Sr Director Consumer Data Science & Strategy

Hilton Grand Vacations•Orlando, FL

About The Position

The Senior Director, Data Science & Strategy will be instrumental in the successful delivery of AI/Machine Learning solutions to business problems. You will be responsible for formulating AI/ML-powered solutions, building a talented team, and establishing our Data Science team as a thought leader in the application of AI/ML for business value creation and transformation. We are seeking a highly experienced individual to lead the development of advanced analytics, predictive models, and AI-driven products that enhance guest experiences and drive operational excellence across our large-scale hospitality organization. This role sits at the intersection of data science, digital product, and business strategy - leveraging machine learning, statistical analysis, and experimentation to unlock insights and enable data-driven decision-making. The ideal candidate combines strong technical depth with creativity, an understanding of consumer behavior, and the ability to translate complex findings into clear, actionable recommendations for leaders across the business. The candidate will have an extensive, proven track record of implementing initiatives that have delivered strong ROIs and incrementality to existing business results. Here’s why you will love it here: Recognition Programs and Rewards Excellent health care options, including medical, dental, and vision A people-first culture Go Hilton: Travel Discounts Program Hilton hotel rates worldwide. Perks at work: Employee Pricing platform Employee Assistance Program that supports your physical and mental well-being. Paid Vacation Time and Paid Sick Days 401(k) program with company match Tuition reimbursement programs Numerous learning and advancement opportunities And more!

Requirements

MS or PhD degree in quantitative studies, such as Statistics, Math, Operation Research, Economics, Advanced Analytics, Computer Science, Engineering
Strong quantitative and analytics background, including advanced-level skillset in predictive modelling, statistical analysis, machine learning, generative AI models, geo-spatial analytics, time series forecasting, optimization.
15+ years’ professional experience working in Financial Services, Insurance, Hospitality and Retail industries on applying data science and analytics in sales and marketing applications.
Familiarity with digital marketing ecosystem.
Extensive experience in email marketing, digital marketing, and call center analytics and direct marketing is preferred.
Experience with one or more Advanced Data Science software languages (Python, R)
Experience with structured or un-structured data analysis and tools (SQL, Spark, Tableau, Power BI tools)
Experience with cloud-based platforms (AWS, Azure, Google)
Demonstrated ability to communicate technical ideas and results to non-technical clients in written and verbal form.
Strong organizational, management and leadership skills.
Experience managing and mentoring junior resources across different geo-locations.

Nice To Haves

Experience in industries such as hospitality, travel, retail, or other high volume consumer environments.
Experience with personalization engines, recommendation systems, revenue/yield optimization, or demand forecasting.
Familiarity with MLOps tools such as MLflow, SageMaker, Databricks Model Serving, or similar.
Exposure to marketing tech or customer engagement platforms (e.g., Adobe Experience Cloud, Salesforce, Braze, Amperity).
PhD in a quantitative field is a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

Drive business results and ROI
Translate business challenges into solvable AI/ML solutions, formulate different approaches, outline pros and cons for each approach, get alignment with business leaders on approaches, deliverables, and delivery timeline.
Work closely with business teams to develop complex AI/ML algorithms and predictive models to evaluate scenarios and potential future outcomes; leverage problem solving / analytical skills, quantitative expertise, programming and data analysis to identify potential risks related to existing scenarios as well as new products and develop methodologies for tracking and reporting them.
Collaborate with digital product, marketing, revenue management, operations, finance, and customer experience teams to translate insights into measurable business outcomes.
Be the subject matter expert and thought leader in building customer data capturing, hosting, business use cases deployment.
Present strategy, findings and recommendations to senior executives in a clear, compelling manner.
Perform analyses of structured and unstructured data to solve multiple and complex business problems.
Apply analytical rigor & AI/ML methods to analyze large amounts of data.
Design, build, and deploy machine learning models supporting personalization, pricing optimization, demand forecasting, guest segmentation, and operational efficiency.
Interact with internal and external peers and management to share highly complex information related to areas of expertise and/or to gain acceptance of new or enhanced technology / business solutions.
Evaluate and implement emerging methodologies in AI/ML, NLP, recommendation systems, forecasting, and optimization.
Enhance the team’s modeling toolkit by exploring new algorithms, tools, and frameworks.
Contribute to the evolution of the company’s machine learning platform, feature stores, and MLOps ecosystem.
Ensure models are interpretable, ethical, unbiased, and aligned with data governance and privacy standards.
Maintain rigorous documentation and reproducible workflows.
Conduct A/B testing, uplift modeling, attribution modeling, and statistical experimentation to validate impact.
Recruit, mentor, and build a high-performing team of AI/ML consultants with diverse skill sets.
Foster a collaborative and innovative team culture.
Mentor junior data scientists and analysts; help establish best practice standards across the data science community.
Collaborate with engineering to operationalize models via production pipelines, APIs, or real-time systems.
Partner with data engineering and architecture teams to improve data quality, accessibility, and scalability.
Embodies the Hilton Grand Vacations Values of Hospitality, Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Ownership, Now, Completes all required Company training/compliance courses as assigned.
Adheres to Company standards and maintains compliance with all policies and procedures.
Performs other related duties as assigned.