Senior Director, Loyalty Operations

Who are we looking for?

The Senior Director of Loyalty Operations is a key member of the Loyalty Program, Cob-Brand Card and Partnership leadership team and plays a strategic role in managing the day-to-day operations for the loyalty as well as enabling the changes to the loyalty program’s features and benefits and partnership portfolio by collaborating within the loyalty organization as well as key stakeholders across the broader Choice Organization. This leader plays a pivotal role in the organization, by providing expertise in the tools and cross functional ways of working. Ensures that the infrastructure can meet all core objectives and can support quick and successful get-to-market of all loyalty initiatives including integration with third party loyalty partners.  Develops and drives optimization of processes and adoption of best practices.

Your Responsibilities

STRATEGY

• Demonstrate understanding of the role of the loyalty program in the overall corporate strategy serves as the loyalty liaison for strategic enterprise initiatives.
• Has deep understanding of program rules and policies and ensures the day-to-day operations and managed in accordance with the policies.
• Has knowledge loyalty systems and interdependence with other enterprise systems and can leverage that to lead the implementation of loyalty projects by advocating a customer-centric viewpoint while balances business needs with technical capabilities in order to ensure quick speed to market. 
• Provides guidance for developing Processes and Playbooks for all aspects of the loyalty program such as partner integration and onboarding, promotion management etc.
• Has expertise and deep understanding of loyalty tools and capabilities and can support Tool Section – e.g. Loyalty tool, Offer Tool, Account Authentical Tool, Fraud Tool
• Ensures a strong focus on process optimization; adoption of best practices in loyalty operations; and continuous improvement and innovation.
• Responsible for driving change management within the team and with cross functional teams
• Helps establish governance structure for operational process in the event of changes in tools or addition of new tools.

PROJECT/INITIATIVE MANAGEMENT

• Provides oversight and strategic project management; inspires team to deliver on time and within budget; and ensures timely and accurate implementation of promotional campaigns and new product features.
• Ensures that all internal communications are set-up and deployed correctly ensuring transparency of project deliverables.
• For new initiatives, interacts closely with IT leadership and project teams to understand schedule deadlines, documentation requirements and approval process.
• Ensures department representation at all relevant IT meetings; assesses project/initiative impact on marketing operations processes and other ramifications downstream.

AUDIT/RISK MANAGEMENT

• Ensures that quality and other standards meet defined expectations for each program change, promotional campaign or partner agreement.  Ensures compliance with audit or other applicable compliance guidelines. 
• Directs the risk assessment and corresponding risk mitigation of projects and enhancements to maximize infrastructure uptime and performance and to ensure business continuity.

LIASON

• Serves as the Loyalty Liaison for all strategic enterprise initiatives (e.g. Data Platform Replacement, CDP, SMB, Rate Mgmt.)
• Collaborates and coordinates all loyalty program needs with the customer service team.
• Liaisons with the Digital team to manage the loyalty digital backlog and provide guidance and direction on backlog management.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

• Hires, retains and continually develops diverse, high caliber talent who is able to contribute positively to the organization.  Supports functional on-boarding of new associates.
• Develops clear and measurable goals for direct reports; manages relative to shared accountability standards; provides regular performance feedback and addresses performance issues promptly and consistently.
• Motivates associates and utilizes Choice engagement results to measure effectiveness; collaborates with direct reports on their professional growth and development.
• Provides input in to strategy and plans for talent development in the department.

Your Experience, Skills & Competencies

• A minimum of 6 years of experience in developing and implementing loyalty strategies or running the day-to-day operations of a loyalty program required.
• Loyalty experience in Travel and Hospitality strongly preferred.
• Previous experience with travel loyalty programs a strong plus. 
• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.  Advanced degree is desired.
• Strong track record of success in developing successful data-driven marketing operations strategy and driving execution and business results.
• Broad based business acumen; demonstrated ability to collaborate with business leaders and manage multiple projects across organizational lines. 
• Proven leadership capability and ability to lead and manage organizational change.  Prior supervisory and people management experience is required.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills, including application of data analytics, data mining and modeling.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demeanor and strong cross functional collaborator.
• Proficient in the use of MS Office applications such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. 
• Experience leading a high performing team.

Your Work Location

As our Senior Director of Loyalty Operations you will be based in our beautiful, state-of-the-art worldwide corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, MD. Less than 15 miles from Washington, DC, we’re located one block away from the North Bethesda Metro station, with service on the Red Line and the MARC Brunswick line, easy access to I-270, and plenty of free parking provided by Choice Hotels.

Salary Range

The salary range for this position is $185,000 to $200,000 annually. In addition to the annual salary, this role is eligible for an annual bonus based on the terms of Choice's Management Incentive Plan (MIP), as well as annual awards of Choice Hotels International common stock through Choice’s Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTI Plan).

The pay range listed is for this position and is what Choice Hotels reasonably expects to pay. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s pay position within the pay range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, and business or organizational needs.

Choice prioritizes our associate wellbeing by offering a comprehensive benefits program that is both competitive and flexible to help you achieve your wellbeing goals - here are just a few:

• Competitive compensation and benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Leave and paid time-off for holidays, vacation, personal, family, volunteer, sick, jury duty, bereavement, military, and religious observance
• Financial benefits for retirement and health savings
• Employee recognition programs
• Discounts at Choice hotels worldwide

About Choice

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. With nearly 7,500 hotels, representing nearly 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories, with a range of high-quality lodging options from limited service to full-service hotels in the upper upscale, upper mid-scale, midscale, extended-stay, and economy segments. We’re the hotel company for those who choose to bet on themselves – the underdog, the dreamer, the entrepreneur – because that’s who we are, too.

At Choice, we are united by the simple belief that tomorrow will be even better than today – for associates, our company, and our franchisees. At our worldwide corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, MD and St. Louis Park, MN as well as our technology center in Scottsdale, AZ, and through our associates around the globe, every voice is heard, and every idea is listened to, no matter what area of the company they come from. We are united in supporting the entrepreneurial dreams of our more than 18,000 franchise owners, which propels us forward – giving our work at Choice a purpose larger than our business.

Ability to model Choice’s Cultural Values: Welcome and Respect Everyone, Be Bold, Be Quick, Listen, Be Curious and Show Integrity.