foundation of interaction design expertise
* You are able to articulate the role of mobile in addressing a particular business challenge
* You zealously explore mobile and touch-based design's unique challenges and potential

Reservations/check-out

You've had extensive experience with and are a subject matter expert on online travel booking (preferred) or other eCommerce check-out processes.

* You're well versed in industry best practices for increasing step conversion and overall conversion.
* You know best practices for displaying product and pricing.
* You know what goes into good form design, and the pros and cons of increasing or decreasing the steps in a check-out process.
* You understand merchandising techniques and how they may be used to benefit both users and the business.

Responsive Web Design

You understand mobile web design. Also:

* You are comfortable discussing a web design approach aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience for users across a wide range of browser viewports, agnostic to device capability
* You can explain the meaning of browser viewports, media queries, responsive images, fluid grids, relative units, progressive enhancement/graceful degradation, Mobile First, and Content First
* You are intrigued and curious by how unresolved topics in the context of responsive web design are being addressed and actively pursue information to understand how nascent standards are emerging/taking shape
* You can discuss UI patterns and their pros/cons depending on context of use, especially those contexts in which mobile and tablet devices are heavily used

Information Architecture

You're still mastering the basic techniques of information architecture, but you understand what's involved, and can collaborate with others who have more experience in the skill.

Writing

You're still mastering the basic techniques of this skill, but you understand what's involved, and can collaborate with others who have more experience in the skill.

Branding

You've applied basic techniques of this skill and can walk us through some examples that shows it.

* You have experience working with national and global brands
* You've launched, revitalized and differentiated brands online
* You've ensured that brand expression is cohesive across various digital touch points
* You've worked with major consumer brands and know how to support/differentiate them in the digital space
* You've balanced the needs of the brand and the needs of the user and recognize the impact of the brand experience on the user experience

Prototyping

You're a master of this skill, and can walk us through a portfolio that shows it.

* You have skills in multiple low- and high-fidelity prototyping tools, such as: InVision, HTML/Javascript, Keynote, FramerJS, paper prototyping, or others
* You are able to determine what prototyping tool is best for a specific product's need at the time
* You can take a prototype through rapid iterations based on feedback from users, teammates and stakeholders
* You can prototype "live" during a team working session
* You understand common and emerging desktop web, tablet and mobile-based interaction patterns, and are capable of simulating them within a prototype

Additional Responsibilities

* Works independently with minimal supervision, but knows when issues should be escalated to manager
* Develops relationships with members of business, product and IT teams, and leverages those relationships to answer questions
* Presents work with clarity and confidence; explains complex matters so that others can understand them
* Uses appropriate communication mechanisms (i.e. in-person conversation, Microsoft Teams chat, email, phone call) for each situation
* Demonstrates self-confidence, energy and enthusiasm
* Performs other reasonable duties as assigned by manager

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.
* Strategy Development - Develops business plans by exploring and systematically evaluating opportunities with the greatest potential for producing positive results; ensures successful preparation and execution of business plans through effective planning, organizing, and on-going evaluation processes.

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.
* Strategy Execution - Ensures successful execution across of business plans designed to maximize customer satisfaction, profitability, and market share through effective planning, organizing, and on-going evaluation processes.
* 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

* Customer Relationships - Develops and sustains relationships based on an understanding of customer/stakeholder needs and actions consistent with the company's service standards.
* Coworker Relationships - Interacts with others in a way that builds openness, trust, and confidence in the pursuit of organizational goals and lasting relationships.
* 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.

Generating Talent and Organizational Capability

* Organizational Capability - Evaluates and adapts the structure of assignments and work processes to best fit the needs and/or support the goals of an organizational unit.
* Talent Management - Provides support and feedback to help individuals develop and strengthen skills and abilities needed to accomplish work objectives.

Learning and Applying Professional Expertise

* Applied Learning - Seeks and makes the most of learning opportunities to improve performance of self and/or others.
* Business Acumen - Understands and utilizes business information to manage everyday operations and generate innovative solutions to approach business and administrative challenges.
* Technical Acumen - Understands and utilizes professional skills and knowledge in a specific functional area to conduct and manage everyday business operations and generate innovative solutions to approach function-specific work challenges.
* Basic Competencies - Fundamental competencies required for accomplishing basic work activities.

Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. Marriott International does not discriminate on the basis of disability, veteran status or any other basis protected under federal, state or local laws.