Director, Sales

Journey with us!

Set sail on a new career and join our dynamic Sales Leadership team. Celebrity Cruises, part of Royal Caribbean Group, is pleased to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, and excellent career development opportunities, each offering unique ways to explore the world.

Position Summary:

The primary purpose of the role is to ensure that guest, revenue, and average per diem (APD) targets are exceeded across all channels for trade and direct.

Role Overview: 

• Responsible for the management and motivation of 30+ strong sales people with 4 direct reports and the annual sales targets for guests, revenue and overall budgets
• Owning the distribution strategy and AOP for trade, driving execution and developing strategic plans that deliver commercial objectives
• Responsible for delivering maximum return on investment across all sales channels and driving cost efficiencies throughout the sales organisation
• Input into the overall development of the total company Annual Operating Plan with proactive input into deployment and identifying ship requirements to match growth opportunities
• Responsible for new business channels to drive profitable growth (Business Development channels, Commercial Partnerships, Charters & Incentives)
• Ownership for the overall trade communications, training & engagement strategies to drive the Celebrity Cruises brand forward, ensuring seamless execution throughout all trade channels
• Management of Trade Marketing, Trade Support, Training, and working closely with PR
• Ownership for the end-to-end implementation of key event activities for Celebrity Cruises. With key focus on ship visits, ship immersion programmes, award ceremonies, internal conferences, new ship launches, along with other ad hoc events
• Ownership for the strategic planning, project management, creative development, budget management and evaluation of events
• Works collaboratively across brands and functions to drive shared commercial objectives, maximise market opportunities, and strengthen strategic trade partner engagement
• A key member of the Leadership Team, working alongside their peers and contributing to the future company strategies

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Distribution Strategy:

• Develop and implement a sales distribution strategy to ensure profitable growth with our trade partners whilst enabling our direct channel to profitably grow.
• Ensure we have robust annual sales, training and marketing plans and training plans for key partners
• Utilising and understanding partner and consumer insight and translating trend dynamics and identifying opportunities
• Lead commercial negotiations to enable long term growth whilst being conscious of the competitive environment

Financial Responsibilities:

• Owns the commission budget strategy, partnering with the Director of Commercial FP&A to ensure commercial negotiations deliver sustainable, profitable growth while maintaining competitiveness in the market
• Owns trade sales budgets, including co-op marketing investment, with responsibility for accurate forecasting, performance optimisation, and timely course correction to maximise commercial return and delivery against plan
• Responsible for the Co-op strategy to ensure that we are targeting the right strategic products to the right distribution channels and partners and ensure that our co-op funds are invested in areas that give us the greatest return on investment
• Responsible for ensuring accurate monthly/quarterly/annual forecasting of marketing funds
• Ensure Business Partner agreements/CTAs are signed, compliant for audit and in place in a timely fashion

Trade Partnerships:

• Be an ambassador and face of Celebrity Cruises to the industry
• Develop relationships with key decision makers and influencers within the travel industry
• Ensure Celebrity Cruises has maximum exposure in travel trade newspapers and at key events/conferences
• Ensure the trade partners have the right tools to sell more efficiently and effectively
• Owning trade partner communications, ensuring the effective and timely delivery of all campaigns, programmes, and strategic initiatives across the trade channel
• Support the team in exploring new channel prospects ensuring they will deliver growth profitability
• Work closely with all functions within the organisation to ensure the right balance of support to the trade is given so Celebrity Cruises is the premium cruise line of choice
• Work with the Training team to ensure we continue to develop our training programme and continue to provide the trade with the best face-to-face and online training
• Responsible for competitive intelligence gathering, providing regular updates to the organisation alongside appropriate recommendations

People & Teamwork:

• Provide strong leadership, coaching and development to build a high-performing and engaged sales organisation.
• Lead talent development and succession planning, ensuring a robust pipeline of future leaders
• Ensure the right organisational structure, capabilities and resources are in place to deliver business objectives and respond to evolving market needs
• Set clear objectives and accountability measures to drive performance and exceed commercial targets
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive and high-performance culture, encouraging innovation, teamwork and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate and influence across the global Celebrity Cruises organisation to align priorities and deliver shared business objectives.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships to maximise organisational effectiveness and commercial performance.
• Equip teams with the tools, processes and capabilities required to operate efficiently and effectively

Knowledge and Skills:

• Proven success leading and developing teams within the leisure, travel or hospitality industry
• Proven ability to lead, motivate and develop high-performing teams, driving accountability and delivering business results through others
• Strong commercial mindset with a track record of delivering results, proactively identifying opportunities and mitigating commercial risks
• Establishes and maintains highly effective relationships with key trade partners and stakeholders, influencing at all levels to deliver commercial objectives and long-term business success
• Applies sound judgement and data-driven insights to evaluate opportunities, solve problems and inform decision-making
• Expert negotiator with the ability to secure mutually beneficial outcomes and drive complex commercial agreements
• Highly effective at prioritising, planning and managing multiple strategic initiatives in a fast-paced environment

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.

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, colour, 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.

Thank you again for your interest in Royal Caribbean Group. We'll hope to see you onboard soon!

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