Product Development Lead

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.

This position will be working onsite from Miami.

Position Summary

The Lead, Product Strategy & Development is an integral member of the Royal Caribbean Product Development department, specifically the Product Strategy team. The role uses analysis to guide product strategy by identifying gaps, evaluating performance, and developing insights that support recommendations and justification for a portfolio of new products, as well as opportunities to optimize existing guest experiences. Scope development, business growth, and financial returns are central to the position. This role significantly influences decisions related to newbuilds, fleet modernizations, and private destination development; partners closely with the Newbuild team to own and drive the financial strategy of the Royal Caribbean International portfolio; presents findings to executive leadership; and leads ad hoc strategic analysis, reporting, and business-case modeling.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Oversee strategy and business cases for the growing newbuild, fleet modernization, and private destination portfolios.
• Support and guide decision-making by defining business cases related to newbuilds, fleet modernizations, and private destinations.
• Serve as the liaison between project teams and corporate teams to ensure project details are communicated effectively.
• Create board materials supporting the underwriting of newbuild, fleet modernization, and private destination projects to secure funding for project builds.
• Identify and pursue opportunities for newbuilds, fleet modernizations, and private destinations.
• Manage financial models for newbuilds, fleet modernizations, and private destinations, partnering cross-functionally with Newbuild, Hotel Operations, Revenue Management, Onboard Revenue, Deployment Strategy, Product Development, Corporate Development, and brand and corporate Finance to develop and maintain reasonable assumptions based on performance benchmarks.
• Own stakeholder alignment with executive leadership, including VP and SVP levels.
• Oversee business-development efforts for newbuild, fleet modernization, and private destination projects, including joint-venture development, technical accounting, business-structure analysis, contract negotiations, and special projects supporting new business creation for Private Destinations.
• Collaborate with Finance to develop and submit capital requests that secure funding for product-development projects.
• Work independently with consultants and external stakeholders to negotiate business opportunities on behalf of Royal Caribbean for prospective newbuild, fleet modernization, and private destination projects.
• Estimate financial models and returns for newbuild, fleet modernization, and private destination projects.
• Perform other duties as required. This job description does not state or imply that these are the only duties to be performed; employees may be assigned other job-related duties by their supervisor or management.

Qualifications, Knowledge and Skills

• Four-year bachelor’s degree or equivalent required.
• Five to eight years of related business analysis, corporate finance, corporate development experience, training, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with all levels of personnel.
• Strong PC skills, including advanced proficiency in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Advanced Excel expertise, including formulas such as INDEX-MATCH and the ability to extract analysis and insights from data sets.
• Strong knowledge of the cruise industry preferred.
• Financial and business diligence: Ability to think creatively and critically, understand the operations of travel and hospitality businesses, and develop business plans for new opportunities.
• Financial modeling: Ability to evaluate data and determine optimal investment approaches to accomplish company goals.
• Analytical skills: Ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and opportunities of alternative solutions and conclusions.
• Complex problem-solving: Ability to identify complex problems, review related information, develop options, and implement solutions.
• Presentation skills: Ability to create, edit, and communicate compelling slide presentations and present a logical, analytical story that supports desired outcomes.
• Active listening skills and the ability to understand points being communicated.
• Negotiation and persuasion skills, including the ability to reconcile differences and influence others.
• Strong understanding of marketing principles to support management on strategic initiatives and guide analysis.
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We know there’s a lot to consider. As you go through the application process, our recruiters will be glad to provide guidance and additional details to answer your questions. Thank you again for your interest in Royal Caribbean Group. We hope to see you onboard soon!

No immigration sponsorship is offered.

Agency and Third-Party Submissions: Please note this is a direct search by the Company, and applications through agencies and other third parties will not be accepted, nor will fees be paid for unsolicited resumes. Any unsolicited resumes will be considered the Company’s property.

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.