Director, Business Finance - Operations
About The Position
The Director, Business Finance - Operations partners with leaders across the guest experience for river cruises and package tours, including ship operations, onboard hotel and culinary programs, shore experiences, guest services, itinerary operations, and package tours. The role guides planning, management, and improvement of the costs of delivering these experiences, including package-tour costs for hotels, guides, and transportation, and owns margin management across river cruises and package tours. It translates operational activity into financial insight and applies financial discipline to purchasing, staffing, and spending decisions while protecting the guest experience. The position operates with imperfect information and helps identify and implement changes that produce quality, decision-useful operating cost and margin data. The Director works with FP&A, operations leaders, Accounting, vendors, and senior leadership to manage budgets, forecasts, costs, margins, and operational investments. The role leads and develops cost-focused FP&A team members, presents financial performance and recommendations to the CFO and senior leadership, and champions the use of AI-enabled tools in operations finance.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or Economics.
- 10+ years of progressive finance experience, including operations finance, cost management, or business partnering.
- Proven leadership of finance professionals.
- Strong financial modeling, forecasting, and analytical skills.
- Proficiency in NetSuite and BI tools.
- Ability to balance cost discipline with the quality of the guest experience.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to influence operations and senior leaders.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy and quality.
- Interest in and practical experience with AI enablement, including applying AI-enabled tools and processes to improve finance work.
- Comfort operating with imperfect information and exercising sound judgment while data quality improves.
- High-energy, self-driven, collaborative approach, with ability to thrive in a fast-paced, growing company with private equity-style expectations for pace, accountability, and results.
Nice To Haves
- MBA or CPA.
- Experience in cruise, travel, hospitality, or shipping environments.
- Interest in ship operations and guest-service operations in hospitality.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the finance partner to leaders across all elements of the guest experience for river cruises and package tours, including ship operations, hotel and culinary, shore experiences, guest services, and itinerary operations.
- Own operating cost budgets and forecasts for river cruises and package tours in partnership with FP&A and operations leaders.
- Manage package-tour costs, including hotels, guides, and transportation, from contracting and budgeting through actual results.
- Manage margins for river cruises and package tours, analyzing performance by ship, sailing, itinerary, package tour, and guest-experience component; explain variances and recommend corrective action.
- Identify and drive cost-reduction and efficiency opportunities, tracking benefits through delivery while protecting the guest experience.
- Develop operational KPIs and dashboards that connect operational drivers to financial results.
- Support vendor and supplier negotiations, including hotel, guide, and transportation arrangements, purchasing strategy, and business-case evaluations.
- Partner on capital planning for ships and operational investments.
- Lead and develop the cost-focused FP&A team members reporting to this role.
- Work with Accounting to ensure cost actuals, accruals, and reporting are accurate and aligned.
- Present financial performance and recommendations to the CFO and senior leadership.
- Champion AI enablement in operations finance, applying AI-enabled tools to cost analysis, forecasting, and reporting.
- Identify and help implement changes needed to deliver quality, decision-useful operating cost and margin data.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
