Sr Dir., Marine Transformation

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Position Summary:

Global Marine Operations (GMO) oversees one of the world’s most complex maritime ecosystems — 80 ships across five brands, operating around the clock in every corner of the globe. As the fleet continues to expand and operational complexity increases, GMO must evolve how it operates, makes decisions, scales capabilities, and delivers excellence across both ship and shore.

The Sr. Director, Marine Transformation is accountable for shaping and driving the enterprise transformation agenda for GMO. This leader will establish the strategy, governance, operating mechanisms, and execution discipline required to modernize how the organization operates and prepare GMO for its next chapter of growth.

This role goes beyond managing initiatives, it is responsible for building a transformation capability. The Sr. Director will identify the highest-value opportunities, align executive stakeholders, mobilize cross-functional teams, and ensure change is embedded into the business in a way that delivers measurable and lasting impact.

Operating across brands, functions, shipboard leadership, and corporate teams, this leader must navigate complexity, influence without authority, and translate strategic priorities into operational outcomes. Success requires balancing enterprise thinking with a deep understanding of frontline realities.

The Sr. Director will partner closely with Marine Digital to ensure technology investments are enabled by strong process design, operational readiness, and adoption strategies. This role ensures GMO transforms with intention, where process, people, and technology evolve together. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Drive the GMO transformation strategy

Establish the long-term transformation roadmap, operating model, governance structure, and prioritization framework that advances GMO’s strategic objectives and improves operational performance across ship and shore.

• Build and scale the Marine Transformation capability

Create the team, ways of working, methodologies, and standards that enable GMO to continuously identify opportunities, execute change, and sustain improvements over time.

• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership

Partners with GMO executives and cross-brand leaders to evaluate opportunities, challenge assumptions, influence decisions, and ensure transformation efforts remain aligned with enterprise priorities.

• Drive enterprise-wide operational excellence and value creation

Lead complex transformation initiatives that improve efficiency, consistency, cost effectiveness, scalability, and operational excellence across a highly matrixed global environment.

• Convert strategy into execution

Translate broad business objectives into actionable programs with clear ownership, milestones, value realization metrics, and accountability mechanisms

• Mobilize cross-functional transformation teams

Bring together leaders and teams across brands, functions, regions, and vessels. Create alignment, remove barriers, and establish the conditions required for collaboration, adoption, and sustainable change.

• Connect shipboard realities with shoreside strategy

Ensure transformation is designed with operational practicality in mind by integrating insights from Captains, Chief Engineers, shipboard teams, and operational leaders

• Own transformation governance and performance visibility

Establish executive reporting mechanisms that provide transparency into progress, risks, dependencies, benefits delivered, and decisions required

• Strengthening the connection between process and technology

Partner with Marine Digital to ensure technology solutions solve the right business problems and are supported by effective processes, adoption plans, and operational readiness.

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

The ideal candidate is a proven transformation leader who has successfully driven large-scale operational change in complex, global organizations. They bring the ability to operate strategically, influence senior stakeholders, and build organizational capability while remaining deeply connected to execution.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA or related field) preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive experience leading business transformation, operational excellence, strategy execution, consulting, or large-scale operational change.
• Proven experience driving enterprise-level transformation programs within complex, global, matrixed organizations.
• Demonstrated success building transformation capabilities, operating models, governance structures, and high-performing teams.
• Experience partnering with executive leadership and influencing strategic decisions at VP/SVP levels.
• Track record of leading cross-functional teams through ambiguity while delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Experience with process improvement, operational excellence, transformation frameworks, and methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Agile, or similar preferred).
• Experience partnering with digital/product organizations to enable technology-driven transformation.
• Maritime, cruise, aviation, logistics, manufacturing, hospitality, or other complex asset-intensive operational experience preferred.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Enterprise Transformation & Strategy Execution: Ability to define, drive, and operationalize large-scale transformation agendas, translating strategic priorities into executable roadmaps, governance structures, and measurable outcomes.
• Executive Influence & Stakeholder Management: Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior leaders, navigate competing priorities, and create alignment across complex, matrixed organizations.
• Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement: Deep understanding of operational improvement practices, process optimization, performance management, and sustainable change methodologies.
• Business Acumen & Value Creation: Ability to connect transformation efforts to measurable business outcomes including efficiency, productivity, cost optimization, scalability, and operational performance.
• Change Leadership & Organizational Adoption: Experience creating adoption strategies, influencing behaviors, and embedding sustainable new ways of working across global organizations.
• Complex Problem Solving & Systems Thinking: Ability to diagnose ambiguous business challenges, identify root causes, simplify complexity, and design scalable solutions across interconnected operations.
• Program Governance & Portfolio Management: Experience establishing governance models, prioritization frameworks, executive reporting, KPI tracking, risk management, and benefit realization practices.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Ability to mobilize teams across brands, functions, geographies, and operational environments without relying solely on reporting authority.
• Digital & Process Transformation Mindset: Strong understanding of how technology, data, process design, and operational readiness come together to deliver sustainable transformation.
• Communication & Executive Storytelling: Ability to translate complex operational topics into clear narratives, recommendations, and decision points for senior leadership.

Physical Demands 

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to walk, sit, reach with hands and arms, talk, and hear.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

• The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those employees’ encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. The work environment is inside the office.