Principal, Intake & Integration

About the role

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is an exquisite extension of the renowned Ritz-Carlton brand, dedicated to redefining ultra-luxury hospitality at sea. As a "Lady or Gentleman" of our esteemed team, you'll deliver the impeccable "Gold Standards" that define Ritz-Carlton excellence globally.

The Gold Standards are the bedrock of the Ritz-Carlton experience, embodying the values and culture that set us apart in the industry. Our Ladies & Gentlemen are our most important resource, empowered through trust, honesty, respect, integrity, and commitment to enhance quality of life, fulfill individual aspirations, and strengthen The Ritz-Carlton Mystique.

Responsibilities

• Cultivate Ideas & Opportunities
  • Create and manage mechanisms that encourage ideas and opportunities to surface from across the organization.
  • Facilitate brainstorming sessions, innovation workshops, and cross-functional ideation forums.
  • Help teams identify problems, frame opportunities, and shape concepts.
  • Maintain a pipeline of guest experience improvement and innovation opportunities.
  • Encourage broad organizational participation while maintaining strategic focus.
• Shape & Prioritize Opportunities
  • Evaluate opportunities in partnership with stakeholders across the business.
  • Facilitate prioritization discussions and investment decisions.
  • Refine concepts into clearly defined initiatives with measurable outcomes.
  • Support development of business cases and opportunity assessments.
  • Ensure resources remain focused on the highest-impact opportunities.
• Drive Cross-Functional Alignment
  • Facilitate collaboration across Customer Experience, Operations, Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Marriott, and Executive Leadership.
  • Coordinate stakeholder engagement and decision-making forums.
  • Identify dependencies, risks, and alignment opportunities.
  • Ensure initiatives remain connected to broader business priorities and experience goals.
  • Serve as the connective tissue between functions involved in experience development.
• Support Roadmap Development & Portfolio Visibility
  • Maintain visibility into initiatives, priorities, and portfolio health.
  • Support development of experience roadmaps and prioritization recommendations.
  • Track progress and key milestones across major initiatives.
  • Ensure leaders have visibility into opportunities, tradeoffs, and resource implications.
  • Help connect individual initiatives into a coherent portfolio strategy.
• Lead Readiness & Integration Activities
  • Facilitate readiness reviews and implementation planning activities.
  • Coordinate milestone checkpoints and seasonal planning sessions.
  • Support launch preparation and organizational readiness efforts.
  • Ensure experience intent remains connected through implementation.
  • Help teams navigate obstacles that may impact successful delivery.

Success Looks Like

• Valuable ideas consistently surface from across the organization.
• Teams have clarity around priorities and decision-making.
• Resources are focused on the highest-impact opportunities.
• Initiatives progress efficiently from concept through implementation.
• Cross-functional alignment improves and organizational duplication decreases.
• New experiences launch with greater readiness, consistency, and impact.
• The organization becomes more disciplined without becoming more bureaucratic.
• Stakeholders view Customer Experience as a catalyst rather than a gatekeeper.

Requirements

• 8–15+ years of experience in innovation, portfolio management, strategic planning, product development, transformation, consulting, customer experience, or related disciplines.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives in complex organizations.
• Experience facilitating workshops, planning sessions, and executive discussions.
• Experience shaping ideas into actionable initiatives and business recommendations.
• Experience working in highly collaborative and matrixed environments.

Skills

• Exceptional facilitation capability.
• Strong strategic thinking and prioritization skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex information into actionable recommendations.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Systems-thinking mindset.
• Strong organizational leadership capability.
• Ability to balance creativity with discipline.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity.
• Strong influence skills without formal authority.

Qualifications

Ideal backgrounds include:

• Innovation and transformation teams
• Product strategy and portfolio management
• Customer experience strategy
• Hospitality or travel product development
• Service design and innovation organizations
• Management consulting
• Strategic planning functions
• Experience-focused transformation programs