Senior Product Owner (fixed term)

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.

About Us

Royal Caribbean Group is the world’s largest cruise line, having a record-breaking year and launching not one but TWO brand new ships in 2025! It couldn’t be a more exciting time to join a global business that is blazing a trail in the travel industry right now.

With our 3 brands Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises & Silversea we have ships in South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and several North American markets beyond our headquarters in Miami, FL. We cover the globe. No matter where our guests want to go, Royal Caribbean Group has a ship that can deliver a world-class vacation.

At Royal Caribbean Group we never rest on our laurels; we constantly strive to improve our work and be at the forefront of the industry. The work that we do is exciting, challenging, and innovative. You get to work both independently and as part of a collaborative and dynamic international team. We are passionate, we are innovative, and we are unstoppable.

About the role

Royal Caribbean Group UK office is looking for a 12 months fixed term Senior Product Owner to join the team. This role is based in Weybridge, Greater London. Please note that we can only consider candidates based in the UK with full right to work who would be able to commute to Weybridge office. 

Position Summary/ Job Purpose:

• End Result Expectations: To be successful in the position the job holder is expected to implement and maintain high performing products onboard RCCL ships, regularly monitoring and improving product performance based on performance feedback and metrics.  The job holder is expected to seek end user feedback from our guests and employees and use this feedback as input into the product roadmap.
• Degree of autonomy: The job holder is governed by RCCL ethics policy and department processes, otherwise the job holder has full autonomy to innovate and adjust.
• Geographic scope: MS - RCCL is a global company and our ships travel to many destinations and our customer and crew come from many different nationalities.  This should be considered when designing and implementing products onboard.  In additional to the geographic scope, all guest facing products should consider ADA compliance to ensure that our products are able to be used by Guests who may have disabilities. 
• Nature and environment: What is the nature and environment in which this job operates?  MS - The job holder needs to be able to operate in a fast paced, competitive and demanding environment.  Some project deadlines are not negotiable (i.e. Ship Launches) so the candidate needs to be able to ensure scope and changes are understood and managed effectively in order to ensure product delivery is executed flawlessly in order to meet the non-negotiable deadlines.  Travel is a requirement and the job holder may be required to be away from home for several weeks at a time. 
• Creativity required in the job: MS - Creativity and Innovation are an essential part of this job to ensure the job holder brings improvements to the products that s/he owns and introduces new products or features that enhance the guest or crew experiences.  The job holder should ensure that products are constantly evolving to meet customer demands and maintain RCCL leadership position in the industry.
• Please add the brands that the job manages/supports.   MS - This job involves products that are used in all of the RCCL, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Silversea and TUI Cruises.
• Please add the countries/regions that the job manages/supports.  MS - This position covers shipboard and our ships travel to many ports and terminals around the world.  There are no responsibilities for this job in any of our international offices.

Based in Weybridge office reporting to the Sr. Manager Product will be responsible for providing leadership over the team that defines the strategy and functionally executes a product and/or set of products, for Royal Caribbean Cruises, LTD and all associated brands (e.g., Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, etc.). The sr. manager will lead several team members, in close collaboration with business stakeholders from across the corporation, to define the vision for the entire end-to-end Guest and/or employee experience, across all guest and crew touch points for their specific product and/or set of products. In addition, this leader and her/his teams will be accountable for the successful launch of their products from ideation through implementation, as well as ongoing level 3 support and product optimization.

The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding and proven track record of product management and user experience design with respect to Shipboard Technology (e.g., iTV, Digital Signage, Check-in, Payment, Dining, Commerce, Room Automation) as well as the ability to provide leadership towards the development of new Guest- and employee-centric experiences. The ideal candidate will also have an eye toward the rapidly evolving technology landscape and provide leadership over advanced and emerging concepts, such as the impact and role of artificial intelligence in product development, to help both educate leaders across the company, as well as inform our forward looking roadmap. The sr. manager will be responsible for ensuring her/his teams adhere to (and/or aid in the creation of) the development and consistent application of product roadmaps and architectural principles, to ensure efficient and scalable product development. S/he must be able to work with multiple product and project teams simultaneously, thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment and connect unexpected threads across disparate delivery teams.

The role will provide direct leadership over the individual contributors who bring our products to life, leading a team of 5-15 employees, contractors, freelancers and vendors as new products and initiatives are ideated, designed, developed and executed. This leader requires the ability to direct teams that ideate and deliver high quality technology products for our Guests and employees, by both fostering and demonstrating a culture of data-driven and end-user focused product thinking, innovation and engineering.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

1.           Technology strategy: Provides leadership over the strategic direction of a technology product or set of products, across all brands and all touch points, including strategy, product roadmap, product design, technical development, launch and ongoing optimization. Partner and collaborate closely with stakeholders from the various brands and across the corporation to understand how to adapt and evolve the strategy of our technology products based on the key drivers of each of the brands.

2.           Product definition: Leads the team(s) responsible for the development of the vision and definition of a technology product or set of products by connecting multiple complex Guest and/or employee touch points (e.g., research, feedback, etc.), technology strategy (e.g., ship/shore standardization), business drivers and business value, with a Guest- and employee-first focus. Provide direct leadership to ensure that the product specifications that are created enable a desirable, feasible and viable product for the relevant end-user. In addition, the sr. manager must foster a highly collaborative team, where cross-discipline dynamic communication is paramount to the successful delivery of the product.

3.           Product delivery: The sr. manager is ultimately accountable for the technology product(s) that are created and developed, and is ultimately responsible for the on-time, on-budget and on-strategy delivery of our products and projects through careful prioritization and review

4.           Product standards: Leads the team(s) in setting the corporation-wide technology standards and practices (across product definition, product design and product engineering) and is ultimately responsible for a) ensuring that all delivery teams within her/his product set apply those practices to their various work products and b) continually aid in the active validation and evolution of those practices.

5.           Product roadmap: Leads the team(s) responsible for the development of the overall product roadmap for her/his product set  in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders ¿ and collaborates with other product leadership to develop the overall product roadmap for all products. Works in close collaboration with the Project Management Office and IT Finance teams to develop the annual operating plan for a technology product or set of products and be able to track the profit and loss of products.

6.           Personnel management: Responsible for all aspects of personnel management (e.g., hiring, training and development, etc.) of the her/his direct reports and overall team

Qualifications:

• Minimum 10 years in a product, design or engineering senior leadership role
• Bachelors degree required, with a MS/MBA or other relevant advanced degree preferred
• Significant experience in leading teams/organizations in bringing high quality technology products to market

Knowledge and Skills:

The ideal candidate will possess a combination of strategy and execution skills at the enterprise level. This role requires that the candidate have a proven track record of leading large teams through ideation, design and delivery of complex Guest- and employee-facing products. 

Product & delivery depth:

• Deep knowledge and extensive track record in leading teams in the delivery of technology products, with a deep understanding of how to get consumer-centric solutions to market with a high degree of success.
• Experience leading product, design and engineering teams through a software development lifecycle that leverages agile principles, yet recognizes constraints necessary in an environment that has both legacy systems and a construction lifecycle (such as New Build) with a long lead time.
• Ability to effectively provide overall leadership across a large and diverse delivery system, that spans product definition, design and engineering across front-end UI, services and back-end systems
• Exceptional verbal and written communication and project/program leadership skills, including the ability to communicate effectively at the senior most executive levels of a company
• Results oriented:
• Proven ability to collaborate with and achieve actionable results through others, plus the ability to build strong and sustainable relationships, and the capability to interact with all levels of the organization
• Ability to grasp the complexities of the business, Guest and employee and effectively translate that into a strategy that drives measurable results
• Ability to think strategically and drive ideas into action, with a positive outlook and willingness to take personal initiative 

Work Environment:

• Majority of work will take place within office environment.
• Work inside various datacenters may be required.
• Travel may constitute at least 10% of workload

What we Offer. At Royal Caribbean Group, we are client-centric but put people first. We have a culture where everyone is trusted and valued in equal measure, whatever your role in the company. We are propelled by people. Our employees and crew are the driving force behind our success. Our aim is to recruit, develop and retain world class people, who come to Royal Caribbean to do the best work of their careers.

We are committed to employee development, and you will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced people in the business. We regularly reward and promote success, encouraging staff to take on new challenges and responsibilities to aid progression.

Our remuneration package includes our competitive pension, private healthcare, life assurance cover to name a few. In addition, every permanent member of staff that works at Royal Caribbean is eligible for our cruise request program and friends & family cruise discounts.

With good transport links to our modern offices in Surrey, we have plenty of free parking, a free shuttle bus from the train station, on-site restaurant, and on-site gym. We take a flexible approach to work. We currently work a combination of days in the office and work from home.

Come join the team - Journey with us, succeed with us, grow with us.

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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