The opportunity
About the role
Where passion meets opportunity
The best of your adventures is the one you have yet to sail!
Your Purpose
Are you passionate about shaping extraordinary private destinations where design, nature, and hospitality come together to create unforgettable guest experiences? Do you bring hands-on expertise in entertainment, resorts, or island experiences and the analytical mindset to transform complex operational challenges into seamless, high-impact holiday moments?
Your Impact
MSC Cruises is seeking a Senior Director, Guest Experience & Product Innovation to shape the development of its private destinations, bringing together guest experience, product strategy and masterplanning.
You will co-lead the masterplanning process and lead the definition of the destination product: which experiences, activities and dining concepts to offer, how much capacity and space they require, and where they should be located. Your decisions will be grounded in guest needs, competitive analysis, commercial potential and operational feasibility.
Working closely with architects, development teams and operations, you will translate concepts into clear requirements that guide design and investment decisions. This includes assessing spatial allocations, costs, risks and operational implications, and refining the details that make each experience work in practice.
The initial focus will be private destinations in the Bahamas, with further destination projects across the Caribbean area.
Your Journey so far
- Co-lead destination masterplanning. Define the guest experience requirements that inform zoning, spatial allocation, venue positioning, circulation and the relationship between key destination areas. Work with architects and development teams to translate these requirements into a coherent masterplan.
- Own product definition and innovation. Establish the right mix of attractions, activities, experiences, dining and supporting amenities for each destination. Build a clear rationale for what should be included, whom it serves and how it contributes to the overall guest experience and commercial proposition.
- Determine capacity and space requirements. Translate expected guest volumes, arrival patterns, dwell times and peak demand into requirements for venue capacities, restaurant seating, activity throughput and square-metre allocations. Identify potential bottlenecks and balance guest comfort with efficient use of space. Define the number, type, positioning and capacity of restaurants and bars, including cuisine, service formats and included versus paid experiences. Ensure concepts reflect guest preferences, anticipated demand, service requirements and operating constraints.
- Evaluate feasibility, costs and trade-offs. Work with architects, technical teams, development and finance to assess design options, investment requirements, operating implications and delivery risks. Recommend adjustments that preserve the guest proposition while improving feasibility and value.
- Maintain the product vision through development. Review evolving designs against the agreed guest experience, capacity and operational requirements. Identify gaps, resolve competing priorities and assess the impact of proposed changes.
Your Essentials
- Demonstrated experience shaping large-scale resorts, entertainment parks or comparable integrated leisure destinations, with direct involvement in masterplanning and product definition.
- A track record of translating guest and business objectives into concrete development requirements, including experience mix, venue capacities, space allocations, adjacency requirements and guest flows.
- Experience working directly with architects, masterplanners and development teams to evaluate design proposals, challenge assumptions and understand cost, technical and delivery implications.
- Strong understanding of hospitality and destination operations, including F&B concepts, service models, capacity planning and the infrastructure required to support the guest experience.
- Ability to explain the commercial and operational rationale behind product decisions: why a particular restaurant, attraction or activity is needed, what demand it serves and how its scale and location have been determined.
- Strong analytical skills, with experience using competitive benchmarking, guest insights, demand assumptions and financial inputs to assess options and guide decisions.
- Proven ability to lead complex projects through influence, aligning senior stakeholders and balancing creative ambition with commercial, technical and operational constraints.
- Experience leading people and coordinating multidisciplinary teams.
- Fluent English, with strong presentation and communication skills.
- Experience in cruise destinations or developments in the Caribbean and Mexico would be an advantage. Relevant experience from large resorts, theme parks and other complex leisure developments is equally valuable.
- Ability to travel 20–30% of the time.
- Fluent English; additional languages a plus
- EU Passport or right to work in Switzerland.
Our commitment
We are committed to building a future that values diverse perspectives, embraces the world beyond borders, and fosters an inclusive environment where every individual feels valued, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves. Our commitment extends to taking meaningful, measurable actions that have a long-term positive impact on our guests, our employees and our planet.
Ready to turn your passion into something extraordinary? Join us at MSC Cruises, where new opportunities await. Apply today to be part of a global team that is pushing boundaries and achieving something remarkable. Your journey starts here!
