Groups Planning & Delivery Lead

The Gig

Virgin Voyages is seeking a Hospitality First Experience Curator and Strategic Planner to serve as Groups Experience Planning & Delivery Lead. This role involves designing and delivering exceptional group voyages across the Virgin Voyages fleet, from charters and incentive programs to weddings and milestone celebrations.

What You'll Be Up To

• Act as an experience curator for assigned group accounts, building bespoke voyage programs that align with the group's identity and purpose.
• Lead group experience planning calls using a structured discovery approach to uncover preferences, budget appetite, and experience goals, then translate these into a curated programming proposal.
• Proactively consult on and upsell group experience add-ons at every planning touchpoint, including beverage packages, spa buy-outs, private event spaces, specialty dining, shore excursions, and cabin gifts, driving incremental onboard revenue as a named performance metric.
• Execute group planning and logistics from proposal hand-off through post-voyage wrap-up, ensuring contract compliance, customer satisfaction, and alignment with internal processes, including end-to-end support on booking changes, dining reservations, experience modifications, and sailor-facing updates as needed.
• Meet defined SLAs and planning milestones across the group lifecycle, from initial contact response through final documentation delivery, maintaining accountability to timelines that protect both the sailor experience and internal operational readiness.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for group clients and regularly communicate with First Mates and group leaders to gather event requirements and provide updates on planning progress.
• Build relationships and work closely with shipboard and shoreside teams, including Hotel Operations, Sailor Services, Entertainment, F&B, Tech, and Experience teams, to ensure group needs are clearly communicated and delivered consistently.
• Leverage AI-assisted tools and CRM data to generate personalized group briefings, surface upsell opportunities based on group profile and itinerary, and prepare for planning conversations with data-backed recommendations.
• Synthesize post-voyage survey data and group feedback into actionable insight summaries that inform programming improvements, loyalty strategy, and repeat booking opportunities.
• Continuously evaluate planning and servicing workflows for inefficiencies, proposing and implementing process improvements that reduce friction, improve SLA performance, and elevate the overall group experience.
• Represent the department in planning meetings, providing updates, flagging operational risks, and aligning cross-functional efforts.
• Assist with marketing and engagement initiatives that support group acquisition, loyalty, and repeat business.
• Other assignments as required.

Superpowers Required

• 3+ years in group travel, incentive programs, event operations, or hospitality — preferably in cruise, luxury hotels, destination management, or high-touch event production.
• Demonstrated hospitality mindset — you think in moments, find genuine energy in making people feel celebrated, and bring creativity to every client interaction.
• Track record of consultative add-on selling or incremental revenue attachment in a hospitality context.
• Strong knowledge of MICE industry and group travel logistics.
• Exceptional organizational abilities and attention to detail, with a proven commitment to meeting SLAs and planning deadlines in a high-volume environment.
• Proven ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder programs from planning through execution, including hands-on support across booking, dining, and experience logistics.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and client management skills with a deep commitment to service excellence.
• Proficiency in Salesforce, Airtable, Seaware, and Google Workspace.
• Comfort with AI productivity tools for client briefing, insight synthesis, and workflow efficiency — a plus.
• Natural inclination toward process improvement — you spot inefficiencies, propose solutions, and follow through on implementation.
• Ability and willingness to travel globally as required.

Matters to Us

At Virgin, your personality matters as much as how good you are at what you do. We want you to bring your unique self to our hangout spot and help make the place even better. We seek to embrace and celebrate our differences, providing an inclusive workplace environment that allows you to be your best self. Virgin Voyages is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Virgin Voyages via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written Statement of Work in place for this position from Virgin Voyages HR/Recruitment will be deemed the sole property of Virgin Voyages. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Virgin Voyages as a result of the referral or through other means.