Senior Manager, Dry Docks - Dry Docks

Journey with us! Combine your career goals and sense of adventure by joining our incredible team of employees at Royal Caribbean Group (RCG). 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 Global Marine Operations (GMO) Team has an exciting opportunity for a full-time Senior Manager, Dry Docks reporting to the Senior Director, Asset Management.

This position will work onsite in Miami, Florida.

What does the Global Marine Operations Team do?

Our Marine Operations team is responsible for ensuring the safe, efficient, and smooth sailing of our fleet worldwide. They oversee ship navigation, safety protocols, and compliance with maritime regulations to protect our guests, crew, and vessels. Working closely with onboard and ashore teams, they optimize vessel performance and operational efficiency. 

Join us to play a vital role in maintaining the highest standards of safety and excellence at sea. If you have a passion for maritime operations and ensuring safe voyages, this is the career for you.

How you can make an impact.

This role is an integral part of the Global Marine Operations department, responsible for the strategic planning and coordination of all dry-docking activities across RCG. The primary focus is to ensure that dry-docking operations are executed efficiently, cost-effectively, and in compliance with industry standards and regulations.

What your day-to-day will look like:

Central Point of Contact and Coordination

• Serve as the single point of contact for all dry-docking planning matters for the RCG fleet, covering all fleet groups.

• Act as the central coordination hub between Global Marine Operations (GMO), Brand Deployment, and Newbuilding Revitalizations, with a focus on long-term docking planning.

Strategic Shipyard Relationships and Capacity Planning

• Develop and manage long-term strategic relationships with key global shipyards.

• Maintain forward visibility (5-year horizon) of global dry dock capacity and regional constraints.

• Lead executive-level engagement with major shipyard partners.

• Assess shipyard capability relative to vessel class, technical complexity, and revitalization scope.

• Provide recommendations on shipyard positioning strategy across regions.

• Monitor geopolitical and regional risks that may impact docking availability.

Docking Slot Planning

• Serve as GMO’s primary interface with Brand Deployment to align docking windows with itinerary strategy.

• Translate deployment schedules into forward docking slot requirements.

• Secure and manage docking slot reservations across the fleet on a rolling multi-year basis.

• Optimize docking sequencing to reduce operational disruption and repositioning complexity.

• Identify and resolve multi-brand docking conflicts.

• Maintain a consolidated fleet docking roadmap (5–year horizon).

Strategic Volume Leveraging with Procurement

• Work in close coordination with Procurement and Supply Chain to align long-range docking plans with commercial strategy.

• Aggregate fleet-wide docking demand to create multi-year visibility of volume by region and shipyard.

• Support Procurement in establishing preferred yard strategies where consolidated volume can drive favorable commercial terms.

• Provide forward-looking capacity commitments that strengthen RCG’s negotiating position.

• Participate in strategic discussions with key shipyards to reinforce long-term partnership value and volume stability.

Technical Representative for Shipyard Evaluation and Benchmarking

• Act as GMO’s technical representative in support of Procurement during shipyard selection processes.

• Provide technical due diligence on shipyard capabilities, infrastructure, workforce capacity, and engineering competence.

• Develop and maintain a structured technical benchmarking framework to evaluate shipyards across:
  • Dock size and lifting capacity
  • Engineering and project management maturity
  • Welding and steel renewal capability
  • Coating and surface treatment standards
  • Environmental and safety performance
  • Track record on complex cruise vessel dockings

• Support technical audits and capability assessments of shortlisted shipyards.

• Maintain a comparative scorecard of shipyard technical performance and historical execution outcomes.

• Provide recommendations regarding shipyard suitability for specific vessel classes or complex scopes.

• Support root cause review of major technical variances observed in prior dockings to inform future yard selection.

Optimization and Standardization of Dry-Docking Processes

• Work closely with Marine Procurement to ensure RCG vessels are docked at the most suitable and economical shipyards, at optimal times, and in a cost-effective manner.

• Drive the standardization of dry-docking procedures across fleet groups, aligning with industry best practices and harmonizing dry-dock specifications.

• Liaise with a panel of dry dock specialists and service providers to ensure that qualified personnel are optimally identified and deployed for upcoming dockings.

• Maintain comprehensive oversight of the RCG-owned fleet’s dry-docking compliance, including monitoring regulatory changes.

• Provide management with detailed information on the shipyard’s docking performance.

• Support transformation initiatives, including the digitization of dry-docking processes and reporting mechanisms together with the Transformation & Performance Office team.

• Act as the technical lead for deploying standard service frame agreements and material procurement in collaboration with Marine Procurement and fleet teams.

• Continuously review and improve dry dock processes for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.

Revitalization Scope Coordination

• Define and maintain clear scope boundaries between:
  • Lifecycle maintenance work
  • Revitalization/modernization workstreams

• Facilitate early alignment sessions between Marine Technical Operations and NB Revitalization teams.

• Ensure dock duration assumptions reflect agreed scope ownership.

• Escalate scope expansion risks that may materially impact docking duration or yard selection.

• Align docking sequencing with major revitalization milestones.

Safety and Environmental Compliance

• Collaborate with Marine Technical Operations, Marine Safety & Standards and external partners to implement and monitor safety and environmental compliance programs, ensuring all dockings meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Process and Performance Management

• Standardize and review all aspects of dry-docking, including SOPs, specifications, services, materials, and resources, ensuring end-to-end process visibility in coordination with the Transformation & Performance Office.

• Review and provide input on vessel-specific dry dock specifications, paint requirements, and defect lists, coordinating with Procurement for the tendering process with shipyards and service companies.

• Lead and manage dry-docking workstreams within Global Marine Operations, ensuring alignment among all stakeholders for planning and execution.

• Oversee and evaluate all dry-docking policies, benchmarking reports, and models, leveraging market data, actual project outcomes, and predictive analyses to drive improvements.

• Monitor dry-dock timelines across fleet groups and coordinate with Ship Managers to ensure proper preparation.

• Plan dockings in conjunction with Ship Managers, Deployment, and Procurement teams to guarantee dock availability.

• Manage the selection process for fleet operations in collaboration with the Procurement team, ensuring compliance with RCG policies and governance standards.

• Coordinate technical audits of shipyards and evaluate their development frameworks.

• Assess shortlisted shipyards for strategic development based on current and future business projections in partnership with Procurement.

• Evaluate the quality of dockings using established performance measures.

Safety, Pollution Prevention, and International Statutory Compliance

• Promote safety as a shared responsibility and highest priority in daily operations at sea, shipyards, and in the office.

• Develop and implement Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) guidelines with the Safety, Security and Environment (SSE) team, ensuring adherence during all dockings.

• Define and integrate processes to ensure compliance with environmental regulations and upgrades during docking (e.g., environmentally acceptable lubricants).

• Formulate and maintain policies regarding statutory compliance, including special survey alignments and renewal of docking surveys.

• Provide teams with overviews of vessel compliance and information on upcoming regulatory changes in the cruise industry.

Financial Responsibilities

• Ensure alignment of dry dock budgets across fleet groups, working closely with Marine Technical Operations and Finance.

• Maintain a comprehensive understanding of cost drivers and address key commercial challenges.

• Regularly review dry docking budget models for major docking locations and paint types, using historical data and cost benchmarks to ensure relevance.

• Provide timely inputs for CAPEX rolling forecasts, ensuring alignment with docking plans and budget models for upcoming quarters.

• Oversee governance of dry-docking expenditures, ensuring compliance with accounting standards, including additional costs and modifications.

• Develop business cases and total cost of ownership (TCO) calculations for advancing dockings, considering CAPEX write-offs and cost-benefit analyses related to vessel condition improvements.

• Analyze previous docking costs and invoices to identify and implement cost optimization opportunities.

• Contribute to invoice negotiations and post-docking evaluations as applicable.

• Prepare detailed analyses of dry-dock costs and performance durations by vessel class, comparing results with global and third-party benchmarks.

How to achieve success:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, or Naval Architecture, with at least 10 years of experience in Fleet Operations or shipyard environments.

• Project management qualifications are required; PRINCE2 or PMP certification is advantageous.

• Management qualifications in project, operations, or strategy add value.

• Comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of dry docking in accordance with industry standards.

• Demonstrated leadership experience managing internal docking superintendents or external consultants.

• Direct experience as a project manager for dry-docking operations.

• Strong understanding of class, flag, and regulatory/statutory requirements.

• Expertise in Microsoft Office (Excel, Project, Visio) and business intelligence tools such as Power BI and MicroStrategy.

• Ability to manage remote teams and achieve defined objectives.

• Familiarity with ISO systems, especially ISO 9001, 14001, and 18001.

• Excellent command of the English language, with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to foster diversity within teams.

• Assertive, with excellent negotiation skills and a willingness to travel as required.

• Experience with ERP and/or ship management systems is a plus.

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 accommodations to support candidates with disabilities during our hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at [email protected]. This email is for disability-related accommodation requests only.