Senior Manager, Experience Design

The Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection

$110K — $130K *
Hospitality & Recreation
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8-12+ years in experience design or related fields
  • Proven success in designing consumer-facing services or products
  • Experience from concept development through to implementation
  • Collaborative experience with multidisciplinary teams
  • Ability to influence projects without direct authority

Responsibilities

  • Translate product vision into meaningful guest experiences
  • Lead the design and development of guest experience concepts
  • Develop service models and interaction frameworks
  • Create cohesive experience flows across guest touchpoints
  • Evaluate how physical design enhances guest engagement
  • Identify and address friction points in the guest experience
  • Monitor trends for innovation opportunities

Benefits

  • Opportunity to work with multidisciplinary teams
  • Engagement in cutting-edge experience design
  • Chance to influence physical product development
  • Innovative work environment with continuous improvement culture
Full Job Description
What You'll Do

Translate Product Vision into Experiences
  • Partner with Voyage Experience teams to transform voyage vision, experience intent, and product strategy into tangible guest experiences.
  • Define how guests should experience key moments across the journey.
  • Create experiences that are intuitive, differentiated, and aligned to desired guest outcomes.
  • Ensure individual experiences work together as part of a cohesive voyage.

Lead Experience Design & Concept Development
  • Develop guest experience concepts.
  • Create service models, interaction frameworks, experience requirements, and engagement strategies.
  • Design signature moments and differentiated experiences that strengthen the overall product.
  • Lead concept refinement, prototyping, and pilot development efforts.

Build Experience Architecture
  • Develop guest experience flows.
  • Identify opportunities to improve engagement and reduce friction.
  • Define how experiences connect across touchpoints and moments.
  • Establish experience frameworks and standards that support consistency and quality.

Influence Physical Product Development
  • Partner with newbuild on physical design initiatives.
  • Evaluate how physical environments influence guest behavior, engagement, and experience quality.
  • Identify opportunities where venue design, guest flow, activation opportunities, and environmental design can strengthen experience outcomes.
  • Ensure physical spaces, programming, and service models function as a cohesive experience ecosystem.

Drive Innovation & Continuous Improvement
  • Collaborate with Journey & Insights teams to identify opportunity areas.
  • Translate guest needs and behavioral insights into experience solutions.
  • Support pilot programs and concept testing initiatives.
  • Monitor emerging hospitality, travel, entertainment, and lifestyle trends to identify future opportunities.


Success Looks Like
  • Product vision is consistently translated into meaningful guest experiences.
  • Experiences feel intentionally designed rather than operationally assembled.
  • Service models, programming, and physical environments work together seamlessly.
  • New concepts strengthen differentiation and guest engagement.
  • Friction points are systematically identified and addressed.
  • Experience standards create consistency while preserving creativity and innovation.
  • Physical design decisions increasingly support intended guest behaviors and outcomes.


What We're Looking For

Experience
  • 8-12+ years of experience in experience design, service design, hospitality innovation, product development, customer experience, experience strategy, or related disciplines.
  • Proven success designing consumer-facing experiences, services, or hospitality products.
  • Experience developing concepts from strategy through implementation.
  • Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders.
  • Experience influencing complex projects without direct authority.

Skills & Capabilities
  • Exceptional experience design and service design capability.
  • Strong concept development and innovation skills.
  • Ability to translate strategy and insight into tangible guest experiences.
  • Strong systems-thinking mindset.
  • Deep understanding of how service, programming, and physical environments influence guest behavior.
  • Experience collaborating with architects, interior designers, or product development teams.
  • Strong facilitation, storytelling, and communication skills.
  • Ability to balance creativity with operational practicality.


Ideal Backgrounds
  • Service design and experience design consultancies
  • Luxury hospitality brands
  • Theme parks and immersive entertainment organizations
  • Travel and leisure experience development
  • Lifestyle and membership brands
  • Product innovation teams
  • Customer experience strategy organizations
  • Experiential retail and destination development organizations

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