Senior Director, Talent Acquisition Strategy, Product and Experience Design

Title: Senior Director, Talent Acquisition Strategy, Product & Experience Design

Location: Bethesda United States

Job Description:

Job Summary

At Marriott, Talent Acquisition is a cornerstone of our global business strategy-driving innovation, enabling growth, and ensuring we attract and hire talent in an increasingly complex and digital world. The Senior Director, Talent Acquisition Strategy, Product & Experience Design leads the global TA Experience function, translating enterprise priorities into human-centered experiences, business product requirements, and scalable process improvements across the hiring journey.

Reporting to the VP, Talent Acquisition Experience, this leader is accountable for understanding candidate, recruiter, hiring manager, and TA leader needs; shaping the business-side product and experience agenda; and partnering with TA Technology, Operations, and Global Platform & Enablement to deliver solutions that are useful, usable, and measurable.

Candidate Profile

• Proven success leading large-scale transformation initiatives in complex, matrixed, global organizations.
• Experience in management consulting or enterprise strategy roles is highly preferred.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong executive presence and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Passion for innovation, collaboration, and driving meaningful change.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Human Resources, Organizational Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Technology, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience across talent acquisition, product management, user experience, service design, HR technology, business transformation, or related disciplines, with global scope.
• Demonstrated experience leading an experience, business product, or process-design function and delivering measurable improvements in a complex, matrixed organization.
• Practical expertise in human-centered design methods, user research, journey mapping, usability testing, and translating insights into requirements and solutions.
• Experience partnering with technology and product teams on enterprise platforms, including ATS, CRM, AI-enabled tools, or adjacent HR systems.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end recruiting workflows, process design, and the needs of candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders, navigate competing priorities, and lead cross-functional work without owning all delivery resources.
• Strong analytical, facilitation, communication, and people-leadership skills; global or multi-region experience preferred.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise TA Strategy & Innovation Leadership

• Partner with VP, TA Experience, to lead the development and execution of global talent acquisition strategies aligned with workforce planning, business priorities, and future-of-work trends.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior HR and business leaders on emerging TA practices, market dynamics, and innovation opportunities.
• Drive enterprise-wide TA user experience, product, and strategy, enabling global centers of excellence and scalable delivery models.
• Build a consistent voice-of-user capability across candidates, recruiters, hiring managers, and TA leaders, translating research and feedback into actionable improvements.
• Establish experience principles and practical design methods that guide solutions across TA touchpoints and regions.

Human-Centered Design + User Experience

• Lead user research, interviews, journey mapping, service blueprinting, persona development, and usability testing to understand end-to-end hiring experiences.
• Apply human-centered design to identify unmet needs, friction, accessibility considerations, and opportunities to simplify interactions and processes.
• Facilitate discovery and co-design sessions with global and continent stakeholders; validate concepts and prototypes with representative users before scaling.
• Define experience requirements and success criteria for candidate-, recruiter-, and hiring-manager-facing solutions.
• Lead the redesign and optimization of assigned end-to-end TA processes, balancing candidate and associate experience, efficiency, global standards, and local market needs.
• Partner with TA Operations to validate process feasibility, service ownership, controls, and sustainable execution.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows, reduce manual effort, and improve handoffs through process innovation and appropriate automation.
• Document future-state journeys, process requirements, and business outcomes to inform product delivery and implementation.

Cross-Functional Delivery & Global Partnership

• Own the business-side discovery, problem definition, requirements, and experience priorities for assigned TA products and capabilities, in partnership with designated product and technology owners.
• Translate user needs and business outcomes into user stories, workflows, acceptance criteria, and prioritized enhancement recommendations.
• Partner with TA Technology, HRIS, IT, and vendors on solution options, design decisions, testing, and release readiness; influence technical roadmaps without owning engineering, system administration, architecture, or integration delivery.
• Evaluate opportunities for AI, automation, and digital capabilities through the lenses of user value, operational feasibility, responsible use, and measurable impact.
• Provide a clear business and user perspective on product trade-offs, adoption barriers, and opportunities for iterative improvement.

Technology Strategy & Ecosystem Leadership

• In partnership with VP TA Experience and the HR Technology team, develop the strategic roadmap for Marriott's global TA technology ecosystem, including ATS, CRM, AI-enabled tools, and emerging platforms.
• Partner with HRIS, IT, and external vendors to evaluate, select, and implement technologies that enhance recruiter, hiring manager, and candidate experiences.
• Ensure technology decisions are informed by data, user feedback, and business outcomes.
• Work with the Director of Global TA Platform & Enablement to ensure experience and product requirements translate into effective readiness, implementation, and adoption plans.
• Partner with continent TA leaders to surface local needs, test designs, and distinguish global requirements from justified market variations.
• Coordinate with TA Technology, Operations, HR partners, and other stakeholders to resolve experience and process dependencies across initiatives.
• Provide recommendations, decision materials, and progress updates to the VP; elevate enterprise-wide priority, funding, and governance decisions as appropriate.

Experience Measurement & Continuous Improvement

• Define and monitor experience and product success measures, including satisfaction, usability, task completion, friction, adoption, and relevant hiring-process outcomes.
• Combine qualitative user research with operational and platform data to assess whether solutions solve intended problems.
• Maintain an actionable backlog of experience improvements, test interventions, and share evidence-based recommendations with product, technology, operations, and enablement partners.

What This Role Is Not

• Not the enterprise TA portfolio owner: The VP retains accountability for the integrated strategy and priorities across TA technology, experience, strategy, operations, and global platform.
• Not the technical platform owner: TA Technology and HRIS/IT retain accountability for architecture, integrations, configuration, security, technical delivery, and system performance.
• Not the global rollout and adoption owner: Global Platform & Enablement leads deployment, change readiness, training enablement, and sustained adoption; this role supplies user insights and experience requirements.
• Not the recruiting operations owner: TA Operations and continent teams own day-to-day service delivery and recruiting execution.
• Not a research-only or design-only role: This leader translates insights into prioritized product requirements, better processes, and measurable business outcomes.

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.

All positions offer a 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. 

Full-time positions also 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 and educational assistance.

Washington Applicants Only: Employees will accrue paid sick leave, 0.077 PTO balance for every hour worked and be eligible to receive a minimum of 9 holidays annually.

Marriott Headquarters (HQ) supports a hybrid work environment that helps associates Be Connected. HQ based roles are generally hybrid and require regular in-office presence at the assigned location, including for candidates who live within commuting distance of HQ for a role listed as remote. Remote roles will be clearly identified in the job posting.Pay Range (US/Canada/EMEA)$151,100-$264,000 Annually