POSITION: AVP, Project Management Office (PMO)
LOCATION: Miami, FL
REPORTS TO: Chief Product Innovation Officer
ABOUT US
Royal Caribbean International is known for driving innovation at sea and has continuously redefined cruise vacationing since its launch in 1969. Each successive class of ships is an architectural marvel and pushes the envelope of what is possible on a cruise ship. Onboard, the global cruise line has debuted countless industry “firsts” – such as rock climbing, ice skating and surfing at sea – to capture the imagination of families and adventurous vacationers alike. Throughout, guests sail on exciting itineraries to some of the world’s most popular destinations and enjoy Royal Caribbean’s friendly and engaging service.
POSITION OVERVIEW
Based in Miami, FL the Associate Vice President, Project Management Office (PMO), reporting to the Senior Vice President / Chief Product Innovation Officer, will be accountable to advance and maintain the program management delivery and governance framework for programs and projects including approach, organization, methodology and best practices for Product Development (ships) & primarily Private Destinations Development (islands / land). In addition, this role will be responsible for overall portfolio management (financial and status reporting) for the Private Destination development portfolio in excess of $1B. This includes execution on all program management capabilities with the ability to teach and train others on the critical aspects of the program management office.
This PMO leader needs to provide vision, leadership, and innovation to the project teams responsible for the delivery of complex, and cross-organizational initiatives in support of the strategic objectives. This requires an ability to direct and develop teams that deliver timely and accurate results, robust insights, clear processes, effective communications, and strong project management oversight. This role must also foster an environment of governance and accountability across all facets of projects and programs to deliver consistently against the agreed project objectives and provide thought leadership in areas of project management and business transformation.
The leader must empower his/her team to maximize operational efficiencies and give excellence in the project and program execution that is clearly measurable and delivers tangible results. This will ultimately result in projects delivered on time, on budget, and on value, thus meeting the customer expectations. The role ultimately manages communication flow to and from relevant stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcome and requires the development of strong working relationships with leaders throughout the organization, including the delivery teams consisting of land, product, design, pre-construction, construction, operations, etc.
As a key member of the private destinations development leadership team, this person will be involved in defining and managing the private destinations roadmap by continuously evaluating the delivery methodology, developing the project management capabilities across the organization, and shaping the processes that manage the full project lifecycle from land development to operations handover. This role will lead multiple high-performing teams that collaboratively work across various cross-functional teams and business unit executives (VPs+) to drive the project management functionality throughout our portfolio. The role will provide direct leadership over highly skilled professionals, including various directors, senior managers, and managers.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Serve as the strategic leader for both the direction & execution of PMO functionality within the Product Development org, and maintain oversight of all current and future projects, personnel management, executive partnership collaboration, as well as operationalize the strategic roadmap across critical areas for support and resource allocation.
- Lead and optimize the global team of project management executives to manage the project lifecycle of all projects from initiation (finding land) to delivery (handover to operations), providing big-picture assistance to the organization and manage all aspects of related projects to ensure the successful delivery of the portfolio to expectation of excellence.
- Responsible for the establishment and governance, standards, methodology, and project management capabilities across all programs/projects to ensure best practices and lessons learned are consistently shared across the diverse portfolio.
- Responsible for portfolio oversight ($1B) by promoting collaboration between the departments and key Partners.
- Provides recommendations to strengthen and standardize agreements across all key stakeholders based on lessons learned and the evolving portfolio (Ships & Islands).
- Oversee the project portfolio and ensure that effective governance is applied across the portfolio through the introduction of appropriate methodologies.
- Clarify and standardize leadership accountability in respective team deliverables, holding each area accountable for delivering against timelines in concert with entire portfolio execution management.
- Provide financial governance for projects including oversight, invoice reconciliations, ongoing budgeting, and forecasting.
- Liaise with the procurement leaders to ensure consistency and leverage best practices ensuring project teams are accurately estimating and forecasting, in close partnership with program controllers, and managing against target.
- Develop processes, ensuring standards exist across disparate project / site teams, to monitor, track, and control outcomes to resolve issues, conflicts, dependencies, and critical path KPIs including key escalations from project teams and partners, in collaboration with other project leaders and delivery leaders. In apply this rigor to the portfolio on behalf of the various executives.
- Shape, in partnership with the leadership, the development of the overall roadmap — both at a project/program level, as well as the portfolio overall.
- Help forecast future resource capacity and utilization needs, reporting on existing resource utilization across projects within the portfolio.
- Engage effectively the leadership team to develop collaborative, solution-oriented relationships that help drive the objective to deliver projects on time, on budget and on value (scope).
- In collaboration with the various PMO executives, manage portfolio-level risks, including project team performance, and provide timely reporting to senior leadership as necessary.
- Attend steering committee and PMO meetings, representing the PMO and project management interests of the portfolio.
- Develop and execute a communication strategy for all the different project stakeholders, including ensuring teams are tracking, actioning and reporting on actions / issues / risks.
- Ensure project teams and executives are reporting on status, progress, metrics, risks, etc., providing feedback, advice, coaching and encouragement to all project managers and team members.
- Provide ad-hoc analyses to guide decision-making.
- Performs other 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 any other job-related duties assigned by their supervisor or management.
QUALIFICATIONS
- BS/BA degree in a project management related field or other relevant discipline related to the requirements of this position. MBA and professional certifications highly preferred.
- 20+ years experience in project / program management in related fields with relevant experience and a minimum of 7+ years leading, hiring and managing high caliber professionals across an extensive, multi-layered portfolio.
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
- Expert in analysis, forecasting, problem solving and quality improvement in the execution of strategies. Ensures total costs are identified and optimized throughout the entire procurement process.
- Strong communication, and ability to present confidently to senior executive leadership (EC) and cross-functionals.
- Proven experience with building relationships, ability to influence others to change, and is capable of galvanizing others around a compelling vision and purpose.
- Extensive experience in managing high-risk projects, programs, and people with high visibility across multiple projects.
- Expert, in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Lotus Notes Strong written and oral communication skills and be able to work effectively with all senior levels of operational personnel (shipboard and shore side).
- Complete discretion in the management and dissemination of confidential information.
- Strong understanding of project / portfolio management methodologies and techniques.
- Self-motivated and able to work effectively in a fast-paced culture.
- Strong analytical, creative, and critical thinking skills with proven experience with strategic planning and willingness to take ownership of outcomes.
- Strong understanding of digital, marketing, and finance principles to lead management on strategic initiatives.
- Strong financial modeling experience, including evaluating data and determining optimal ways to spend to accomplish company goals.
- Solid understanding of accounting rules for expense and capital activities, along with excellent financial acumen that leads to bottom-line results.
- Ability to lead multiple teams effectively across multiple disciplines and levels of experience.
- Experience with land/construction development preferred, but not required.
- Experience with travel/hospitality preferred, but not required.
