Sr. Manager, Newbuild Strategy

Journey with us! Combine your career goals and sense of adventure by joining our exciting team of employees. Royal Caribbean Group is pleased to offer a competitive compensation & benefits package, and excellent career development opportunities, each offering unique ways to explore the world.

Position Summary:

The Senior Manager, Newbuild Strategy is a key strategic leader supporting enterprise-wide initiatives focused on cost optimization, standardization, procurement coordination, and operational efficiency across the company’s global newbuild portfolio. 
 
Reporting to the Director of Newbuild Strategy based in Miami, this Europe-based role serves as the primary regional counterpart responsible for driving execution, alignment, and operational coordination across Europe site offices, shipbuilding programs, and enterprise stakeholders. The role partners closely with senior leadership, operational teams, procurement stakeholders, shipyards, and suppliers to advance strategic initiatives and ensure consistent execution across regions and programs. 
 
The Senior Manager plays a critical role in leading and advancing Momentum, a cross-functional enterprise initiative focused on improving the overall cost profile, scalability, and execution effectiveness of the newbuild portfolio through strategic sourcing approaches, operational efficiencies, standardization opportunities, and enterprise-wide coordination. 
 
This role is responsible for owning and driving strategic workstreams from planning through execution, including governance, reporting, execution tracking, stakeholder coordination, operational alignment, and executive-level visibility across complex, matrixed initiatives. The Senior Manager helps translate strategic priorities into actionable execution plans, drives accountability across stakeholders, and ensures initiatives progress in a coordinated, transparent, and outcome-focused manner. 
 
Positioned at the intersection of strategy and execution, the role requires strong strategic thinking, operational rigor, and leadership capabilities, combined with the ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities. 
 
The ideal candidate is highly collaborative, proactive, and execution-oriented, with the ability to influence without authority, navigate complexity, and independently lead initiatives that translate strategy into measurable business impact. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead and own strategic initiatives across the newbuild portfolio focused on cost optimization, operational efficiencies, standardization, procurement coordination, and scalable execution practices. 
• Drive Momentum workstreams and strategic priorities, ensuring initiatives progress with clear accountability, governance, execution discipline, and measurable outcomes across multiple shipbuilding programs and brands. 
• Serve as the primary Europe-based counterpart to the Miami-based Director of Newbuild Strategy, leading regional coordination and driving alignment across site offices, operational stakeholders, suppliers, shipyards, and enterprise leadership. 
• Lead cross-functional and cross-brand working teams to advance strategic cost and operational initiatives from planning through implementation and execution. 
• Partner with operational, procurement, financial, and program stakeholders to identify portfolio optimization opportunities, efficiencies, standardization approaches, and value realization initiatives. 
• Own centralized reporting, dashboards, governance materials, executive updates, and strategic insights related to Momentum initiatives and broader portfolio priorities. 
• Drive executive-level visibility by proactively tracking initiative progress, milestones, risks, dependencies, operational impacts, and action plans across strategic initiatives. 
• Facilitate governance structures and operating cadence activities, including strategic reviews, working sessions, stakeholder alignment meetings, and executive follow-ups. 
• Support evaluation and implementation of scalable operating models, execution frameworks, and coordination mechanisms that improve consistency and effectiveness across the portfolio. 
• Build strong collaborative relationships across Europe site offices, enterprise stakeholders, suppliers, and leadership teams to drive alignment, accountability, and execution success. 
• Identify and help remove barriers to execution while supporting continuous improvement initiatives focused on operational effectiveness, governance, and execution discipline across the organization. 

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position.  Employees will be required to perform any other job-related duties assigned by their supervisor or management.

Qualifications and Education

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred. 
• 8–10+ years of relevant experience in strategy, program management, management consulting, operational excellence, corporate strategy, analytics, finance, procurement transformation, or related fields. 
• Experience supporting cross-functional strategic initiatives in complex, matrixed organizations with multiple stakeholder groups and competing priorities. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, including experience with reporting, dashboards, business analysis, operational metrics, and executive-level presentations. 
• Experience supporting initiatives related to operational improvement, cost optimization, standardization, portfolio performance, governance, procurement coordination, or execution management preferred. 
• Experience working in large-scale capital project, shipbuilding, engineering, industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, or similarly complex operational environments preferred. 
• Strong organizational and project coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously and maintain attention to detail in fast-paced environments. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into clear and concise executive-level materials. 
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships, collaborate across functions, and influence stakeholders without direct authority. 
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including PowerPoint and Excel; experience with reporting, analytics, or visualization tools preferred. 
• Highly self-motivated, adaptable, and capable of operating effectively in ambiguous and evolving environments. 
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally and domestically approximately 35% of the time. 

Physical Demands 

• The physical demands described here are representative of those requirements employees must meet to perform the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodations. 
• The employee is regularly required to sit, stand, write, review and type reports, compile data, and operate a pc.
• The employee regularly moves about the office complex, and may climb, descend, lift, or move 10 pounds.  

Work Environment

• The environment includes office location, and/or moving inside/outside the office.
• A high noise level is possible if visiting shipboard, dry dock, newbuilding, or offsite locations. 
• Personal protective equipment needed for shipyard visits.
• Approximately 50% travel time is required.

We know there's a lot to consider. As you go through the application process, our recruiters will be glad to provide guidance, and more relevant details to answer any additional questions. Thank you again for your interest in Royal Caribbean Group. We'll hope to see you onboard soon!

It is the policy of the Company to ensure equal employment and promotion opportunity to qualified candidates without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, sexuality, gender identity or expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Royal Caribbean Group and each of its subsidiaries prohibit and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment.