Senior Director, Engineering – Hotel Ops

If you’re looking to build leading technology that powers the day‑to‑day operations of thousands of hotels globally while shaping the future of hospitality operations, join Global Technology at Marriott International. 

Reporting to the VP, Application Development – Hotel Operations, the Senior Director, Engineering – Hotel Operations is a senior technology leader responsible for defining, leading, and executing the engineering vision for hotel operational platforms and on‑property technology ecosystems. This role is central to enabling reliable, scalable, and secure hotel operations across PMS platforms, local interfaces, infrastructure, and cloud‑based services. 

The Senior Director oversees the full lifecycle of hotel operations engineering, from platform strategy and architecture through implementation, deployment, and ongoing optimization. This includes responsibility for PMS modernization, on‑property integrations, data migration, interface reliability, operational tooling, and global rollout readiness, ensuring solutions are robust, resilient, and aligned with business and operational objectives. 

This leader partners closely with hotel operations, brand teams, product, infrastructure, security, vendors, and regional technology leaders to deliver integrated solutions that support front desk, back office, guest services, and operational continuity at scale. The role drives standardization, automation, and continuous improvement while maintaining a relentless focus on system availability, quality, and operational excellence. 

The ideal candidate is a hands‑on executive engineering leader with deep experience in large‑scale hospitality or operational technology environments, a strong understanding of on‑property systems, and a proven ability to lead complex global transformations while developing high‑performing engineering teams. 

CANDIDATE PROFILE   

Education and Experience  

Required: 

• 12+ years of application architecture and engineering leadership experience, including:  

• Direct experience leading technology teams responsible for hotel operations platforms, PMS ecosystems, or mission‑critical operational systems supporting frontline hotel staff. 

• Direct experience delivering and modernizing large‑scale, highly available operational platforms that support 24x7 global business operations. 

• Demonstrated experience in Agile development methodologies, specifically with large-scale initiatives and geographically distributed teams. 

• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale engineering organizations (50+ members) with direct responsibility for hiring, mentoring, and developing engineering talent, including managers and directors. 

• Direct management of cross-functional, sourced, and matrixed teams 

• Management of complex budgets in excess of $25-50M direct and indirect costs 

• Demonstrated thought leadership commensurate with the scale of Marriott Bonvoy Program 

• Demonstrated experience with large scale data transformations and on-premise PMS platforms 

• Demonstrated enterprise technology leadership experience in hospitality, travel or retail industry.  

• Experience in building partnerships with external technology vendors and service providers. 

Preferred: 

• Proven track record building and scaling Hotel Operations Platforms, PMS implementations, or on‑property technology solutions. 

• Experience leading digital transformation initiatives, including migrating legacy systems to cloud-based platforms, implementing microservices architecture, and adopting modern engineering practices. 

• Deep understanding of the technologies, tools, and frameworks used to develop and enhance data transformation, including PMS systems, orchestration systems, and analytics tools (Dynatrace, ServiceNow).” 

• Experience with cloud-based platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and microservices architecture. 

Proficiency in software development methodologies, including Agile, DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and version control systems (e.g., Git). 

• Strong understanding of data architecture, and analytics platforms, including experience in data integration, ETL processes, real-time data processing, and AI/ML applications. 

• Experience with API development, RESTful services, and middleware technologies to ensure seamless integration between loyalty platforms and other enterprise systems. 

• Demonstrated success leading medium- to large-scale initiatives/transformations  

• Demonstrated success in leading the development and deployment of scalable, high-performance software systems with a focus on quality, reliability, and security. 

• Experience in setting and meeting ambitious engineering goals, managing trade-offs between speed, quality, and cost, and delivering projects on time and within budget 

• Proven executive experience in strategic planning and budgeting within one or more business groups 

• Experience with building highly productive and efficient engineering teams with mixed sourcing strategies 

• Strong process management, negotiating, influencing, and problem resolution skills  

• Proven ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment 

• Experience in business systems and process planning 

• Knowledge of business environment, service requirements and hospitality culture 

• Demonstrated ability to assess customer/client needs, creatively approach solutions, decide and influence appropriate courses of action 

• Ability to understand and communicate the lifecycle of technologies and applications and to translate into business strategies for the client organizations 

• Solid understanding of IT financial structures and ability to manage to corporate financial processes and standards - including drivers of process costs 

• Expertise in transformational change management, leading the organization through complex changes, from adopting new technologies to shifting organizational mindsets and behaviors, to achieve strategic goals. 

• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical ideas in easy-to-understand business terms 

• Ability to accomplish results through others, particularly by establishing relationships, effective controls and leading in a managed service environment 

• Experience representing the company at industry events, conferences, or on panels, showcasing the organization's technology leadership in loyalty programs and customer engagement. 

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES   

Lead Large-Scale Transformation from Mainframe to Cloud-Based SaaS Platform: 

• Strategic Planning and Roadmap Development 

• Develop a comprehensive strategy and multi-year roadmap to transition the existing Marriott based infrastructure interface platform to a modern, scalable, cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) architecture in conjunction with 3rd party vendors. 

• Define key objectives, milestones, timelines, and resource requirements for the transformation, ensuring alignment with the company’s broader transformation goals. 

• Architecture and Design Oversight 

• Oversee the design and architecture of the new cloud-based platform, ensuring it meets business requirements for performance, scalability, flexibility, and security. 

•  Ensure the architecture supports multi-tenancy, high availability, and disaster recovery, and integrates seamlessly with other enterprise systems, including CRM, data analytics platforms, and third-party service providers. 

• Technology Selection and Vendor Management 

• Lead the evaluation, selection, and onboarding of cloud service providers and SaaS platform vendors.  

• Manage relationships with external partners, ensuring adherence to timelines, budgets, and quality standards.  

• Negotiate contracts and service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure the best value for the organization. 

• Data Migration and Management 

• Oversee the migration of data from legacy mainframe systems to the new cloud-based platform, ensuring data integrity, accuracy, and security throughout the process.  

• Implement robust data governance practices, including data cleansing, validation, and transformation, to enable seamless transition and operational continuity.  

• Develop data migration tools, scripts, and procedures to automate and streamline the migration process. 

• Security, Compliance, and Risk Management 

• Implement robust security controls, data protection measures, and compliance protocols to safeguard customer information and ensure regulatory compliance throughout the migration process.  

• Collaborate with the cybersecurity team to conduct security assessments, vulnerability testing, and risk mitigation activities for the new cloud-based platform. 

• Performance Monitoring and Optimization 

• Establish and implement monitoring tools and performance metrics to track the efficiency and effectiveness of the new cloud-based platform post-migration.  

• Continuously analyze performance data to identify areas for improvement, optimize resource utilization, and ensure the platform delivers a seamless and high-quality customer experience. 

• Operational Continuity and Disaster Recovery 

• Develop and execute a comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity plan to minimize downtime and ensure rapid recovery in the event of unforeseen disruptions during the migration process.  

• Regularly test and update the plan to account for new risks and changes in the operating environment. 

• Post-Migration Review and Continuous Improvement 

• Conduct a thorough post-migration review to assess the success of the transformation against defined objectives, KPIs, and stakeholder expectations.  

• Gather feedback from end-users, partners, and internal teams to identify lessons learned and areas for further optimization.  

• Promote a culture of continuous improvement by iterating on the platform and making enhancements based on ongoing feedback and data-driven insights. 

Innovation, Long-Term Vision and Market Leadership 

• Lead industry thought leadership initiatives, representing the company at key conferences, speaking engagements, and in media, further establishing the company's leadership in the supporting of cloud based transformations from the on-property guest experience space. 

• Identifying and capitalizing on emerging market opportunities, partnerships, and new technologies to drive competitive advantage and foster long-term growth. 

• Balance short-term tactical execution with long-term strategic vision, ensuring the loyalty platform is adaptable to rapidly changing market dynamics, customer expectations, and competitive pressures. 

• Anticipate future trends and challenges, proactively evolving the technology roadmap to keep the company ahead of the curve. 

Global Scale and Multi-Market Execution 

• Leading technology initiatives across multiple geographies and markets, each with unique regulatory, cultural, and business requirements, adding a layer of complexity to the role. 

•  Manage global teams across different time zones, languages, and regulatory environments, ensuring the loyalty platform delivers consistent, high-quality experiences worldwide. 

• Responsible for coordinating technology rollouts, upgrades, and transformations in multiple regions, requiring advanced project management and organizational skills. 

Developing and Managing Application Development Standards, Processes, And Tools 

• Works with the Enterprise Architecture and Products to lead and facilitate consistency of delivery across client groups 

• Builds and maintains a standard set of application development tools and processes that will drive consistency and predictability throughout the SDLC for all client groups including: 

• SDLC standard tools and processes for both waterfall and agile development 

• Estimating standard tools and processes, incorporating flexibility for small and large projects 

• Deployment standard tools and processes 

• Monitors projects for adherence to defined application development processes 

• Works with IT organization to create broader IT related and corporate standards and policies where necessary 

• Communicates important application development policy changes that affect service provider and/or Marriott operations 

Managing Day-To-Day Relationships with IT Teams  

• Manages application development projects in partnership with Hotel Operations product leadership, business partners and providers 

• Provides input into overarching technology roadmaps  

• Defines and oversees effective reporting  

• Provides overall project management of business projects/portfolios  

• Manages day-to day relationships with all IT teams to promote the delivery of services that meet or exceed the client expectations 

• Monitors all projects for alignment with defined business case process  

• Drives timely resolution of escalated service delivery problems and minimizes the impact of any client service delivery issues  

• Defines, manages, and improves service level reporting for application development 

• Provides early warning to the appropriate Product leaders and team regarding degraded or missed service levels 

• Leads application development and maintenance of service provider project management standards and tools 

• Participates in client portfolio and demand management processes, and engages service providers to promote client satisfaction  

• Ensures effective software engineering resourcing of engineers across Loyalty 

• Drives talent development and best practices for team 

• Works with application development service providers 

• Validates that the service provider(s) performs the services agreed to by the master services agreement in a manner that is consistent with both the spirit and the letter of the agreement. 

• Works with all IT teams to progress the service providers services to match client needs 

• Facilitates team and service provider compliance with the agreement 

• Defines and facilitates service levels to meet business needs 

• Supports the IT organization 

• Participates in the creation and maintenance of IT’s business strategy and planning 

• Supports and follows defined IT Governance decision rights, standards and practices 

• Emphasizes accuracy and effectiveness of estimating and planning management with team 

• Assists all IT teams with the preparation and monitoring of business/discipline and continent IT budgets 

• Manages and supports Loyalty Mainframe 

• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the mainframe-based loyalty platform, ensuring system reliability, availability, and performance. 

• Manages day to day development in relation to Growth initiatives, partner onboarding. 

• Support migration of Reservation and PMS rollout. 

• Manage L3 support team that works on the resolution of production incidents, including root cause analysis, issue tracking, and implementation of preventative measures.  

Quality Engineering Leadership 

• Establish and enforce rigorous quality standards, performance benchmarks, and metrics for all loyalty platform components, including software applications, APIs, data pipelines, and integrations. 

• Lead the development and implementation of advanced testing strategies, including automated testing, performance testing, load testing, and security testing, to ensure the platform's robustness, reliability, and scalability. Promote the use of test-driven development (TDD) and behavior-driven development (BDD) methodologies to enhance software quality and reduce defects. 

• Manage and monitor the quality performance of external technology vendors, service providers, and third-party developers.  

Financial Leadership 

• Lead the development of systems for real-time tracking, validation, and adjustment of loyalty points earned, redeemed, or expired by customers. Ensure the systems can handle high transaction volumes, support multi-channel interactions, and maintain data integrity across all touchpoints, including online, in-store, and partner channels. 

• Ensure seamless integration and synchronization of data between the loyalty platform, financial systems, and external partner networks.  

• Implement advanced monitoring and risk management tools to detect and prevent fraudulent activities related to points earning, redemption, and reimbursement. 

Implementing and Managing Continuous Improvement Program  

• Implements CMMi or similar metrics to demonstrate continuous improvement and alignment with the industry 

• Demonstrates continuous improvement through metrics of quality consistency and client satisfaction 

• Works with application development service providers, IT teams, and business partners to implement continuous improvement activities 

• Designs and administers project surveys or other feedback processes, to continually improve client satisfaction 

Operational Excellence and Performance Management: 

• Establish clear goals, objectives, and performance metrics for the engineering organization, regularly assessing progress against targets. 

• Implement efficient processes and tools to maximize productivity, reduce cycle times, and ensure the timely delivery of projects. 

• Drive operational improvements through automation, process optimization, and effective resource management. 

• Conduct regular reviews and retrospectives to identify lessons learned, share best practices, and continuously improve team performance. 

Change Management and Transformational Change Leadership: 

• Responsible for driving a culture of innovation, agility, and continuous improvement within the engineering organization and beyond, influencing broader company culture. 

• Lead organizational change initiatives related to digital transformation, ensuring successful adoption of new technologies, tools, and practices. 

• Communicate effectively with all stakeholders to manage expectations, minimize resistance, and ensure alignment with strategic objectives. 

• Develop and implement change management strategies, including training programs, communication plans, and feedback mechanisms 

Crisis Management and Problem Resolution: 

• Serve as the point of escalation for complex technical issues, guiding teams through critical problem-solving processes and crisis management. 

• Ensure robust incident management processes are in place to minimize downtime and quickly resolve any disruptions to the loyalty platform. 

• Develop contingency plans and disaster recovery strategies to protect the platform against unexpected events and ensure business continuity 

Talent Development and Team Building: 

• Attract, hire, and retain top engineering talent, building a diverse and high-performing team that reflects the company's values and culture. 

• Mentor and coach engineering leaders and team members, providing opportunities for career growth, skills development, and leadership training. 

• Create an inclusive work environment that encourages collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning. 

• Foster a culture of accountability, where teams are empowered to take ownership of their work and deliver high-quality results 

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.