Design Business Manager

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:

Our teams imagine the most extraordinary vacations, collaborating together to bring them to life.  Our mission is to disrupt the cruising industry by creating & building the most innovative cruise ships and reimagine our award-winning fleets. Our drive is to innovate and challenge the status quo.   The Design Business Manager is the key manager of the process for sourcing, negotiating, and securing world class architecture, interior design, and specialized consultancy design services across all projects, with companies big and small around the world.   It aims to nurture long term partnerships, and develop new potential partnerships, while handling the daily commercial needs behind the creative services through the life of all projects. This role will also work in close collaboration with the Manager, Supply Chain.  

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Drives the process for project team leaders, owning the briefs, scope definition, timelines, fees, budgets, strategies etc. and prepares Request for Proposals (RFPs) and Schedule of Work (SOWs) for various services required from our partners (architecture, interior design, art, signage, landscape, etc.)  
• Monitors timely receipt of all design partner fee proposals and ensures alignment of fee proposal with the required scope of work and the fee budgets.  
• Owns the negotiating process to achieve fair fee levels, benchmarking where applicable and working with project team leaders to ensure appropriate coverage of scope and deliverables and competitive fee proposals.  
• Evaluates proposals for fee structures (lump sums vs hourly), appropriate labor hours for various phases of the project, number of staff, payment schedules, all to achieve the fair fee level.  
• Owns the management of multiple partner accounts and projects simultaneously tracking of numerous small to large accounts from initiation to relationship management, ensuring on-time, on-budget set-up for project outputs and ultimately the timely closing out of contracts.  
• Is the main advocate for trade partners for activities such as achieving legal agreement and signatures for Master Service Agreements (MSAs), receiving Purchase Orders (POs) for services, receiving payment of invoices on a timely basis, and other commercial needs by collaborating with others in the corporation who are wholly responsible. 
• Manages the development and implement of an international collaborative partnership strategy, regional and unique strategies, and priorities.  
• Identifies market factors and leading practice for fee baselines; as appropriate.  
• Performs complex price analysis of multiple variables.  
• Expert use of analysis, forecasting, problem solving and quality improvement to develop strategies for dynamic market conditions.  
• Develops a procurement and negotiation strategy based on multiple and often complex variable. Negotiates price, availability, and delivery schedules.  
• Communicates and presents clear strategies, plans and cost impacts to upper management.  
• Manages the process for quarterly partnership consultations/facilitations to assess the health of the working relationships, identify lessons learned and areas for continuous improvement.  
• Owns evaluation of quantitative/qualitative fees and/or Full Time Equivalent (FTEs) statistics of partners for benchmarking. 
• Monitors all projects in the department providing cross knowledge and bringing economies where opportunities arise 15. Performs other duties as required.  

Qualifications, Knowledge & Skills:

• Bachelor's Degree at a minimum, preferably in a field related to either architecture/interior design or business management/marketing. 
• Preferably 10 (but at least 8) years' experience, with a minimum of 4-5 years in a relevant role at either a design firm or other hospitality owner/operator, with exposure/experience in management of a small team.
•  Strong understanding of the architectural and interior design process, especially in the hospitality sector.  
• Familiarity with resourcing, scope writing and fee calculation related to architectural and design scope of work. 
• Demonstrated understanding of design and technical skills on major projects.  
• Strong business development skills, including significant experience building and maintaining productive relationships with a collaborator/client base (such experience within a consulting organization in Miami is considered a strong asset). 
• Strong leadership, communication, and team-building skills.  
• The Commercial Partnership Manager must be an individual who has the strengths, experience and drive to effectively lead, challenge, and inspire the project leadership to work together cohesively as a team across portfolios. 
• An entrepreneurial orientation with strong understanding of the business development challenges of a corporate entity as well as consulting-services provider.  
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.  
• Excellent organization, coordination, and managerial skills. ¿ Knowledge of market assessment techniques, insights, and contacts. 

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.

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