Development Manager, EMEA

Job description

About Hilton

Hilton is one of the largest and fastest growing hospitality companies in the world, with more than 7,600 properties with more than 1.1 million rooms in 126 countries and territories. In the 100+ years since our founding, we have defined the hospitality industry and established a portfolio of 24 world-class brands, including our flagship Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand, which is the most recognized hotel brand in the world. Hilton was recently crowned World’s Best Workplace by Great Places to Work and Fortune Magazine and we have more than 170 million members in our award–winning customer loyalty program, Hilton Honors.

Position Statement: 

Under direction from the VP Development, the candidate must work effectively with colleagues and industry contacts to assist in the execution of Hilton’s development strategy with respect to our chosen brands and business models, within Europe.

Position Summary: 
The Development Manager establishes, maintains and enhances quality working relationships with key internal & external stakeholders with a view to effectively compiling up-to-date market intelligence and relevant information for the benefit of the EMEA development team. This information will be used to evaluate and identify business opportunities for further expansion of our brands and will be used in commercial presentations, development collateral and internal reporting to leadership. 

This role will involve project-specific work with the development team to accelerate the deal-signing process and to support the attainment of aggressive signings targets in the EMEA region. This role will have a specific focus on supporting the deal signing target within the North & West Europe (NOWE) region and helping to drive growth in those markets. The Development Manager is also responsible for maximizing Hilton’s development exposure through printed material, media, web sites, conference attendance and other industry-related events.

The role is responsible for ensuring the optimum usage of the deal reporting system, through active maintenance, training and optimizing the interface with other relevant company systems. Additionally, a number of tools and resources will need to be maintained and updated regularly including the development website and various internal intelligence repositories and reporting platforms. 

Strong interpersonal skills are required in communications with the wider hotel community, senior leaders and external stakeholders. This will also involve drafting a variety of compelling proposals and presentations for a wide range of audiences requiring the ability to work independently with limited supervision to deliver projects within tight deadlines.

Key Responsibilities

•    Pro-actively seeks up-to-date and impactful market-derived and internal information to support commercial endeavours by the development team, maintaining up-to-date knowledge of Hilton brands, product initiatives and services and accordingly on-going relationship with the individuals driving these initiatives.
•    Development Project involvement to contribute towards aggressive signings targets in the region. 
•    Works effectively with all support functions (e.g. Legal, Feasibility, Finance, Corporate Compliance, Brands, etc.) to avoid any bottleneck situation preventing the completion of a development project.
•    Maintains and updates European development tools and resources and coordinates the dissemination of relevant messaging among the wider hotel community.
•    Manages Hilton’s presence at development conferences and events, including organization and setup of such conferences where applicable. Attendance at other EMEA hotel investment conferences may be required.
•    Lead regular meetings with the Managing Director, Development, to review planned projects and required reporting/updates, provide an update on ongoing initiatives, and proactively prioritize tasks.
•    Compiles, reviews and/or consolidates as required, development deal summaries for internal approval.
•    Produces accurate development dashboards and other necessary activity reports. 
•    Assisting the Development team and senior leadership with required analyses, reports, research projects and commercial documents & presentations. 
•    Maintains strong collaboration with other Development Managers across the organization in order to leverage best practices and ideas to the benefit of the region.
•    Maintains functional, general and administrative activity within budget.
•    Retains excellent and transparent filing and administration system; is the first point of contact for many development related queries 
•    Pro-actively suggests ideas to improve the department’s efficiency, to increase our exposure and raise our profile to ultimately support our growth.
•    Takes on with enthusiasm a large amount of ad-hoc requests aimed at facilitating the smooth running of the development function and support if and when needed specific regional teams.

What are we looking for?

Applicants will ideally have a background in development (preferably hotel), real estate / property, asset management ,feasibility or investment. Additional skills / experience will include:  

•    Accuracy, attention to detail, responsiveness and proactive behaviour.
•    Excellent command of the English language.
•    High proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
•    Fundamental grasp of real estate investment, finance and hotel operations. 
•    Strong communication & interpersonal skills at different levels.
•    A self-starter with the ability to anticipate and not simply react to business needs.
•    Managing a range of competing priorities and demands (strong time management skills are essential)
•    Results-driven, tenacious, able to work under pressure and openness to regular feedback (in line with the wide audience addressed)
•    Strong analytical skills and ability to make decisions on his/her own.
•    Ability to work independently combined with a team spirit and desire to support a team.
•    A desire for self-improvement and career advancement

Required Qualifications
•    BA/BS/ Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
•    Experience in developing an expert level of analytic skills with the ability to present complex information to senior audiences.
•    Ability to travel when required mainly for industry event and internal meetings.

Preferred Qualifications
•    MBA/Master’s Degree Hospitality, Sales, General Business, Real Estate certifications or education or equivalent 
•    Prior industry experience (hotel operator, feasibility, consulting, sales) Substantial hospitality industry experience preferred in similar roles
•    Previous experience in Hotel Development, Real Estate or Feasibility & Investment type roles. 
•    A solid understanding of and a passion for the hotel industry (e.g. operational experience) with good analytical skills and either an experience or inclination towards sales-driven functions. 
•    An aspiration to build a career in hotel development.
•    Additional language(s) would be considered an advantage.