Product Innovation Manager

JOB PURPOSE

The Product Innovation Manager is responsible for hypothesizing, researching, sizing, testing and analyzing data & customer behavior to identify short and long-term opportunities for the MSC Cruises brand. This role will use analysis to guide strategy by understanding gaps, performance and insights to create a portfolio of concepts that directly respond to consumer insights. These concepts will lead the strategy for experience innovation and shape the offering for the future of vacation experiences while driving incremental satisfaction & profitability for the brand. Reporting to the Senior Manager of Product Innovation, this role will significantly influence decision making related to resource allocation, product strategy, ship design, and customer experience.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Develop guest-centric product strategies that are grounded in consumer insights.
• Develop concepts that enhance the guest experience and create meaningful differentiation.
• Support the experience innovation process (strategy, research, design, build, operate, audit) for new ships while working closely with Newbuild, Marketing, and Operations on ship / venue concepts and the accurate execution of concepts to ensure innovation and authenticity are maximized.
• Support the vision for future Newbuilds by using Consumer Insights to bring forward the voice of the customer and drive product innovation by developing concepts that directly respond to consumer desires / needs.
• Influence the Consumer Insights research agenda and stay abreast of research insights and industry trends to make an impact. Research agenda includes :
• Consumer trends in travel, retail, food & beverage, etc.
• Competitive analyses on category and cross-category competitors.
• Tailored guest research spanning the global markets.
• Analyze diverse data sources to make data driven recommendations for strategies and concepts.
• Provide leadership over the strategic direction for guest experience in the Newbuild strategy.
• Foster a highly collaborative cross functional team, where cross-discipline dynamic communication is critical for success. Work closely with Newbuild on design, partner with Operations to ensure feasibility / seamless execution, Marketing to anchor on the guest needs and GTM strategies that are aligned to the product strategy, and finally collaborate with Revenue & OBR to ensure revenue upside on all experience enhancing products is forecasted and achievable.
• Create presentations showcasing the business environment, current product positioning, competitive landscape, insights and data findings to share recommendations with senior management.
• Provide ad-hoc analyses to guide decision-making on design of future products.

QUALIFICATIONS (skills, competencies, experience)

VISA REQUIREMENTS (if any)

EU Passport or Right to work in Switzerland.