Senior Manager, Business Operations

Job Description

Holland America Line has been exploring the world since 1873. Our ships offer innovative features and enriching experiences focused on destination exploration and personalized travel, inviting guests to savor the journey.

The Sr. Manager, Business Operations is accountable for leading the business product strategy, roadmap, governance, and operational execution model for POLAR and AI Innovation, while also leading the PMO and business operations capabilities required to deliver Commercial Product Strategy & Operations priorities. POLAR is the multi-brand booking engine responsible for $9B annual revenue. This role owns the multi-year POLAR roadmap and strategy, translates business priorities into product capabilities and delivery plans, and establishes the operating mechanisms that ensure work is prioritized, funded, implemented, adopted, measured, and sustained across brands and functions. The Sr. Manager is the direct liaison between the commercial leaders and technical leaders representing POLAR commercial strategy. This person leads direct reports and cross-functional teams across product management, program/project management, business readiness, change management, and operational implementation for both Polar and AI Innovation. The role partners closely with IT, PMO, Revenue Management, Marketing, Sales, Contact Center, Shipboard, Finance, and executive stakeholders to connect product strategy to business outcomes, resolve complex and ambiguous problems, mature ways of working, and ensure POLAR investments deliver measurable commercial and operational value over the medium to long term.

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Responsibilities :

Product Management

• Serve as the primary business-side product manager for POLAR, representing commercial users, brand stakeholders, and business priorities in product conversations.
• Build deep understanding of POLAR use cases across booking inventory, pricing, promotions, payments, servicing, user workflows, reporting, and related commercial processes.
• Engage regularly with business users and brand representatives to capture pain points, desired capabilities, operational constraints, and future-state needs.
• Translate business strategies, user needs, and process challenges into clear problem statements, product opportunities, business requirements, acceptance criteria, and success measures.
• Develop and maintain business context, use cases, and feature narratives that help IT and delivery teams understand the commercial value behind roadmap items.

Project Management & PMO

• Lead complex, cross-functional programs and initiatives that require coordination across business teams, IT, vendors, PMO, operations, finance, and brand stakeholders.
• Define project objectives, scope, milestones, dependencies, risks, decision points, resource needs, and success measures for POLAR and related Commercial Product Strategy & Operations work.
• Manage the translation of roadmap priorities into executable delivery plans, ensuring requirements, testing, communications, business readiness, launch planning, and operational handoffs are integrated into the overall plan.
• Provide senior-level program oversight, removing barriers, resolving escalations, and ensuring teams are aligned on priorities, timelines, tradeoffs, and accountabilities.
• Build and mature PMO tools, templates, standards, reporting, portfolio dashboards, and delivery disciplines that enable more consistent execution across the function and across subordinate managers and professionals.

Governance & Portfolio Management

• Establish, own, and continuously improve governance for POLAR, AI Innovation, and Commercial Product Strategy & Operations portfolio planning, intake, prioritization, decision-making, and value realization.
• Partner with the PMO to evaluate, sequence, and prioritize work based on business value, strategic alignment, dependencies, capacity, risk, funding, and operational readiness.
• Lead portfolio forums, operating rhythms, executive readouts, and cross-functional decision processes that provide transparency to tradeoffs, risks, milestones, and outcomes.
• Develop business cases, KPI frameworks, benefits realization plans, and post-implementation measurement approaches that connect POLAR and related initiatives to revenue, cost, productivity, guest, trade, and team member outcomes.
• Establish standards, policies, procedures, escalation paths, and portfolio controls that improve consistency, accountability, and quality of decision-making across multiple workstreams and stakeholder groups.

Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop direct reports responsible for product operations, project/program management, business analysis, implementation, and operational readiness activities.
• Set objectives, priorities, work plans, performance expectations, and development plans for the team; delegate work through subordinate professionals while maintaining accountability for outcomes.
• Build functional capability in product management, portfolio governance, PMO discipline, change management, implementation, KPI measurement, and business operations.
• Influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners through clear recommendations, business cases, executive-level storytelling, data-driven insights, and balanced assessment of tradeoffs.
• Model collaborative leadership across ambiguous, high-impact initiatives; develop talent, improve ways of working, and establish scalable practices that support long-term Commercial Product Strategy & Operations growth.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Scope: Establishes operational objectives, product strategies, policies, procedures, work plans, and governance routines for POLAR Product and Business Operations. Manages activities across multiple disciplines, including product management, PMO, project delivery, change management, implementation, business readiness, KPI/value realization, and operational sustainment. Frequently manages through subordinate professionals and cross-functional leaders, with accountability for actions that have broad and far-reaching impact on Commercial Product Strategy & Operations and the broader business segment.
• Problem solving: Works on issues where analysis of situations or data requires conceptual thinking, interpretation of business trends, understanding of technology dependencies, and evaluation of multiple variables across brands, functions, users, and operational processes. Problems are often ambiguous and not clearly defined. Implements and influences strategic direction, balances competing priorities, anticipates downstream impacts, and develops processes, tools, and operating models that contribute to the success of larger objectives and programs.
• Impact: Makes decisions and recommendations that directly impact medium- to long-term business results, roadmap quality, portfolio prioritization, implementation effectiveness, operational adoption, and value realization. Erroneous decisions or failure to achieve results may result in critical delays, missed commercial opportunities, budget or resource inefficiencies, poor adoption, process disruption, or adverse effects on key business activities.
• Leadership: Provides direct leadership, coaching, feedback, work direction, and development to a team of product, PMO, project, business operations, and implementation professionals. Sets priorities, delegates work, develops team capabilities, manages performance, and builds scalable practices and standards. Demonstrates strong executive presence, strategic thinking, change leadership, product management discipline, portfolio governance, and ability to operate effectively in a matrixed environment.

Essential/Minimum qualifications :

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Product Management, Technology Management, Operations, Project/Program Management, Finance, Marketing, or related field required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of product management, portfolio governance, PMO practices, business operations, process design, change management, and implementation planning.
• Experience leading direct reports and building functional capability, team standards, operating rhythms, and performance expectations.
• Strong business acumen with ability to connect product strategy, roadmap decisions, operational execution, and KPI/value realization to commercial outcomes.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders, lead through ambiguity, manage competing priorities, and communicate complex concepts through executive-ready narratives, business cases, and recommendations.

Essential Experience Required:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in program management, product management, portfolio management, business operations, product operations, strategy execution, technology-enabled transformation, commercial systems delivery, or a related field.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs or portfolios across business and technology stakeholders in a matrixed, multi-brand, or enterprise environment.
• Experience establishing or maturing PMO processes, governance models, prioritization frameworks, roadmap routines, executive reporting, RAID management, benefits tracking, and scalable ways of working.
• Demonstrated experience preparing senior leadership materials, facilitating governance and decision forums, framing trade-offs, escalating risks, and driving accountability across multiple stakeholder groups.
• Experience managing, coaching, mentoring, or providing work direction to project managers, program managers, analysts, or cross-functional project resources.
• Experience with commercial, digital, booking, reservation, revenue, guest commerce, customer-facing systems, product delivery, AI, automation, analytics, or business transformation initiatives preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to operate at both strategic and execution levels, including defining operating models and driving disciplined delivery against high-priority business outcomes.

Travel: No or very little travel likely

Work Conditions: Work primarily in a climate-controlled environment with minimal safety/health hazard potential.

Physical Demands Must be able to remain in a stationary position at a desk and/or computer