Sr. Director, Product Development & Consumer Insights

Role Summary

The Sr. Director of Consumer Insights & Product Development is the senior leader responsible for shaping Silversea’s future guest experience through insight‑led strategy, innovation, and disciplined product development. This role integrates deep consumer understanding, luxury experience innovation, and end‑to‑end product leadership to create distinctive, intuitive, and emotionally resonant journeys across ships, destinations, and services.

As the executive steward of Silversea’s guest experience vision, the Sr. Director translates brand ambition and consumer insight into scalable product strategies, breakthrough concepts, and flawless execution—balancing creativity, operational feasibility, and long‑term value creation in the ultra‑luxury space.

Key Responsibilities

Consumer Insights & Strategic Foresight

• Own the global consumer insights and foresight agenda, building a deep, continuous understanding of Silversea guests across the full journey—before, during, and after travel.
• Lead advanced qualitative and quantitative research, segmentation, personas, satisfaction tracking, and trend analysis to inform brand, product, and innovation strategy.
• Elevate insights beyond reporting—transforming data into clear strategic choices, white‑space opportunities, and executive‑level recommendations that shape portfolio direction.

Product Strategy, Innovation & Experience Vision

• Define and evolve the long‑term guest experience and product innovation strategy, ensuring alignment with Silversea’s luxury positioning and business objectives.
• Identify and prioritize strategic opportunity areas across onboard, destination, expedition, and holistic journey experiences.
• Champion innovation frameworks that support exploratory concepting, rapid validation, and disciplined progression from vision to execution.
• Ensure all concepts are grounded in consumer insight, differentiated in the luxury marketplace, and designed to deliver emotional impact and lasting brand equity.

Product Development & Portfolio Leadership

• Provide executive oversight of the end‑to‑end product development lifecycle—from early concept and business case through delivery, launch, and lifecycle optimization.
• Set standards for experience definition, guest journey design, documentation, and playbooks that ensure clarity, consistency, and scalability across the fleet and destinations.
• Ensure products are operationally, technically, and financially viable without compromising the intended guest experience.

Cross‑Functional Governance & Execution Excellence

• Lead and align cross‑functional teams spanning Product Strategy, Brand, Marketing, Operations, Newbuild, Deployment, Revenue Management, Digital, and Analytics.
• Establish and oversee governance, decision forums, and approval processes that balance speed, rigor, and creative ambition.
• Partner closely with Operations and Design to ensure the experience vision is realized consistently—from run‑of‑show to onboard delivery and post‑launch performance.

Measurement, Optimization & Experience Stewardship

• Define success metrics and KPIs for products and experiences; oversee post‑delivery audits, performance monitoring, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure experience standards, design principles, and brand signatures are protected and evolve thoughtfully over time.
• Act as the senior internal advocate for the guest—ensuring insight remains central to decisions across the organization.

People & Organizational Leadership

• Build, lead, and inspire high‑performing teams across consumer insights, analytics, innovation, and product development.
• Develop talent and future leaders capable of blending strategic thinking with executional excellence in a luxury environment.
• Manage research, innovation, and development investments with a strong focus on return, impact, and long‑term value creation.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 12 years of progressive experience across consumer insights, product strategy, experience design, and/or product development—preferably within luxury hospitality, travel, or premium consumer brands.
• Demonstrated success leading large, cross‑functional teams and complex, multi‑year initiatives.
• Proven ability to translate brand ambition and consumer insight into differentiated, executable product strategies.
• Strong strategic, analytical, and creative problem‑solving capabilities, paired with executive‑level storytelling and presentation skills.
• Experience operating at the intersection of innovation, operations, and financial discipline.