Marriott

This is a temporary position.

About the Role

Marriott is seeking a dynamic Senior Manager to lead discovery and strategy for emerging technologies in the guest experience space. This role will focus on two key areas: Guest Room Technology (e.g., IoT-enabled lighting, thermostats, water leak detection) and Public-Space & Gym TVs.

As a Senior Manager – Product Discovery & Strategy, you will be responsible for identifying opportunities, gathering customer, hotel and competitive insights, and shaping the future of in-room and public-space technology experiences. This is a highly collaborative and exploratory role that requires strong business acumen, stakeholder engagement, and a passion for innovation.

You will work across departments and with external vendors to understand needs, align priorities, and define the right problems to solve—laying the foundation for future product development. As a key outcome of this discovery work, you will be expected to articulate a clear product strategy that ads value for our hotels and aligns with our Brands and Portfolio expectations. You will then execute it by leading the creation of proof of concepts with the engineering department in our Lab by translating the product strategy into business requirements and user stories, enabling the engineering team to build prototypes to be demoed to your key stakeholders. You will then align with those stakeholders on a complete business case, a detailed product roadmap and a deployment plan.

Key Responsibilities

• Stakeholder Discovery & Engagement: Conduct interviews, workshops, and research with internal teams and external partners to uncover needs, pain points, and opportunities.
• Opportunity Framing: Translate insights into clear problem statements and opportunity areas aligned with Marriott’s strategic goals.
• Strategy Development: Define a product discovery strategy and roadmap based on findings and translate it into actionable business requirements and user stories.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with engineering, operations, digital, and vendor teams to ensure alignment and feasibility of potential solutions.
• Market & Technology Research: Stay informed on trends in IoT, hospitality tech, and digital guest experiences to inform discovery and innovation.
• Business Case Development: Support the creation of business cases and strategic recommendations based on discovery findings.
• Communication & Influence: Present findings and recommendations to senior stakeholders in a clear, compelling way.

Candidate Profile

• Experience: 5+ years in product strategy, business analysis, innovation, or consulting roles with a focus on discovery and stakeholder engagement.
• Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to build relationships, lead interviews, and synthesize diverse perspectives into actionable insights.
• Business Acumen: Strong understanding of business drivers, ROI, and strategic alignment.
• Curiosity & Empathy: Naturally inquisitive, with a user-first mindset and the ability to uncover unspoken needs.
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with experience presenting to senior leadership.
• User Story Development: Experience writing clear, actionable user stories and managing them in tools like Jira.
• Education: Undergraduate degree or equivalent combination of education, experience, and certification.
• Analytical Skills: Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret data and translate it into actionable plans that drive business results.
• Product Discovery Background: Experience in early-stage product discovery, opportunity framing, or innovation labs.
• Vendor Collaboration: Experience working with or managing external technology vendors.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hospitality or IoT Experience (preferred): Familiarity with connected devices, smart environments, or hospitality technology is a plus.
• Agile Familiarity: Understanding of agile principles and how discovery feeds into product development.
• Global Perspective: Experience working in global or multi-market environments.
• Advanced Degree: MBA or equivalent advanced degree is a plus.
• Business Case: Experience in building business cases in hospitality or technology environments that include a on-property deployment is a plus.
• Adobe Analytics: Working proficiency with Adobe Analytics is a plus.

The pay range for this position is $52.06 to $85.14 per hour.

FLEX opportunities 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, 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.

Marriott HQ is committed to a hybrid work environment that enables associates to Be connected. Headquarters-based positions are considered hybrid, for candidates within a commuting distance to Bethesda, MD.

Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer. We believe in hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive, people-first culture. We are committed to non-discrimination on any protected basis, such as disability and veteran status, or any other basis covered under applicable law.

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.