Senior Lead, Product Strategy and Development

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.

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 Product Development Team, supporting the Royal Caribbean International brand, has an exciting career opportunity for a full-time Senior Lead, Product Strategy and Development reporting to the Director, Product Development.

Position Summary:
 

The Senior Lead, Product Strategy and Development functions as an integral part of the Royal Caribbean Product Development department, and more specifically the Product Strategy team. The role will shape and lead analytical efforts to guide product strategy by understanding gaps, performance, and insights to assist in the recommendation and justification of a portfolio of products to be developed as well as recommendations on how to optimize existing guest experiences. Scope development and maximizing business growth and financial returns are essential. This role will lead cross functional teams acting as the liaison between the project teams and the corporate teams. This role will significantly influence decision-making related to product strategy, focused on newbuilds, fleet modernizations and private destination development. This role will work closely with the Newbuild and the Private Destinations teams to own and drive the financial strategy of the Royal Caribbean International portfolio and present findings to executive leadership. Along with product strategy responsibilities, this role is responsible for ad hoc analysis and reporting of strategic initiatives, and business case modeling. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
 

• Oversee the strategy and business cases of our growing newbuilds, fleet modernization and private destination portfolios.
• Lead the decision making in defining the business cases related to the newbuilds, fleet modernization and private destination portfolios.
• Be the lead liaison between the project teams and the corporate teams to ensure project details are properly communicated.
• Create board materials related to the underwriting of the newbuilds, fleet modernizations and private destination projects to secure funding for project builds.
• Identify and seize opportunities to pursue newbuilds, fleet modernizations and private destinations.
• Manage the creation of financial models for newbuilds, fleet modernizations and private destinations – both greenfield projects and expansion of our existing private destinations portfolio. Will work cross-functionally with newbuild, hotel operations, revenue management, onboard revenue, deployment strategy, product development, corporate development, and brand/corporate finance to develop, and consistently update, reasonable assumptions based on performance benchmarks. The position will own stakeholder alignment with executive leadership, including the VP / SVP level.
• Oversee business development efforts for newbuilds, fleet modernization and private destinations projects, including but not limited to joint venture development, technical accounting, business structure analysis, contract negotiations, and leading special projects around new business creation in support of Private Destinations.
• Collaborate with Finance to develop and submit capital requests to secure funding for product development projects.
• Work independently with consultants and external stakeholders to negotiate business opportunities on behalf of Royal Caribbean for prospective newbuilds, fleet modernization and private destinations projects.
• Provide ad-hoc analyses to guide decision-making on the design of future products.
• Perform 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 other job-related duties assigned by their supervisor or management.

Financial Responsibilities:

• Estimation of financial models and returns for private destination projects 
   

Qualifications, Knowledge & Skills:
 

• Four-year Bachelor's or equivalent required; 7+ years related business analysis, corporate finance/development experience, and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience. 
• Candidate must possess strong written and oral communication skills and be able to work effectively with all levels of personnel.  Strong computer skills are required.
• Advanced Word, PowerPoint, and Excel - Including intricate knowledge not only of advanced formulas (such as index-match) but also Excel problem-solving abilities to extract analysis and insights out of data dumps – required.
• Strong knowledge of the cruise industry preferred.
• Financial and Business Diligence: Thinking creatively and critically to dig deep into the operations of travel and hospitality businesses, to understand how businesses work and how to develop business plans for new business opportunities.
• Financial Modeling: Evaluating data, determining the optimal way to spend to accomplish company goals.
• Analytical: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and opportunities of alternative solutions and conclusions.
• Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop options and implement solutions.
• Presentation: Using computer skills and communication style to create, manipulate, edit, and communicate slide presentations. Understanding end-state and the best way to present a story logically and analytically to achieve desired results.
• Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are communicating and taking time to understand points being made.
• Negotiating and Persuasion: Bringing others together to try to reconcile differences and persuading others to your point of view.
• Strong understanding of marketing principles to lead management on strategic initiatives and guide analysis.

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.

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities and to providing reasonable accommodation to support candidates with disabilities during our hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at hraccess@rccl.com. This email is for disability-related accommodation requests only.