Project Manager

Project Manager

Hornblower Group is a global leader in experience and transportation. Spanning a 100-year history, Hornblower Group's portfolio of international offerings includes water- and land-based experiences and ferry and transportation services. City Experiences, Hornblower Group's premier experience division, offers dining and sightseeing cruises and walking and food tours through the City Cruises, Walks, and Devour brands. City Ferry, part of Hornblower Group's Ferry and Transportation Division, is the largest private operator of high-speed passenger and vehicle ferries in the United States, carrying more than 10 million passengers annually and operating services including NYC Ferry, Puerto Rico Ferry, and other regional ferry systems. Hornblower Group's subsidiaries include Hornblower Marine, which provides vessel outhaul and maintenance services at Bridgeport Boatworks in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Seaward Services, Inc., a full-service shipping, waterfront logistics and management company that specializes in the operation and maintenance of government and commercial vessels. Additionally, Anchor Operating System, LLC, a Hornblower Group subsidiary and independent entity, provides reservation, ticketing and website integration services for clients in the transportation, tourism and entertainment industries. Today, Hornblower Group's global portfolio covers over 10 countries, over 50 U.S. cities and serves more than 20 million guests annually. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Hornblower Group's additional corporate offices reside in San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; London, United Kingdom; New York, New York; Dublin, Ireland; and across Ontario, Canada.

Position Summary:

The Project Manager will lead and coordinate critical projects across our company. In this enterprise-wide, hands-on execution role, you will manage a portfolio of strategic and value-creation initiatives – from revenue growth to operational efficiency. The role will drive structured project planning and rigorous execution to turn strategic goals into tangible results on time and on budget. The Project Manager will establish a disciplined project cadence, maintain the integrity of project plans, and provide clear, executive-level updates so that leadership always knows project status, key risks, and required decisions. Success in this role means delivering measurable results at a rapid pace, coordinating teams and stakeholders with precision, and instilling a culture of accountability and on-time delivery in a fast-paced, PE-style environment.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead End-to-End Project Management: Plan, coordinate, and manage the execution of multiple concurrent projects across various departments and business units. Define project scope, goals, milestones, deliverables, budget and success metrics for each initiative alongside business owner, ensuring alignment with the company's strategic objectives and value creation plan.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Serve as the central point of contact for project teams spanning different functions (e.g. Operations, Finance, IT, Commercial, etc.). Facilitate collaboration among business unit leaders, subject-matter experts, and external partners or vendors to ensure all parties are aligned and informed.
• Risk & Issue Management: Proactively identify and manage project risks, issues, and dependencies. Monitor project progress closely, anticipate potential obstacles, and develop mitigation plans. Escalate critical issues or decision needs early and clearly to leadership to prevent delays and remove roadblocks to success.
• Performance Tracking & Reporting: Establish and maintain robust tracking tools (e.g. project dashboards, KPI trackers) to monitor project performance, timelines, and results. Provide regular, high-quality status updates and executive-ready reports to senior management and stakeholders, ensuring full transparency into progress, key accomplishments, risks, and budget performance.
• Stakeholder Communication: Communicate plans and progress effectively across all levels of the organization. Lead frequent project review meetings and steering committees with senior executives and department leaders to report on status, align on decisions, and secure necessary support. Ensure timely decision-making by clearly articulating project needs, trade-offs, and recommendations.
• Accountability & Governance: Drive a culture of rigor and accountability in project execution. Set up and enforce project governance standards – including clear roles/responsibilities, project charters, change control processes, and regular check-ins – to keep teams focused and responsible for deliverables. Hold teams to ambitious deadlines and high-quality standards, while providing guidance and support to help them succeed.
• Value-Focused Initiative Management: Ensure each project directly contributes to the company's value creation and growth targets. Prioritize high-impact initiatives and allocate resources to projects that drive revenue growth, margin improvement, operational efficiency, or other key value drivers. Validate that business cases, ROI metrics, and success criteria are established for all major projects, and that outcomes are measured against these targets.
• Continuous Improvement: Encourage continuous improvement in project management practices. Leverage best-in-class methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, hybrid) and tools to improve execution speed and quality. Capture lessons learned and project artifacts for future reference, helping build lasting project management capabilities and process discipline within the organization.

Requirements & Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or similar certification is strongly preferred, reflecting knowledge of formal project management processes and methodologies
• 5+ years of experience leading complex, cross-functional projects or programs with significant business impact. Proven track record of successfully delivering large-scale initiatives on time and within budget, preferably in a fast-paced, high-growth or PE-backed environment
• Demonstrated ability to influence and drive results through teams without direct authority (matrix or cross-functional leadership experience). Experience coordinating across multiple business units or departments and managing diverse stakeholder groups.
• Technical & Business Acumen: Strong knowledge of project management methodologies (e.g. waterfall, Agile/Scrum, hybrid approaches) and proficiency with project management tools (e.g. Gantt charts, project tracking software). Solid understanding of business operations and financial principles to connect projects with business outcomes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including experience delivering executive-level presentations and status reports.
• Capable of quickly structuring ambiguous problems, finding root causes, and driving timely solutions to keep projects on track.
• Flexible and resilient in a dynamic, changing environment. Able to adjust plans and priorities quickly in response to new information or shifting business needs, while maintaining focus on key goals.
• Strong sense of ownership and bias for action. Self-motivated with a proven ability to work independently, take initiative, and drive results under tight deadlines.
• Transportation, Infrastructure and/or Travel experience preferred

The RESPECT Service System embodies our mission, vision, values and operating principles. By creating a company culture that puts RESPECT at its core, we believe it will drive us to achieve our goal of becoming a Global Experiences and Transportation Leader.

EEO / Disabled / Protected Veteran Employer. Hornblower is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We offer equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and prohibit discrimination and/or harassment of any type, including but not limited to discrimination and or harassment based upon race, religion, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, pregnancy or relation medical conditions, childbirth, breastfeeding, parental status, veteran and/or military status, disability (physical or mental), medical condition, genetic information or characteristics, political affiliation, domestic violence survivor status, marital status, or other characteristics prohibited by federal, state, or local law. Additionally, as a federal, state, and local contractor, Hornblower complies with government regulations, including affirmative action responsibilities for qualified individuals, where and as they apply. The company also participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations.