Director Co-brand Middle East

This is your chance to be part of the International Co-brand Team that is expanding our financial partnerships to key markets around the world to deepen our relationships with travelers and turn everyday purchases into extraordinary stays.  Hilton currently operates Co-brand credit and debit card portfolios in seven countries globally: United States, Japan, Germany, Austria, South Korea, Mexico, and United Kingdom.  

Through our partnerships with banks, fintechs and networks, we can engage our customers and accelerate affinity for Hilton and Hilton Honors.  

As Director Co-brand Middle East, you will be responsible for leading the effort around launching and growing our Co-brand portfolios and financial partnerships in the region.  

On the International Co-brand Team reporting to Vice President and Head of International Co-brand, you will interface closely and be the POC for our regional bank and network partners to build mutually beneficial partnerships and work with team members across the organisation to drive product and marketing as well as manage operations and P&L.

WHY YOU’LL BE A GREAT FIT

You have these minimum qualifications:
•    Successful track-record leading and growing complex customer-centric partnerships 
•    Extensive experience creating and maintaining multi-year strategic plans and roadmaps as well as complex business cases. 
•    Demonstrated analytical capability and a strong performance-focused mindset, with experience using data to drive decision-making and optimise outcomes
•    Demonstrated experience managing a business (P&L) in a large global and matrixed organization. 
•    Exceptional communication skills and the ability to communicate appropriately at all levels of the organisation; this includes written and verbal communications  
•    Ability to drive progress independently using shared resources and build a sustainable business.
•    Strong ability to collaborate, influence and lead change across internal and external partner teams.
•    Expertise in building, leading and motivating a team.
•    Ability to work with internal and external partners to rationalize strategies to achieve mutually beneficial, accretive outcomes for all parties.
•    Strategic eye for business with ability to use data and market intelligence to find opportunities and improve performance continuously
•    Strong project management experience with the ability to take initiative to identify, prioritize and implement all elements required for team to fulfill responsibilities, deliver results on time and within scope

It would be useful if you have:
•    Experience managing a multi-product Co-brand credit card portfolio and P&L.
•    Deep understanding of the regional card landscape, bank card economics, regulatory environment and industry norms, value prop development, card acquisition, card member servicing, card member engagement, card member retention, and card member values
•    BA / BSc Bachelor's Degree and / or MA / MBA / MSc
•    Up to 10% travel 

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HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT

Your role is important and below are some of the fundamental job duties that make your work unique.

What your day-to-day will be like:

•    Define strategic plans for Co-brand credit growth and engagement in the region and define execution responsibilities between global and regional teams within Hilton, as well as our Co-brand partners.
•    Deliver on a multi-year plan for the region including driving performance in the short, medium and long-term and continually optimize plans using data & insights, to meet the needs of the business. 
•    Serve as Hilton’s primary relationship owner for our Middle East Bank and Network partnerships. 
•    Plan & execute the regional portfolio efforts across Co-brand Acquisition marketing and Customer Retention to identify and deliver against annual forecasts & unlock new growth opportunities, across Hilton-owned channels (e.g. CRM, online & on property).
•    Lead our market assessment efforts (Partnering with external resources where needed) to identify strategic market opportunities, build internal business cases, and identify bank and network partners aligned to Hilton’s strategic objectives
•    Lead business development of new partnerships including leading contract and commercial negotiations
•    Own & prioritize the strategic investments and resource allocation to drive exponential, profitable growth in the short and the long term, including investments in product design, value proposition, existing channel optimization, and new channels across the regional portfolio. 
•    Manage test-and-learn pipeline for acquisition and retention marketing to deliver incremental performance and realize exponential, groundbreaking opportunities in partnership with Network and bank Partner.
•    Oversee API integrations with partners and manage operational processes including invoicing, reporting, customer service and escalations. 
•    Stay apprised of critical metrics, competitive landscape, and performance pacing to evaluate areas of risk against our yearly business goals and find opportunities for performance optimization and develop & launch program and marketing initiatives to address those.

How you will collaborate with others:

•    Partner with cross-functional leaders internally (including regional commercial leads) to ensure we are delivering an optimal consumer proposition aligned to the Hilton and Hilton Honors customer promise
•    Partner with cross functional teams, including Marketing, Customer Engagement (CRM), Hilton Honors, Content & Brand Marketing to design and rollout annual regional Co-Brand plans and present on performance.
•    Collaborate closely with finance and accounting to model, forecast and report on annual performance plans, owning the product P&L to deliver new accounts and revenue to the business, maintaining a healthy ROI

What you will take ownership of:

•    Lead cross-functional internal and external teams to deliver ambitious short- and long-term targets through effective marketing, offer strategy and product enhancements 
•    Develop and deliver annual go-to market strategies for new & existing Co-brand portfolios across customer acquisition and engagement, and deliver KPIs 
•    Lead non Co-brand financial partnerships and leverage partner capabilities across the region to drive hotel bookings and revenue eg. Points transfer partnerships & tactical offers