Senior Director, Strategy and Planning, Greater China

JOB SUMMARY

[Location flexible in Hong Kong / Shanghai]

The Senior Director, Strategy and Planning, Greater China is a key member of the Greater China Strategy Planning & Services organization that provides end-to-end strategy, planning, business advisory, implementation and deployment support to the Greater China President and Greater China leadership teams. The position will report into the Vice President, Strategy Planning & Services, Greater China and leads initiatives ranging from long term strategic planning to managing monthly senior leadership meetings.

We are looking for a Senior Director that will work with senior executives to help define and drive the future growth of Marriott International by leading the strategy planning process for Greater China as well as orchestrating key leadership meetings, supporting executive continent-HQ presentations and leading special projects. Success in this role requires strategic thinking, strong organizational skills, communication skills (especially English writing), change management skills, and ability to work well with others. The position will have 1 direct report with the potential to grow the team in the future.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Education and Experiences Required
• Bachelor’s degree holder and above in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, Hotel Management, or related major
• Ideally MBA from top tier institution
• + years of relevant professional experience with a focus on strategy planning, project management and organizing executive meetings

Skills & Experience Preferred
• Prior experience in top management consulting firm (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Big 4 Strategy Consulting) 
• Some in-house corporate strategy experience would be beneficial
• Strategy consulting project experience (especially projects with companies on formulating their corporate strategy)
• Extremely strong organizational skills and ability to ruthlessly prioritize initiatives 
• Exceptional interpersonal communication skills with ability to interact effectively with C-level executives
• Strong presentations skills with ability to develop executive level decks with compelling storylines
• High business acumen and ability to bridge strategies to execution 
• High EQ, able to engage and influence senior leaders on a broad range of strategic issues
• Previous experience in coach and managing high performing teams 
• Experience in hospitality industry would be advantageous
• Excellent command of Mandarin and English; native level English fluency would be advantageous

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES 
Strategy Planning: Lead the E2E Greater China Long Range Planning process - from pre-planning meetings to the communication of the finalized plan to all Greater China associates
• Develop timeline and lead series of meetings, workshops, research, insight sessions, etc. to set the foundation for the mid-year and annual strategy planning meetings
• Organize series of insight sessions and workshops to prepare senior leaders for strategy planning meetings
• Create detailed agendas and design how each session will be run to arrive at desired upon deliverables
• Facilitate/support all planning discussions and partner with external facilitator where appropriate
• Partner with communications team to ensure effective communication of strategy to all Greater China associates

Senior Leadership Meeting Orchestration: Plan and host key monthly senior leadership meetings 
• Develop agenda and content for key monthly leadership meetings GC Continent Staff Meeting, GC Leadership Meeting)
• Partner with senior executives to ensure we have the right topics, content and format for each session
• Host the meetings ensuring discussions are effective, on-time and have clear takeaways

Executive Reporting: Responsible for ensuring accurate, high quality executive reports from Greater China Continent to HQ
• Work with discipline leaders to pull together the content for monthly and quarterly C-level reports
• Ensure we have the right storyline, decks are professional quality, content is concise and C-level ready
• Support Greater China President on any executive meetings with HQ

Special Projects: Provide project management support for key priority projects. Acts as a project management leader and day-to-day project decision maker with the following responsibilities:
• Accountable to the results of the project
• Provide content guidance to the project
• Participate in review cycles at key milestones & provide go/no-go decision
• Actively participate in strategy sessions
• Contribute to strategy development
• Develop and drive implementation plan
• Ensure appropriate sponsorship and resourcing
• Establish key milestones and approval roles
• Ensure timely delivery against milestones

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.
o Demonstrates working knowledge of discipline-specific systems, tools, and business practices.
• Basic Competencies - Fundamental competencies required for accomplishing basic work activities. 
o Computer Skills – Proficient to expert in Microsoft Office software (Powerpoint, Word, Excel, etc.).
o Mathematical Reasoning - Adds, subtracts, multiplies, or divides quickly, correctly, and in a way that allows one to solve work-related issues.
o Oral Comprehension - Listens to and understands information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
o Reading Comprehension – Understands written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
o Writing - Communicates effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.