Director, NB Maritime Concept & Innovation

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:

Join Royal Caribbean Group and be part of shaping the future of entertainment at sea for the Newbuild & Innovation Department across all our cruise brands including Fleet revitalization. 

Director, Maritime Development

This role is responsible for executing Royal Caribbean Group’s maritime development roadmap through the leadership of Maritime Development Programs that support newbuild concepts and long-term fleet performance.

This role leads a team that translates strategic intent, design ambition, and operational needs into practical maritime solutions, leading development efforts from early concepts through validation, financial justification, and implementation or future application. The Director drives ship-level design solutions that improve space utilization, interfaces, and operating models, reducing labor and complexity while enabling more safe, efficient and effective ship designs.

The position operates at the intersection of concept development, design naval architecture, and shipboard operations, ensuring maritime solutions are standardized, reusable, and ready for application across future concepts.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Development Planning and Prioritization

·       Maintain and execute a prioritized pipeline of Maritime Development Programs aligned with newbuild timelines and strategic needs.

• Define scope, objectives, and success measures for each development effort before work begins.
• Sequence development work to maximize reuse and minimize concurrent design during concept phases.

Solution Development

• Develop and mature design solutions that address safety, space efficiency, crew workflows, and operational interfaces.
• Test and refine development outputs through operational input, simulation, or pilot application as appropriate.
• Ensure solutions are practical, implementable, and aligned with the vision for operations.

Standardization and Development Library

• Curate and maintain a shared set of developed maritime solutions, reference designs, and operating concepts to support future concept work.
• Ensure documentation, assumptions, and design intent are captured to enable repeatable application across future ships.
• Enable faster, lower-risk concept development by providing ready-to-use maritime solutions that do not require parallel development during concept phases.

Cross-Functional Alignment and Decision Support

• Integrate inputs from design, operations, technology, and brand teams into executable development outcomes.
• Frame decisions, tradeoffs, and options clearly for leadership review.
• Resolve conflicts between competing requirements through structured analysis and recommendation.

Delivery Discipline and Risk Management

• Establish development schedules, milestones, and dependencies and track progress against them.
• Identify risks, gaps, and integration issues early and drive resolution.
• Ensure handoff is clear and complete.

External Engagement and Partnerships

• Engage with shipyards, suppliers, and external partners to support development objectives.
• Leverage external expertise where it accelerates learning or reduces risk.

Continuous Improvement

• Improve development methods, tools, and governance based on lessons learned.
• Capture feedback from concept and operational teams to refine future development work.
• Maintain awareness of industry practices that could inform future development efforts.

Out of Scope

• Maritime Development Programs under this role do not include ownership of traditional marine technical systems such as engines, propulsion, power generation, or other machinery-focused domains, which remain under established technical and engineering functions. The Director works closely with those teams to ensure alignment, integration, and feasibility where interfaces exist.

Financial and Resource Accountability

• Develop cost estimates and business cases to support prioritization and investment decisions.
• Track development effort, external spending, and value realization.
• Evaluate labor, training, and lifecycle impacts of proposed solutions.

Performs other duties as required.  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, Knowledge and Skills:

• Degree or Diploma with a concentration in Business Management, Nautical Science, Project Management, or related field.
• Experience: 15+ years, with 7 years or more experience leading a team.
• Process Improvement knowledge or Certification in: Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma or other related fields.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Proven ability to lead and develop cross-functional maritime teams in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence, align, and drive decisions at all levels of the organization.
• Highly organized, analytically rigorous, and comfortable operating in ambiguity.

We know there is 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 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.