Manager, Product Development - Integrated Planning

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

We are proud to be the vacation-industry leader with global brands — including Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises — the most innovative fleet and private destinations, and the best people. Together, we are dedicated to turning the vacation of a lifetime into a lifetime of vacations for our guests.

Royal Caribbean Group’s Celebrity Cruises brand has an exciting career opportunity for a full time Manager, Integrated Planning, Product Development on the Celebrity Cruises Marketing Team.

This position will work onsite in Miami, Florida.

Position Summary:

In this position, you would be a hands-on project coordinator and facilitator within Celebrity Cruises’ Product Development organization. This entails being responsible for implementing and managing integrated planning processes on the ground level for specific projects or workstreams. You would handle the day-to-day coordination of tasks, timelines, and deliverables across departments to ensure that new products and experiences are delivered on schedule and according to scope.

Please note that this is NOT a tech or IT related position.

You would serve as a central point of contact for project team members, maintaining project documentation, tracking progress, and flagging issues. By focusing on execution details, from organizing design review sessions to updating action logs, you would help maintain order, accountability, and momentum in complex projects. This position is critical for translating the planning frameworks into reality, and it supports senior leadership by providing accurate project status information and ensuring best practices are followed throughout the project lifecycle.

The Manager may have direct supervisory responsibility for other team members, such as the Integrated Planning Lead, Senior Analyst and Specialist, assigning them tasks and overseeing their performance.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Project Planning & Coordination: Coordinate day-to-day project planning and execution activities for assigned product development initiatives. Develop and maintain detailed project schedules, work plans, and task lists for your projects, ensuring all tasks have owners and due dates.

• Progress Monitoring: Monitor progress against the plan daily, send reminders for upcoming deliverables, and adjust timelines as needed in coordination with team leads. Serve as the go-to person for knowing “what happens next” on a project, keeping everyone on the same page with regards to milestones and deadlines (Integrated Planning workstream).

• Cross-Functional Team Facilitation: Facilitate collaboration among cross-functional team members (e.g., concept designers, operations, marketing, newbuild, IT, etc.) to drive project tasks to completion.

• Project Meetings: Schedule and lead regular project team meetings or stand-ups to review status, address roadblocks, and synchronize efforts. Prepare agendas to cover all pertinent updates (Operational Excellence) and ensure meetings stay focused.

• Action Management: Document key decisions and action items in each meeting, distribute meeting notes to participants, and follow up with individuals on their action items to keep momentum.

• Operational Readiness & Launch Support: Drive the implementation of operational readiness processes for new product launches or experience rollouts. Ensure that pre-launch requirements such as run-of-show operations plans, crew training sessions, onboard marketing materials, and go-to-market integration tasks are completed in a timely manner.

• Start Up Processes: Assist in developing and tracking startup checklists for new concepts on ships (or at destinations) to confirm that all departments (Food & Beverage, Entertainment, Housekeeping, etc.) are prepared for the introduction of the new product or experience. After launch, help gather initial performance data or feedback for the post-launch review.

• Design Review & Change Management: Support the Architecture & Design Management workstream by organizing design review sessions and managing the flow of design documentation. Work with external architects or internal design teams to obtain drawings, renderings, or specifications for review by stakeholders and product owners.

• Design Process: Distribute design materials to relevant reviewers, set up meetings or workshops (e.g., charrettes) to collect feedback, and record all comments or requested changes. Track design change requests and ensure they are communicated back to the designers/architects. Verify that final design documents incorporate all approved changes and meet the required quality standards before they are signed off.

• Issue, Risk & Action Log Management: Manage the project’s action item tracker and risk/issue log on a continual basis. Log new issues or risks as they arise, assess their potential impact with the help of team members, and escalate significant concerns to the Senior Manager or Director promptly. Assign owners and due dates for each action item or risk mitigation action in the project management system. Regularly update the status of action items and follow up with responsible parties to drive issues to resolution. Provide summary reports of open actions and risks during team meetings and highlight any overdue items or emerging critical risks.

• RFP and Vendor Coordination: Assist in the RFP Oversight & Contracts workstream by coordinating with the Supply Chain team on procurement activities for your projects. When an RFP is needed (for example, selecting a vendor for a new attraction or a design firm for a venue), help develop the scope of work documentation and timeline requirements from the project perspective. Track the progress of RFPs and vendor selection: note key dates such as RFP release, proposal due date, vendor presentations, and contract award.

• Documentation & Knowledge Management: Ensure that all project documents (business cases, charters, plans, design specifications, meeting minutes, status reports, etc.) are properly filed in the shared repository (e.g., SharePoint or Teams folders). Update documentation in real-time as changes occur – for instance, if the scope is adjusted or a schedule shifts, make sure the latest version is saved and dated.

• Executive Reporting Support: Prepare inputs for executive-level updates and communications, working under the guidance of the Senior Manager or Director. Compile key project status information, metrics, and accomplishments into concise summaries or slides for leadership meetings. Ensure data accuracy and clarity in these updates.

• Meeting Presence: If required, attend executive review meetings (such as a CEO Product Development update or Steering Committee) to provide additional detail on project progress or to take note of executive feedback. After such meetings, incorporate any new directives or changes from executives into the project plan and communicate them to the project team.

• Process & Best Practice Implementation: Implement and uphold the processes and best practices defined by the Integrated Planning Team. For example, champion the use of any new tools (like a space utilization analysis tool or a new Asana workflow) by learning the tool and training project team members on it. Ensure that best practice guidelines – such as how to conduct post-launch evaluations or how to run innovation workshops – are applied in your projects.

• Process Improvements:  Contribute to refining these processes by providing feedback on what is or isn’t working at the execution level.

• Operational Excellence Initiatives: Implement operational excellence and process improvement initiatives as defined by the Integrated Planning Team’s standards. This includes rolling out new or improved processes such as startup checklists for new guest experiences, run-of-show operations plans, or post-launch review processes.

• Quality Assurance:  Deliver on quality assurance efforts throughout the development and implementation of new products. Coordinate pre-launch testing or pilot programs for new concepts (for example, trial runs of a new onboard activity or venue) by collaborating with operations teams and guest experience teams.

• Post-Launch Reviews: Ensure that post-launch audits or evaluations are conducted – gathering performance data, guest feedback, and operational observations after a new product/experience goes live. Analyze these results to recommend improvements or corrective actions and feed insights back into planning for future projects.

• Cross-Functional Stakeholder Liaison: Deliver on the collaboration with various departments to promote collaboration and stakeholder inclusion. Ensure that stakeholder requirements are integrated into project plans. Facilitate regular cross-functional check-ins or workshops to discuss progress, surface issues, and maintain alignment among all parties.

• Sign-Off Process: Ensure that formal sign-off documents, design approvals, change logs, and lessons learned from each project are documented and stored for future reference. Promote a discipline of version control and documentation so that the team and new hires can quickly get up to speed on any project.

• Leadership: Supervise and mentor members of the Integrated Planning Team in their day-to-day activities. Directly manage the Integrated Planning Lead, Senior Analyst, and/or Specialist (as applicable), providing guidance, setting priorities, and reviewing their work outputs for quality and completeness.

Qualifications, Knowledge and Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Project Management, Hospitality Management, Product Development, or a related field (master’s degree preferred).

• An academic background or coursework in project management or operations is helpful. Professional certifications or courses (e.g., CAPM or PMP certification, Agile methodologies) are an asset and indicate a commitment to the profession.

• Minimum 10 years of experience in project management, product development, innovation, or operations, ideally within the travel, hospitality, or cruise industries.

• Basic understanding of the business context of projects – how guest experience, operational feasibility, and return on investment considerations play into product development.

• Proficiency in creating and managing schedules, tracking tasks, and coordinating teams. Familiarity with project management and collaboration software is required (for example, experience with Asana, Jira, Microsoft Project, Trello, or similar tools to manage tasks and timelines).

• Proven ability to develop and implement processes and standards across an organization.

• Comfortable navigating ambiguous situations and making data-driven decisions.

• Exceptional problem-solving, strategic thinking, and decision-making abilities.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate across multiple departments and external partners.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

• Strong understanding of performance management frameworks and employee engagement strategies.

• Data-driven mindset with the ability to analyze metrics and make informed decisions.

• Confidence in asking questions or seeking clarification to prevent misunderstandings. Experience in facilitating meetings or workshops is beneficial – including the ability to keep meetings productive and on-topic.

• A passion for innovation, with a creative mindset to find better ways of working and delivering value.

• Experience driving continuous improvement programs or operational excellence initiatives.
• Ability and willilngness to travel up to 40% - 50% of the time.

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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